Qigong Craven Arms
Shropshire
I offer regular weekly
classes for beginners to learn Qigong
in
Craven Arms Shropshire.
I also offer 1-2-1
Qigong training and corporate
Chi Gung throughout South Shropshire, North
Herefordshire and East Powys. If you're searching for
Qigong near me - please take a look at my classes
to see if there's something here for you.
I love working with beginners,
starting out with you on your Qigong or Tai Chi
journey and teaching you the fundamentals of the
internal Chinese arts. I will work with you to take
you through the basics and then guide you further as
your practice and understanding grow. My own path in
Tai Chi and Qigong is ongoing and is a constant source
of discovery, enjoyment and yes, occasionally,
frustration!
We follow the
Taoist Water Tradition, so I emphasise the soft and
gentle side of Qigong and Tai Chi, making these
classes ideal for everyone, whatever your physical
capacity or age (over 18s only).
What is Chi Gung /
Qigong?
Chi Gung comprises a
series of soft, gentle, repetitive movements which
work to maintain and improve your body, mind and
energy's natural tendency towards optimal health and
balance.
Even the most basic movements can offer
profound changes and benefits: a simple exercise with
the hands, an awareness of how to look after your
knees or spine, a relaxed way of aligning your body
whether standing or sitting, how to feel and move your
qi and improving your breathing. All these exercises
and more are encompassed in the Qigong I teach. With
practice and training, you'll gradually develop your
Qigong to engage all parts of your body, both
internally and externally, as well as working with
your mind and your energy.
Benefits
of Qigong include:
- Relieving stress
- Relaxing your
mind and body
- Improving
your balance
- Strengthening
and softening your nervous system
- Enhancing
your body awareness and co-ordination
- Balancing and
increasing your energy
Please email me
for further information or call 07880 501302 (you must
be over 18).
What to
Expect at Your Qigong or Tai Chi Class
Please wear
whatever clothes you feel comfortable in and which
don't restrict your movement. Ideally, shoes should be
soft and flexible with thin, flat soles, but trainers
or even socks are fine to start with.
Depending on your individual capability, Chi Gung can
be done either standing or sitting, and part of the
class often involves some sitting exercises. Tai Chi
is usually done standing.
The class format is that I will demonstrate a movement
or an exercise and then you practise it. I move around
the class giving individual feedback. If you need to
stop and rest at any time, you're encouraged to do so.
Qigong and Tai Chi differ completely from a standard
'western' exercise class. The intention instead is to
de-stress your system, not to push it to the limit and
stress yourself more! The golden rule is never to work
at more than 70% of your mental, physical and
energetic capacity. Any time during the class, you're
free to stop the exercise you're doing, sit down, have
some water, in fact anything that YOU need to do.
If you have any questions or concerns you would like
to discuss before coming to your first Chi Gung or Tai
Chi class, please phone (07880 501302) or email
me.
I teach
three main Qigong systems from the Energy Arts
curriculum:
Dragon
and Tiger Chi Gung (Qi Gong)
This Qigong system is
some 1,500 years old and is still practised in China
today. It comprises a series of seven movements to
stimulate and balance the flow of chi throughout the
body and unblock stagnant chi. This can result in an
improvement in overall well-being and an increase in
the body's chi (energy) levels. It acts much like a
daily acupuncture tune-up that you can do for yourself
in about 15 minutes. These Chi Gung movements can also
help reduce stress, whilst improving physical balance,
co-ordination and flexibility. You can practise Dragon
and Tiger Chi Gung whatever your state of health. Even
if the movements are not performed perfectly, they can
still be highly beneficial.
Opening
the Energy Gates of Your Body Chi Gung
(Qi Gong)
Regular practice of this
Qigong system can help you gain improvements in both
your physical and mental well-being. It includes:
Standing - a core practice of Chi Gung to increase
internal awareness, work with body alignments to
improve posture and reduce tension, and improve the
smooth flow of chi throughout the body.
Outer Dissolving - having started with sinking the
chi, this practice moves on to scanning for and
dissolving physical and energetic blockages.
Cloud Hands - a slow, continuous Chi Gung exercise to
integrate the body physically and energetically,
carrying forward the skills of standing into movement.
Spine Stretch - a Chi Gung movement unique to Taoism,
it activates the chi of the spine and brain, as well
as being highly beneficial physically for the spine.
It is particularly useful for those who use computers
for long periods.
Foundational Qigong
Foundational Qigong
covers the four core exercises of standing, sitting,
Taoist breathing and Qigong circling hands in the
sagittal, transverse and coronal planes. The focus is
on good physical alignments, relaxing the body,
releasing the nerves and taking the body into circular
movement and away from linearity and reciprocal
inhibition.
About the Teacher
Simon (that's me!)
has been training in Aikido since 1980 and teaching
since 1985. Currently, I teach martial
arts in Knighton at Whitton
Aikido. In 1996, I began to study and work with
several complementary health and self-development
systems and I am a member of the Federation of
Holistic Therapists.
Having had initial contact with Chi Gung in 2004, I
attended a number of short Chi Gung seminars with
Taoist Lineage Master Bruce Frantzis, founder of
Energy Arts. In 2008, I attended an Energy
Arts instructor training course with Master Frantzis
and was certified as a Level I Instructor of
Dragon and Tiger Chi Gung. In 2009, following a further
instructor training, I was certified as a Level 1
Instructor of Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body Chi
Gung. I now practise the internal
Chinese energy arts almost every day.
Since 2009, I have regularly
attended additional training in the Energy Arts system
and also undergone regular teacher re-certification
with Paul Cavel, a Senior Energy Arts
Instructor. In 2023, Paul Cavel ran a
Foundational Qigong Teacher Training Seminar and
Instructor Upgrade into the new Energy Arts
Eight-level Instructor Certification Programme. I
certified as a Level 3 Instructor of Foundational
Qigong and was re-certified as a Level 3 Instructor of Opening
the Energy Gates of Your Body Qigong and a Level 5
Instructor of Dragon and Tiger Qigong. In 2024, I
achieved teaching certifications in Tai Chi (Yang
style) and Taoist Neigong with The Tai Chi
Space.
I am also recognised by the British Aikido Board
as a Level 3 Coach, hold the Award in Education and
Training and a Level 5 Qualification in Leadership and
Management.
About Master Bruce
Frantzis
Bruce Frantzis, a
Taoist lineage master, studied in China, Japan and
India for many years. For more information on Bruce
Frantzis and Energy Arts go to

Buy
books by Bruce Frantzis.
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What
some participants on previous Chi Gung / Qi Gong
courses have said:
"If I do my chi
gung first thing in the morning, I find it
revitalises me for the day."
"Relaxation and more
awareness of my body, in terms of what it was doing
and what muscles and organs each movement was
affecting."
"It was a lot less
intensive than I had thought it would have been… I had
been expecting more of a 200% regime than a 70%
regime, but that was not an unwelcome development. I
occasionally felt things that I imagine could be
described as chi…. Hands feeling resistant or guided."
"The most memorable sensation was feeling
as if my head was floating off my body when trying
to get the posture right. Also, the first time I
tried Movement 1 I felt, probably imagined, that
energy was radiating from my fingertips into the
ground. I am more relaxed both physically and
mentally. I have a bit more energy and a heightened
awareness of both my surroundings and my own
movements."
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Discover this exciting and informative
book by my teacher, Paul Cavel:

Feedback from my teacher, Paul Cavel, at the Dragon
& Tiger teacher training in Crete in 2019.

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