Barham Tai Chi class provides social opportunity and health benefits for village locals

KentOnline / KMTV

The martial art is mainly taught to older members at Barham Village Hall, who say it gives them many benefits for their physical and mental health.  Finn Macdiarmid reports.

Transcript

00:00In the small village of Barham, near Canterbury, is a class teaching Tai Chi, a Chinese martial

00:05art practiced around the world.

00:08Although it has its roots in combat, in the modern day it's mostly used as a form of

00:11exercise with slow, low impact movements to help people with their health.

00:16It's often called meditation in motion.

00:18It gives them balance, helps with their mobility, helps them to do movements they're not used

00:28to, so it helps to stimulate your neuropathways, if you know what neuropathways are.

00:35If you don't, it's the connection between your brain and your body.

00:41And it helps to prevent things like Alzheimer's and things like that.

00:46Overall health and relaxation.

00:50Now Barry's been showing me and the class some Tai Chi, I've never really done it before

00:54but he's shown me this move where you put your Lao Gong, basically the palm of your hand,

00:58onto your Yunmen, or this area around your collarbone, it's called a lung point as well,

01:03all to strengthen your lungs ahead of the autumn where you might get colds or flu.

01:07Now Barry's been running the group for about 10 years and his students tend to be between

01:11the ages of 70 and 80.

01:13And they say that Tai Chi helps with their movement, their joints, and provides a nice

01:17social group that they can come back to every week.

01:19It empties my mind, I always feel good afterwards.

01:24He puts it on the video, you can go home and follow it at home, and I just find it really

01:30useful.

01:31I feel much better after a session, I feel that I've been exercising my body, especially

01:39balance, because I think balance is very important, especially as you get older, our balance can

01:44go a bit.

01:45I find it very, very helpful, and apart from the sociability of it all, you know, with a

01:53group you seem to concentrate more on what you're doing.

01:57Naturally, I had to have a go myself, and it did feel quite good, quite calming, like a

02:01meditation, although my balance might need work.

02:04There was also a lot of emphasis on natural movements, like making sure we aren't moving

02:08our arms on their own, but instead using the whole body for motion, starting with our hips

02:12and shoulders.

02:14Now while it was a good stretch, I think I'd need to come back a few more times before I

02:18could look like I had any idea what I was doing.

02:21Finn McDermid for KMTV in Barham.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended