This article appeared in the Jan. 26 issue of the Interlake Spectator. By Teresa Carey…
“The slowness of the exercise gives the body and mind time to connect with each other,” said Jack Borsa, 67-year-old Tai Chi instructor in Gimli.
Jack used to be in the Royal Canadian Navy, where he learned to play “Rugger”, a game like football, but more physically challenging. He used to be an audit unit manager, too, with Revenue Canada in Winnipeg. He did that for 29 years. Jack retired in Gimli with his wife, Donna, in 1995. They frequently came up to the lake to camp, and grew to love the area.
Jack played Rugger until he was 38 years old—when, during a game, he suffered a back injury. It took several weeks to get on his feet. For years afterward he made frequent visits to a chiropractor, and continued on this path until he turned 62. Only then did he discover Tai Chi. Since taking it up, he has visited his chiropractor only a few times. He attributes the improvement directly to Tai Chi, which he practises 20 minutes to two hours several times each week.
Jack has been doing Tai Chi for almost 8 years. Three years ago, when the facilitators of a Tai Chi class he was attending moved away, he assumed the role of instructor. “I wanted the Tai Chi badly enough that I stepped up,” he said.
Tai Chi’s development has an interesting history. It grew out of a variety of practises over the course of 2,000 years in China. It only became a formal system of exercise in the 11th century.
Priests were the ones who developed the slow, dance-like techniques. According to Jack, they had good reason to. “Ancient China used to be like the Old Wild West,” he said. “Roving bandits used to travel the countryside and pick on them…the priests were flabby [from doing hours of meditation], so they started incorporating exercise into their meditation,” he explained.
Eventually the exercises developed into a form of martial art, which the priests used in self-defence. As their reputation grew, Chinese emperors began to call on priests to train their armies. The priests later became advisors to their military forces, and the techniques came to be closely guarded secrets, Jack said.
Today there are several styles of Tai Chi, most of which only developed since the 1920s in Peking, “when it became a kind of gentlemen’s sport,” said Jack. Chen ,Yang, Wu and Sun are some of the styles, but dozens developed, including the Taoist style that Jack practises. What makes Taoist Tai Chi different is that it has an “extra degree of stretching and turning in each move.” This gives it extraordinary health benefits.
“I started coming for my health and my posture,” said Jackie Goodman who has been taking part in the class for about eight years. “It’s a very good stress reliever. It’s almost like a medication,” she said.
Regular practise of Tai Chi improves the cardiovascular, skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems. It also improves balance and flexibility and reduces stress, according to the people who practise it.
“I have arthritis throughout my body, and I feel it really helps,” said Lorraine Bohn, who has been with Jack’s group for over five years. The benefits, for her, don’t stop with the physical. She also enjoys experiencing the movement of “Chi” energy throughout her body. “It relaxes me and takes away my tension,” she said.
Tai Chi is, both, a physical and mental exercise, which harmonizes the mind and body. It is a meditation in motion that requires total concentration.
Another member of the class, Larry Burdeny, claims that it is “mentally, one of the biggest challenges going.” The set of 108 moves, consisting of 38 basic moves, takes at least a year to learn, “then it takes a lifetime to fully appreciate the art,” said Jack.
Currently, Jack holds beginner and continuing classes at the New Horizons 55 Plus Activity Centre in Gimli. The cost to join Jack’s group is $23 per month for a regular adult, or $15 for seniors, plus a one-time $20 fee to join the Taoist Tai Chi Society. As a member of the society, one can attend any Taoist Tai Chi centre in the world for free.
Health and harmony achieved through Tai Chi
Photo: Tai Chi group at Gimli New Horizons 55 plus Activity Centre
By Teresa Carey
“The slowness of the exercise gives the body and mind time to connect with each other,” said Jack Borsa, 67-year-old Tai Chi instructor in Gimli.
Jack used to be in the Royal Canadian Navy, where he learned to play “Rugger”, a game like football, but more physically challenging. He used to be an audit unit manager, too, with Revenue Canada in Winnipeg. He did that for 29 years. Jack retired in Gimli with his wife, Donna, in 1995. They frequently came up to the lake to camp, and grew to love the area.
Jack played Rugger until he was 38 years old—when, during a game, he suffered a back injury. It took several weeks to get on his feet. For years afterward he made frequent visits to a chiropractor, and continued on this path until he turned 62. Only then did he discover Tai Chi. Since taking it up, he has visited his chiropractor only a few times. He attributes the improvement directly to Tai Chi, which he practises 20 minutes to two hours several times each week.
Jack has been doing Tai Chi for almost 8 years. Three years ago, when the facilitators of a Tai Chi class he was attending moved away, he assumed the role of instructor. “I wanted the Tai Chi badly enough that I stepped up,” he said.
Tai Chi’s development has an interesting history. It grew out of a variety of practises over the course of 2,000 years in China. It only became a formal system of exercise in the 11th century.
Priests were the ones who developed the slow, dance-like techniques. According to Jack, they had good reason to. “Ancient China used to be like the Old Wild West,” he said. “Roving bandits used to travel the countryside and pick on them…the priests were flabby [from doing hours of meditation], so they started incorporating exercise into their meditation,” he explained.
Eventually the exercises developed into a form of martial art, which the priests used in self-defence. As their reputation grew, Chinese emperors began to call on priests to train their armies. The priests later became advisors to their military forces, and the techniques came to be closely guarded secrets, Jack said.
Today there are several styles of Tai Chi, most of which only developed since the 1920s in Peking, “when it became a kind of gentlemen’s sport,” said Jack. Chen ,Yang, Wu and Sun are some of the styles, but dozens developed, including the Taoist style that Jack practises. What makes Taoist Tai Chi different is that it has an “extra degree of stretching and turning in each move.” This gives it extraordinary health benefits.
“I started coming for my health and my posture,” said Jackie Goodman who has been taking part in the class for about eight years. “It’s a very good stress reliever. It’s almost like a medication,” she said.
Regular practise of Tai Chi improves the cardiovascular, skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems. It also improves balance and flexibility and reduces stress, according to the people who practise it.
“I have arthritis throughout my body, and I feel it really helps,” said Lorraine Bohn, who has been with Jack’s group for over five years. The benefits, for her, don’t stop with the physical. She also enjoys experiencing the movement of “Chi” energy throughout her body. “It relaxes me and takes away my tension,” she said.
Tai Chi is, both, a physical and mental exercise, which harmonizes the mind and body. It is a meditation in motion that requires total concentration.
Another member of the class, Larry Burdeny, claims that it is “mentally, one of the biggest challenges going.” The set of 108 moves, consisting of 38 basic moves, takes at least a year to learn, “then it takes a lifetime to fully appreciate the art,” said Jack.
Currently, Jack holds beginner and continuing classes at the New Horizons 55 Plus Activity Centre in Gimli. The cost to join Jack’s group is $23 per month for a regular adult, or $15 for seniors, plus a one-time $20 fee to join the Taoist Tai Chi Society. As a member of the society, one can attend any Taoist Tai Chi centre in the world for free.
