Tai Ji Quan for Better Mobility

This practice can teach you to navigate your life with more purpose, mindfulness and confidence.

What is Tai Ji Quan?
Tai Ji Quan (pronounced tye gee chuwan) is the formal name for Tai Chi, the ancient Chinese branch of martial arts that uses slow, coordinated movements to improve posture, alignment, proprioception, mobility, balance, concentration and more. According to The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi, the practice is the physical embodiment of the yin-yang concept. “Tai Chi is an exercise that aims to strengthen, balance, and coordinate and integrate the left and right halves of the body, the upper and lower halves of the body, and the extremities of the body with the inside or core. At a more subtle level, Tai Chi integrates body and mind.”

What is the Tai Ji Quan: Moving for Better Balance program?
The Tai Ji Quan: Moving for Better Balance program (TJQMBB) is a therapeutic system of balance training created by Fuzhong Li, PhD, a senior scientist at Oregon Research Institute.

Who is TJQMBB for?
TJQMBB is a program designed for people prone to falling and the injuries that result from it. This can be practitioners who are older adults at a high risk of falling or those who suffer from Parkinson’s disease, balance disorders, leg muscle weakness, walking difficulty or abnormal gaits.

What skills does TJQMBB teach?
TJQMBB leans on traditional Tai Chi practices to give practitioners skills and exercises they can perform for better body awareness and mobility. Specifically, it’s “mindful control of body positioning in space, functional walking, movement symmetry and coordination, range of motion around the ankle and hip joints, and lower-extremity muscle strength,” according to the TJQMBB website.

Three Ways to Age Gracefully at the Club

Stay agile, active and moving your best with the Bellevue Club’s Boomers & Beyond Program featuring annual workshops for seniors.

Boomers and Beyond

The perfect class for exploring fundamental movements that will improve your posture, balance and gait from the ground up. Gain confidence in your functionality while asking questions, practicing drills and getting feedback from experts.

Get Down to Get Up

Do you have trouble getting down on the floor or worry that you won’t be able to get back up once you get there? This is an active workshop focused on personalized troubleshooting and techniques so that you can safely and confidently get down and back up again. We will address any limitations you have and learn exercises to develop the necessary strength.

Stairs 101

Do you avoid stairs because you lack the confidence you once had, or feel like you’ve lost the strength and balance to safely navigate stairs? In this active workshop, we will address common issues that people have negotiating stairs, both up and down, and work on personalized troubleshooting and techniques to improve your ability.

We are holding a six-week TJQMBB intro series workshop beginning January 21. For information on this workshop or any listed about, please email fitness@bellevueclub.com or call 425.688.3172.

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Bellevue Club

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  • 6 A.M. – 11 P.M.
  • 6 A.M. – 9 P.M.
11200 Southeast Sixth Street,
Bellevue, WA 98004
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