Balancing the Body and Mind With Tai Chi

Most martial arts training revolves around intense workouts that usually leave participants fatigued, but Paul Semanic believes that attending one of his free tai chi workshops will have a completely different outcome.

“When you have finished working out in tai chi, you should have more energy,” Semanic said comparing tai chi to the prototypical workout.  “That is the major difference between tai chi and other forms of working out.”

“Tai chi isn’t so much about the intensity, as it is about becoming more relaxed and releasing the tension,” he went on to say.  “These workshops are very informative, engaging and about building momentum so as to do (tai chi) every day.”

A certified instructor from the New England School of Tai Chi, Semanic has been studying the Chinese art for more than 25 years and will be sharing his vast knowledge of the subject during a free 10-week course offered from 8 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays at , 98 Algonquin Road. The course began Sept. 14 and runs through Nov. 16, with everyone welcome to come and try their hand at this growing art.

Tai chi, a centuries-old self defense that, when translated into English means, “supreme ultimate boxing,” is one of the most widely practiced arts due to its many benefits. Not only is tai chi a form of self-defense and a stress reducer with proven gains in the areas of strength, conditioning, and flexibility, but it also focuses on balancing the whole body.

Tai chi “is about balancing the mind and body simultaneously,” Semanic said. “It is essentially meditation in movement.”

And since tai chi utilizes a series of slow graceful movements, it is an activity that is suitable for all ages and abilities, so Semanic encourages anyone to show up, regardless if they didn’t attend any of the previous workshops.

“Tai chi has become very popular over the years,” Semanic said.  “Some of the moves start out very simple and so we had someone in their 80s here (our first week) as well as a 13-year-old that came with her mother.”

Semanic has helped numerous patients with various rehabilitation needs at Elk Grove’s Alexian Brothers, Mended Hearts Rehabilitation and Cancer Care, so he has seen participants make incredible progress, including arthritic patients who are hindered in their everyday movements.  Semanic credits the incredible progress to tai chi’s full range of three dimensional movements, focused breathing and meditation that is encompassed in the various movements, but only if the art is practiced daily.

“The element of tai chi that really grabs people is how simple and how easy it is to do, yet do they do it every day,” Semanic said. “It’s never a matter of, ‘Can I do this,’ because everyone can; the question is, ‘Will you do it every day?”

Semanic believes that by continually working at tai chi daily, the American philosophy used during most workouts, “no pain-no gain,” will become, “know your pain, know where to gain.”

For more information about the benefits of tai chi, simply email Paul Semanic at taichi@semanic.com or attend one of his free workshops offered Wednesdays at .