How Do You Do What You Do? This questions was posed to me by one of my students who lives with chronic health. She was aware of my health baseline, and asked how I do what I do as a Tai Chi and Qigong instructor. This is a great question. Delving deeper into her question,…
Chronic Pain Course ReMap Course Summary – March to June 2019 Wednesday 12 June 2019 saw the completion of the 12 week ReMap course, a movement and stillness class for those living with chronic pain. Over the duration I introduced the students to ‘Hibernating Bear Tai Chi’, covering a variety of Qigong, Chen Tai Chi and…
Health Baselines Learning to Take Care of Yourself In my classes I often talk about exercising and training gracefully to your own physical baseline. This phrase comes from my teacher Casey Kochmer, from Personal Tao. Read his article on baselines here. We all have a unique health baseline, that changes with the ebb and flow…
Tai Chi Qigong for Ehlers Danlos Tai Chi and Qigong as dynamic movement practices to aid the genetic connective tissue disorder called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS). Hello everyone, I’m Nicola, a Tai Chi, Qigong and meditation instructor and I live with hypermobility EDS. This article explores how mindful dynamic movements can support the symptoms of…
Hibernating Bear Tai Chi Do you live with chronic illness and want to try a different approach to building resilience in mind and body? The Hibernating Bear system draws from traditional Tai Chi, Qigong and meditation practices to help support chronic pain, chronic fatigue, those living with a different health baseline than the norm, senior citizens…
What does EDS pain feel like? Making the invisible visible I would like to describe my experience of living with pain to help educate and raise awareness for all living with chronic and acute pain health conditions. For those reading this that know someone who lives with chronic pain, the best thing you can do is…
Tai Chi Qigong for Injury Recovery In this article I would like to explore the benefits of using Tai Chi and Qigong as restorative exercises to help during injury recovery. Over the years I have worked with many students to aid physical rehabilitation after accidents and injury, from frozen shoulders, twisted knees and falls, to…
Prolonged Sitting is Killing You Tai Chi and Qigong to improve your posture in daily life If you have attended my Tai Chi and Qigong classes, you’ll know how emphatic I can be regarding frequent healthy movements and postural health in your daily life. By practicing the Classical Chinese arts regularly, the corrections to your…
Living with EDS “Ehlers Danlos Syndrome” My Story by Tai Chi Instructor Nicola During May 2014 it is Ehlers Danlos awareness month. I have written my account of living with EDS and wanted to share this with you all. Here is my story, it is a little raw and gives honest insight into what it…
Travel with Hope A Qigong student interview. Meet ‘John Doe’ and read his story of learning to live with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). How practicing the Classical Chinese movement and stillness arts can help the symptoms of PD. This interview is dated April 11, 2014 is an update to a previous interview on March 15, 2013. John…
Taiji Qigong Chronic Fatigue How the Classical Chinese Arts can aid the symptoms of CFS One of my students has written a personal account of her Qigong practice relating to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: “I had been diagnosed with CFS in 2009, following a bout of swine flu and a chest infection, which left me with…
Qigong for Parkinsons Disease Parkinson’s disease is a nervous system disorder where the nerve cells found within the brain that produce the chemical called dopamine start to die off. This leads to the many symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Main Symptoms Tremors Slowness of movement Rigid body / rigid movement Bladder and bowel problems Swallowing and…
Tai Chi for Heart Failure What is Heart Failure Heart failure is a chronic condition. When the heart muscle becomes damaged it is unable to heal itself, this results in blood/oxygen not pumping around the body as well as it could do. This creates stress on the body as it cannot function normally. Possible Damage…
Tai Chi for SAD SAD stands for seasonal affective disorder. Commonly talked about as the winter blues, SAD is a serious condition that affects many people over the winter months. Linked with the lack in our bodies of Vitamin D from natural sunlight, this condition can be hard to diagnose as the symptoms are similar…
Tai Chi for Cancer Over my years of teaching, I have had the honour of teaching many students who have cancer or are in recovery from cancer. Whether through private tuition in their own home, in my public community classes, teaching as a volunteer within cancer support groups, to teaching care-givers. Some of my students…