Tai Chi Skill Building

Exploring the Metaphors, Movement & Meaning Within the Tai Chi Set

What happens when we move beyond simply remembering the sequence of a Tai Chi set and begin to understand what the movement is asking the body to do—and what it may offer our well-being?

Tai Chi Skill Building is a 12-week experiential series that takes a deeper look inside the movements of Tai Chi. Expanding upon explorations developed through Movement & Music and Symphony of Radiance, this series brings together movement, music and visual art to reveal new dimensions of the Tai Chi experience.

Each week, we will explore the metaphors within the Tai Chi set—considering not only the name and imagery of a movement, but how that metaphor can help us understand its quality, intention and expression.

Through guided movement exploration, participants will develop greater awareness of structural alignment, whole-body integration, weight transfer, spiralling actions, coordination, breath and flow. We will also explore how integrated whole-body movement can create gentle compression, expansion, rotation and movement through the torso, offering a new way to consider the relationship between Tai Chi movement and the internal organs.

The series will be enriched by intuitive musicians Brenda Bowen Cox and Donna Hutchison, whose live musical responses invite participants to experience rhythm, resonance and movement in new ways, and intuitive painter Marian Egan, whose visual interpretation will add another layer through colour, shape, imagery and artistic expression.

Rather than music and art simply accompanying the Tai Chi, they become part of the exploration—helping us see, hear, feel and understand movement differently.

From Learning the Set to Understanding the Movement

Whether you are refining familiar Tai Chi movements or developing your skills, this series invites you to become curious about what lies beneath the choreography.

What changes when the structure is better organized?
Where does a movement originate?
How does the whole body participate?
What does the metaphor reveal about the quality of the movement?
What can we notice internally as we move with greater integration?
And how might these discoveries become useful beyond Tai Chi, within everyday movement and well-being?

Over 12 weeks, we will slow the movements down, explore their details, experiment with their possibilities, and then bring them back into the flowing Tai Chi set.

The goal is not simply to perform Tai Chi better. It is to develop the movement literacy and internal awareness that allow you to experience Tai Chi more fully.

12 weeks • Experiential skill development • Movement • Live intuitive music • Visual art • Whole-body integration

Class Dates:
September 8, 15, 22 & 29
October 6 & 27
November 3, 10, 17 & 24
December 1 & 8.Come explore the movement behind the movement—and discover how the metaphors of Tai Chi can deepen your skills, awareness and experience of well-being.  This is a great opportunity for people who travel away from regular in person classes.