Joanne's Tai Chi Group - Sonoma County

10/26/2025

Exploring Tai Chi: A Natural Way to Maintain Healthy Blood Pressure & More

This article is by a local Sonoma County doctor who works extensively with breathing and meditation as healing practices.

“In our journey to discover natural ways of maintaining health, the ancient practice of Tai Chi emerges as one of the best practices for physical and mental well-being.

At the heart of this balancing practice lies not just the graceful, meditative movements often observed, but a deep-rooted philosophy that connects the mind, body, and spirit in harmony.”

- Isaac Eliaz, MD

Link to article in comments.

Explore Tai Chi benefits for mind, body, and spirit. Boost balance, reduce stress, and improve well-being with this ancient healing practice.

10/02/2025

Bob's narration of the 24 Yang Style form is now up on YouTube for anyone who would like to have him walk you through the form at home. If you haven't yet checked out the YouTube channel, all of Joanne's videos are up to help you learn and practice.

See the comments for the links.
-Susan posting

09/18/2025

What is Arrow and Bow Stance?

Sometimes called Bow Stance, this is one of the basic movements in Tai Chi, and one of the first movements students learn. The Arrow and Box Stance allows you to remain stable as you move from posture to posture. It is a stance for delivering power, as you will learn as you move through the form. In the video, Joanne is performing the Bow Stance as part of Part the Wild Horses Mane.

09/09/2025

Video link in comments> This video from Yoga Lily shows the Eight Brocade in the same style that Joanne teaches and that we continue to do in class. Instruction for each movement is given. Images are screenshot from the video.

09/05/2025

With your feet stuck in the mud, your head suspended by a string, your tongue touching the roof of your mouth where the teeth meet the hard palate, with a little room in the armpits. Take a deep breath, and let it out. Preparation.
- Bob

"Proper body alignment is essential to Tai Chi practice because the arm and hand movements stem from the torso. A relaxed torso with core muscle strength will allow the limbs to move effortlessly.

Stand comfortably and calmly to experience a basic, upright torso position, and let go of any thoughts, emotions, or expectations. Simply be present. You will feel a moment of peace or emptiness, called wuji. Suspend your head from above as if it's held up by a string, without any tightness or tension while feeling the downward pull of the weight of your body. Your abdomen is settled down with abdominal muscles in a downward extension mode to allow the body's center of gravity to stay low. Muscles in your back are following the spine and head in an upward extension mode to harmonize the front's downward mode. This balanced torso position will ensure your waist is relaxed and free to turn left or right. Within just a few minutes, you may feel your feet getting heavier and your palms or fingers swelling. Your chest may lighten and your breathing may slow, becoming light and gentle. Congratulation! You did it right. If you do not yet experience these feelings, try this standing practice a few more times until you do. Then each day allow yourself a few minutes to stand calmly, thinking nothing and doing nothing. This is the feeling of wuji stance: a dynamic, relaxed torso.

Wuji is the first standing posture, called the Preparation Form, before you start physical movement in all Tai Chi forms."

- Jesse Tsao, PhD with Jason Weil
Practical Tai Chi Training

- Image: Yang Chen Fu

09/01/2025

Link for video in the comments.

Since class is cancelled for Monday due to Labor Day, here is some inspiration from Master Shu D**g Li. This video is a clip of his instructional DVD on the Yang Style 24 Form that we do in class. You will hear Joanne doing the introduction voiceover. The resolution on this video isn't great, but you can still see the grace in his form.

If anyone is interested in getting the DVD, they are still available at Kung Fu Direct. I'll put the link for that in the comments too. Facebook makes us work to be able to add links these days!

Happy Labor Day!
- Susan posting

08/31/2025

We may not always think of it this way, but our teachers and guides in our Tai Chi and Qigong put in a lot of labor to make sure we have a class where we can have a space to step out of the ordinary and tune in to our bodies and our breath.

Jane, Bob, Ned, Deborah and Amanda and the staff at the Rohnert Park Senior Center spend time keeping the space clean and orderly, organizing class dates, promoting the class, carting materials back and forth, choosing music for class, and improving their own practice in order to be the best examples to us.

Going back further, over the years Joanne spent endless hours creating the culture of her classes and bringing us all together to learn the wisdom her teacher, Shu D**g Li, had passed to her in her training.

And back through time it goes to Master Li's teachers, to their teachers, and on, a river of knowledge, discovery, and real physical labor that brought forward what we get to experience now.

On Labor Day, remember to include them in your gratitude for those who create the everyday world we live in. 💌☯️

08/25/2025

Link for Quantum Qi trailer in comments.

QUANTUM QI is WINNER of the CANNES WORLD FILM FESTIVAL "Best Health Film."

Soon to be released!

Quantum Qi is a cinematic journey into the living intelligence of Qi—the vital life force that animates all of existence. Featuring 27 globally revered masters, scholars, and healers from the worlds of Qigong, Tai Chi, Martial Arts and Traditional Chinese Medicine, this spellbinding documentary bridges ancient Taoist wisdom with emerging paradigms in integrative health and energy medicine.

Filmed across stunning landscapes and modern sanctuaries, Quantum Qi blends breath-taking aerial cinematography, a richly layered original score featuring grammy nominate Erhu virtuoso, Jiebing Chen, and visionary animations to immerse viewers in the felt experience of energetic cultivation.

Each segment reveals practical, contemplative, and scientific insight into timeless practices that awaken vitality, restore balance, and ignite the body’s innate power to heal.

Whether you are a wellness seeker, martial artist, medical professional or hungry for insight into self-care and enhanced vitality, Quantum Qi is a cinematic gateway to health, happiness, and contemplative depth—an invitation to return to the Tao—the sacred flow of life—and to nurture it within and all around you.

"ART CAN PROPEL QIGONG & TAI CHI INTO THE POPULAR CULTURE AT A PROFOUNDLY ACCELERATED RATE, and the range of ages in this documentary will help dispel the myth that 'Tai Chi is just for old people'!

We should all do what we can to get as many people as possible to watch this incredible documentary when it comes out."

-- William Douglas, Founder of World Tai Chi & Qigong Day

07/24/2025

Link to full lecture video in comments.

Master Shudong Li 1 hour class “5 Tai Chi internal energy training method Tai Chi Yin Yang theory” This was offered live and online through Stanford University.

07/21/2025

When practicing your Tai Chi, do you remember to sink/lower your Qi energy to the Dantien?

"To me it’s not a particularly esoteric subject. It’s a practical consideration.

It simply means relaxing the upper body enough that your weight seems to settle in your lower body. Your breathing also lowers, as it relaxes, and becomes diaphragmatic breathing, so the abdomen expands and contracts as you breathe. There should be almost no expansion of the chest when you breathe like this.

With your breathing and weight settled around the dantien area you can sense a kind of fullness, or heaviness. Thus your “qi” is sunk to the your “dantien”. It should also help you feel calm. If you notice when you get stressed or anxious, your breathing quickens and raises up in the body. Sinking your qi to the dantien is the opposite of this."

From The Tai Chi Notebook

Read more:

I’ve been doing some work with the Tai Chi Classics lately, which has thrown up an interesting point. There’s only one time the Tai Chi Classics mention the “dantien” by nam…

07/18/2025

Link to video in comments.

Ned led us in the Sword Form today in class. I've missed it so much, not having space to practice at home.

Here is my favorite video of Grandmaster Li leading his class in this form so you can share in my love for it. 🥰

07/15/2025

Link to video in the comments: the 42 Form video that should have been attached to the previous post, where Joanne talks us through the movements.