Lighthouse Tai Chi®

Classes include Tai Chi & Qigong Classes are 1 hour ex Aqua 45 mins All sessions open to beginners Find our locations  Lighthouse Map Venue details below timetable MONDAY 09.30    Trawden Community Centre, 10.30     Trawden Community Centre,                Trawden, Pendle 10.30     Whitworth Leisure & Wellbeing                Aqua Tai Chi                John Street, Whitworth 13.00    Adrenaline Centre ,             Haslingden, Rossendale 13.00    Pendle Wavelengths               Nelson.     14.00    Adrenaline Centre,             Haslingden, Rossendale   TUESDAY 10.00   Sion Baptist Church,                C...

Lighthouse Aqua Tai Chi ® for pregnancy Real Tai Chi and Qigong in warm water, Lighthouse Aqua Tai Chi® is gentle, low impact, relaxing and mindful and offers all the benefits of tai chi ,   plus the recognized outcomes of water based exercise. It is on both the NHS website and Netmums Whether you are continuing exercising or just getting started during your pregnancy our specialised aqua tai chi sessions will give you the gentle workout you need, without the worry of bumping the bump, or adding pressure to aching feet and joints. Women who participate in aqua exercise during pregnancy experience less physical discomfort and improved mobility in addition for being physically prepared for childbirth. Aqua tai chi is safe at all stages of pregnancy unless your health professional recommends you do not exercise at all. The water helps to support your posture, to strengthen the core muscles, enhancing the stability of the abdomen and lower back, improving your balance, co-ordin...

  Names and understanding The use of poetic and functional names in Tai Chi and Qigong can be difficult to decipher or simplistically obvious. When we first hear some of the names of the postures, it can be amusing and confusing: ‘ part wild horse’s mane’, ‘ twin dragons emerge from the sea ’ and ‘ stand like a tree .’ What we need to appreciate is that these names are translations from the original Chinese. So, with as with any translation, things can be lost in the process. Much of the knowledge of tai chi and qigong was traditionally encoded in poetic form or as a song. Many of the students would not have been literate, so the names aided in the memorising of the sequence and its applications. Additionally cultural and philosophical differences, along with the inherent secrecy of martial arts culture, could lead you to misunderstandings and getting the wrong end of the stick. However, when we hear these names, we instantly get a picture or concept in our mind. Combining t...

Our guest blog for August is by  Judith Van Drooge.  Judith is a very accomplished tai chi instructor whom we have admired for many years, and is particularly known to us for her tai chi sword expertise and passion for sharing.  We asked her to provide a short, personal article about her feelings and experience of tai chi sword, with some links for you to find out more. The lovely flow of these words is an art in itself, we hope you will enjoy reading and re-reading it as much as we do. She has practised Yang Lineage Tai Chi Chuan with Luis Molera and Grandmaster William C.C. Chen since 1999, with great pleasure and devotion. Judith is an all-round practitioner who successfully competed in national and international tournaments attaining gold, silver and bronze medals in Forms (weapons), Chi Kung and Push Hands.  Judith has her own school Inner Touch Tai Chi in Zwolle, the Netherlands and has been a regular teacher at most of the major European Tai Chi events....

This month we have another guest blog:  The 5 Elements Theory  is by our esteemed colleague and friend Heather Reade (MFHT) .  Heather has been teaching Tai Chi and Qigong since 1999 in England and the US and provides courses for the NHS, in addition to Active West Lancs, MacMillan Cancer Care; the U3A; Twinkle House Sensory and Wellness Centre and primary schools in Liverpool and Lancashire.  In 2009, she created Water Lotus Qigong, a hydrotherapy, which has been used in the US and UK for the alleviation of pain, arthritis, and fibromyalgia. She is also, a qualified Sports Therapist, and Ear Acupuncturist.  To find out more about Heather and to request any further information, please visit website  Heather Reade School of Tai Chi and QiGong The 5 Elements, or Wu Xing (woo sshing), is a system used to categorise and explain patterns of transformation in the universe.  Wu Xing 五行  Wu = five  Xing = movement, transformation, phase Dating bac...