On Tuesday mornings at the BORP Fitness Studio Ralph Somack teaches Seated Tai Chi. This new class is similar to Ralph’s popular Tai Chi for Arthritis and Fall Prevention. Ralph leads the class through a practice of selected movements derived from the internal Chinese Martial Arts consisting mainly of Quang Ping Yang and Sun style Tai Chi and Ba Gua (Pa Kua). Tai Chi uses slow circular movements as a training aid to develop sensitivity and body alignment. Ba Gua emphases spiral movement energy likened to a “dragon soaring through the clouds.” Both disciplines use movements initiated by the core muscle groups to generate force. Tai Chi and Ba Gua are examples of moving meditation as well as sophisticated methods of building and applying refined power and integrating the mind, body, and spirit.
Click here to view the BORP Fitness Studio schedule online and sign up for Seated Tai Chi
About Instructor Ralph Somack
Ralph Somack is a Tai Chi and Pa Kua (Ba Gua) practitioner based in Oakland. He is a retired PhD chemist with 30 years of Tai Chi experience. Ralph is a former student of Tai Chi Grand Master Y-C Chiang and is Board Certified by the Tai Chi for Health Institute to teach Paul Lam’s Sun-style Tai Chi program for Arthritis and Fall Prevention. He is passionate about teaching Tai Chi to help people live healthier, less stressful lives by focusing on fundamental Tai Chi and Qi Gong principles of movement, body awareness, alignment and mental focus. Â He also enjoys windsurfing.