Tai Chi Way

Testimonials

” The benefits of Tai Chi are numerous, for me personally: relaxing and calming, but equally benefiting and improving posture, coordination and flexibility. In truth all round body awareness; spatial awareness and better awareness and understanding of others.

Tamar has taught me for the past 19 years and just the length of time that I have learnt from her should be testimony to her teaching skills.
She has the utmost patience, understanding and respect of individuals-to hold group sessions that make each student feel as if they have been especially tailored for him or her.
An inspiration.”
Carey, London

 

“Tamar is a Tai Chi genius. She understands both the movements and the underpinning philosophy of this ancient art and also manages this knowledge so that beginners & experienced participants gain enormously from her classes.
She has changed my life in two very important ways:
1) after the first few months of the classes I stopped falling and regained my sense  of balance    (I had begun to fall unexpectedly several times a month),
2) my emotional balance was enhanced as well. Having made a major life change just before starting the classes with Tamar, I found the meditative elements of the class helped to ground me.
I will be forever grateful to have had such a great teacher of Tai Chi.”
Professor Vaneeta D’Andrea , London
PhD, FAcSS, FRSA
University of the Arts London

 

“You are like a doctor that helps me by taking my pain away”
An 11 year old boy with ASD

 

For many years I have relied on medication; oral tablets, tens machine, spinal epidural anaesthesia, to relieve my spine and joint problems. I started tai chi classes with Tamar hoping to reduce my reliance on analgesia and improve my general health and mobility.
Through her gentle teaching I felt I have regained control of my body. Any pain I have I can usually manage without medication by using Tai Chi movements and relaxation. Tamar has a way of teaching which nurtures body and soul. She adapts each lesson considering each student’s needs, and we all succeed.
Through this deeply spiritual lady I have gained confidence in my own abilities.
I am becoming rooted!”
Sue Hirst – Broadstairs

 

“Thank you so much for introducing me to Tai Chi in such a meaningful way, and for giving me such a good grounding in this art. Your classes were always so inspiring and enjoyable.”
Cilla, Broadstairs

 

“In the past my balance was awful! Since I have been doing Tai Chi with Tamar I have found a new balance which has improved my general ability to lift, move and live.  The meditation aspect has also helped. It has given me a quieter aspect. I have always been a bit of a bull in a china shop, clumsy and unthinking. Tai Chi has helped me.

After a long journey which was tiring and stressful I nearly opted out of my Thursday class, but I went and I was really surprised at how great I felt afterwards. It lifted the tiredness and made me feel brighter and more alive! Thank you Tai Chi!”
Helen Belasyse, Broadstairs

 

“The (Tai Chi) sessions…have just been so amazing.
Thank you for all of your support so far I really think the tai chi has been a great success.”
Sarah Adams, Bradstow school

 

“ As a busy part-time teacher and grandmother I look forward to Tamar’s Tai Chi class as an oasis of calm that gently re-energizes me and I am sure has given me long term health benefits such as lowering my blood- pressure and helped me to improve my balance again following an accident. Tamar is an inspiring teacher who is widely experienced in working with a range of physical disabilities and she offers clear instruction and individual support as appropriate within her class. In learning Tai Chi it is important to find a teacher whose dedication to her own practice truly inspires you with deep respect to make your own commitment to the form.

Tamar has a loyal following of students who are drawn by the grace and simplicity of her demonstrations, her depth of understanding and gentle encouragement as a teacher. I count myself fortunate to have found her and wholeheartedly recommend her to you. “
Rose, London

 

” Thoughts on Learning Tai Chi:
Those of us with long-term mobility problems become accustomed to rejection…because, however kindly you may be turned away from something in which you hoped to participate, that is what it is!The spark of hope is difficult to extinguish and, having wanted to learn Tai Chi for many years, when I heard of a six week ‘taster’ course being held in a local church hall it seemed worth another try.

This time – to my joy – I was not turned away…the teacher told me that, although there may be things that I might not be able to do, there were plenty of others that I would (be able to do), and that even very small movements can have beneficial results.

As the months have gone by this has proved to be true; small movements have grown and extended slowly and steadily almost without my being aware of it and I find myself being surprised by how much more I am capable of doing and my stability and stamina have also improved. This slow rate of progress is somehow reassuring in that it seems more likely to stay than a change that came about more suddenly and dramatically.

One of the things of which I have become particularly aware is how important breathing is in the process of and practice of Tai Chi. In other forms of exercise I was concentrating so much on doing the exercise that I forgot about breathing steadily and regularly. In Tai Chi, the breathing and the practice fit better together and after a while you find yourself breathing through the exercise and exercising through the breathing. So much so that you begin to feel that the whole process is about breathing properly. I have been fortunate enough to have learnt various forms of breathing that can benefit specific areas of the body and some that can alleviate pain to a degree hitherto unrealised!

My way of looking at life is also altering…there are so many ways of viewing and approaching a problem that it should not necessarily be regarded as a failure if one way does not solve it… It is an opportunity to learn from and to try another way. I am learning to be kinder to myself and less anxious about things that may never happen. To practice “Not Doing” something has been a revelation! Standing back from a situation when possible can allow events to take their course and everything falls into place naturally.

The more I learn about the practice of Tai Chi, the more closely it seems to be related to the Tao Te Ching so that “you can’t have one without the other”. And, strangely that this learning process is like a recollection or recognition of something that I have always known but had somehow forgotten?!!”
Angela, age 84