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Tai chi class finds home at Kearney bank
By Kathleen Bishop Newman
A book on tai chi left behind at her daughter’s 40th birthday party turned into a driving passion for Ranetta Adams. After months spent researching the ancient form of meditative exercise, she located instructors and organized a class that met in the community room of the Kearney Commercial Bank.
In April, the group wrapped up its first eight-week session, but plans to hold monthly practice meetings and resume classes again in the fall.
Adams said her physician recommended tai chi as one form of exercise helpful to people with back problems, as it helps to loosen bones and joints. People who have had strokes also benefit from the exercises.
In tai chi, slow balancing movements work with a person’s chi, or life force energy, to strengthen muscles in a form of moving meditation.
“tai chi is calming and energizing,” Adams said. “You get into a meditative state. When you focus on what you are doing and reduce the clutter of the world, it allows quietness within.”
Although traditional forms of Tai chi have been practiced in Japan and China for thousands of years and include more than 120 movements, the Kearney group practiced a modified version with 19 exercises. Accredited tai chi instructor and retired critical care nurse Annie Fleischman led the group of beginners.
Fleischman said that this form of tai chi worked well with a variety of ages and health levels. Many of the movements can be done while sitting in a chair.
“People with chronic health problems do extremely well with this,” she said. “I’ve even taught many people who don’t feel they can do the exercises, but they can get benefit from watching others do it,” she said.
Fleischman has seen the amazing results of tai chi over and over again. Her husband, Ted, who had a benign brain tumor removed from his auditory nerve, was told his balance problems would only improve 50 percent with rehabilitation — not enough to sail his boat solo. With the practice of tai chi, in a matter of weeks his balance transferred over to the other side and he has seen a 95 percent improvement in his balance. He now co-teaches the tai chi class with his wife.
As a nurse, Annie Fleischman said she constantly heard anecdotes about the benefits of tai chi for people with very serious health problems. And, while she believes that complementary therapy doesn’t take the place of medicine, she said tai chi had the added benefit of releasing tension in the mind as well as the body.
“You get in to the body with tai chi, and the body is the healing part of us; it knows how to fix things,” she said.
During tai chi classes, Fleischman has participants start off simple, with only two to four movements such as rocking motions that work on grounding the body and “bird flaps its wings,” which focuses on centering. By the end of the eight-week session, everyone can do the entire 19-movement practice themselves.
“We approach it like a child — without any embarrassment,” she said. “The movements are easy. You don’t have to work hard; you might just have to strengthen up a bit.”
The movements, based on nature, mimic animals and birds, and must be done repetitiously to train the brain. Many people liken the gradual shifting of weight from one leg to the other in tai chi as the motions of a mother rocking a baby to calm it down.
The calmness, or meditative state, that pervades the body during the practice of tai chi is believed to be healing.
Fleischman described chi as pure energy. When practicing tai chi, participants can suddenly feel beyond themselves, a similar feeling that happens in sporting events. She said this universal energy leaves people feeling refreshed and connected.
“At the end everyone feels very refreshed. You feel love for one another and that you have no enemies,” she said.
Correspondent Kathleen Newman can be reached at 628-6010 or
kearneynews@kearneycourier.com.
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In April, the group wrapped up its first eight-week session, but plans to hold monthly practice meetings and resume classes again in the fall.
Adams said her physician recommended tai chi as one form of exercise helpful to people with back problems, as it helps to loosen bones and joints. People who have had strokes also benefit from the exercises.
In tai chi, slow balancing movements work with a person’s chi, or life force energy, to strengthen muscles in a form of moving meditation.
“tai chi is calming and energizing,” Adams said. “You get into a meditative state. When you focus on what you are doing and reduce the clutter of the world, it allows quietness within.”
Although traditional forms of Tai chi have been practiced in Japan and China for thousands of years and include more than 120 movements, the Kearney group practiced a modified version with 19 exercises. Accredited tai chi instructor and retired critical care nurse Annie Fleischman led the group of beginners.
Fleischman said that this form of tai chi worked well with a variety of ages and health levels. Many of the movements can be done while sitting in a chair.
“People with chronic health problems do extremely well with this,” she said. “I’ve even taught many people who don’t feel they can do the exercises, but they can get benefit from watching others do it,” she said.
Fleischman has seen the amazing results of tai chi over and over again. Her husband, Ted, who had a benign brain tumor removed from his auditory nerve, was told his balance problems would only improve 50 percent with rehabilitation — not enough to sail his boat solo. With the practice of tai chi, in a matter of weeks his balance transferred over to the other side and he has seen a 95 percent improvement in his balance. He now co-teaches the tai chi class with his wife.
As a nurse, Annie Fleischman said she constantly heard anecdotes about the benefits of tai chi for people with very serious health problems. And, while she believes that complementary therapy doesn’t take the place of medicine, she said tai chi had the added benefit of releasing tension in the mind as well as the body.
“You get in to the body with tai chi, and the body is the healing part of us; it knows how to fix things,” she said.
During tai chi classes, Fleischman has participants start off simple, with only two to four movements such as rocking motions that work on grounding the body and “bird flaps its wings,” which focuses on centering. By the end of the eight-week session, everyone can do the entire 19-movement practice themselves.
“We approach it like a child — without any embarrassment,” she said. “The movements are easy. You don’t have to work hard; you might just have to strengthen up a bit.”
The movements, based on nature, mimic animals and birds, and must be done repetitiously to train the brain. Many people liken the gradual shifting of weight from one leg to the other in tai chi as the motions of a mother rocking a baby to calm it down.
The calmness, or meditative state, that pervades the body during the practice of tai chi is believed to be healing.
Fleischman described chi as pure energy. When practicing tai chi, participants can suddenly feel beyond themselves, a similar feeling that happens in sporting events. She said this universal energy leaves people feeling refreshed and connected.
“At the end everyone feels very refreshed. You feel love for one another and that you have no enemies,” she said.
Correspondent Kathleen Newman can be reached at 628-6010 or
kearneynews@kearneycourier.com.