Tai Chi for international students @ Melbourne Polytechnic
A group of students from over 15 countries recently had a rare opportunity to engage in Tai Chi and Qigong exercises to take a break from their English studies. It was a wonderful sight, watching these young people in their twenties twist and turn, raise arms and legs in never-before experienced movements, slowly and gently even when they would rather move quickly, trying to tame their own resistance to the newness of it all. Their steps were followed by sudden bursts of laughter, puzzled looks and smiles, while timidly or confidently ‘stroking the bird’s tale’, ‘separating the clouds’ or ‘punching forward’, showing their new skills. Many embraced the novel experience with pleasure and appreciation.
Soon, the harmonious rhythm of ‘stepping like a cat’ and breathing softly created an atmosphere of quiet enjoyment at realising how good they were at pushing their own boundaries. They came to Melbourne from as far as Colombia, Venezuela, Kenya, Italy, Pakistan, Thailand, India, Japan and many other countries to study accounting, engineering, social sciences, IT, agriculture, business etc. However, prior to starting those courses the students would often hone their English language skills in ELICOS Program (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students).
I was delighted to see how easily we combined their English classes with Tai chi and Chi gong instruction. That experience, with continued practice, I hope, will aide their mental and physical relaxation and clarity of focus to help them in their future learning and career pursuits.
Snezana Dabic
Snr Instructor Box Hill Centre