Over the last few months I have had several people express interest in forming Independent Practice Groups to practice T’ai Chi in between classes. I love this idea!
An Independent Practice Group would be a student run group that would get together (presumably weekly, but that would be up to the group) to practice the T’ai Chi form. This would more likely be focused on the Traditional form, but there is no reason that a T’ai Chi for Better Balance practice group couldn’t be started as well.
In order to get a group going, we need to find out if others are interested. We would also need someone to “organize” the group. This means contacting the group to let them know where and when it would be held, reminding them of the practices, and determining a location for the group.
Please note that you do not need to “know the form” to be an organizer. Being an organizer does not mean that you would be responsible for teaching the group. It just means that you would organize the group. It would be up to the organizer to decide where and when to meat, but I imagine the group would determine its own personality.
Please also note that your practice group may need to work your way through the movements of the form if nobody knows the whole thing independently. Each practice group would have its own personality and way of doing things. but this would all be helpful in learning the form and in deepening your experience of the form.
I have set a Google Form to be filled out for anyone who is interested in joining or organizing a group. If you would like to participate, please use the link below.
Independent Practice Group Form
I will let any respondents know about groups forming in your area of interest. I will also let you know if there are not enough people to form a group or if there is a need for an organizer in your area. But I’ll give it a few weeks to see how things develop.