Tai Chi Beginner Level In Person Classes - Portside Harbor Ventura

Classes will be held in person, twice per week, allowing for consistent practice and steady progression. Check Schedule for Day/Time.

Tai Chi is often described as “meditation in motion,” but in practice, it is a disciplined system of training the body and mind together. Through slow, intentional forms, you will learn how to gather and store energy, improve balance and coordination, and develop strength without strain. As the weeks progress, we will also explore the natural transition from stillness into movement—circulating and expressing that energy with clarity and control.

This practice is suitable for beginners as well as those with prior experience who want to refine their foundation. Each session will include guided warm-up, form practice, and integration of key principles you can carry into daily life.

The goal is not just to learn movements, but to change how you move through the world, with more awareness, steadiness, and ease.

Benefits

Tai Chi supports the integration of mind, body, heart, and spirit, offering both meditative restoration and functional strength.

Physically, Tai Chi is a slow, weight-bearing, low-impact practice that builds strength through sustained postures, controlled transitions, and whole-body coordination. This supports balance, posture, joint health, flexibility, and bone density—without the strain or stress response associated with high-impact exercise.

Energetically and neurologically, the practice:

• Cultivates and circulates Qi, reducing stagnation and restoring vitality

• Calms an overactive nervous system while improving focus and mental clarity

• Trains the body to release unnecessary tension while maintaining internal strength

• Develops the capacity to issue power (jin) efficiently, guided by intention rather than force

• Encourages heart-centered awareness and a steady, grounded emotional state

The alternation between slow cultivation and expressive issuing teaches the body how to remain calm and centered even during dynamic movement. This ability—to hold stillness within motion—becomes a transferable skill, supporting resilience, clarity, and presence in daily life.

What This Class Is

Tai Chi is a meditative movement practice that trains the body to cultivate, circulate, and harmonize life force energy (Qi) while developing the ability to express trained power (jin) through relaxed, connected movement.

Rooted in the Dong Family Style of Tai Chi, a derivative of the Yang tradition, this class emphasizes continuity, whole-body integration, and clarity of intent. The practice weaves together slow, deliberate forms with more expressive and dynamic movements, allowing students to experience both deep internal stillness and responsive flow.

In this class, you will learn:

• Slow-style Tai Chi forms (simplified and more advanced) designed to gather, sink, and refine Qi, nourishing the body and calming the mind

• Tai Chi drills and expressive forms that emphasize particular movements as a form of training

• Foundational alignment and weight-shifting practices, building structure, balance, and internal connection

• Breath-led, meditative movement, guided by intention (yi), allowing awareness to settle and the spirit to become clear

Each session follows a conscious arc:

• A gentle warm-up to open joints, soften fascia, and settle the nervous system

• Tai Chi forms and drills that cultivate Qi through slowness and circulate it through continuity

• A closing practice to gather, settle, and integrate Qi throughout the body

As movement becomes continuous and unforced, the mind naturally quiets.

There are generally three stages to learning:

1. Mental Stage - Learning from the mind

2. Physical Stage - Learning from the body

3. Spiritual Stage - Knowing from within

4. HeartFull stage - Added Bonus - Experience Bliss & Joy

As one engages in Taichi practice, attention turns inward and the practice becomes a moving meditation, clarifying thought, opening awareness through the heart, and restoring a sense of internal coherence with spirit.

Practiced in standing form, each posture flows seamlessly into the next, guided by breath, intention, and subtle weight shifts that awaken deep postural intelligence and embodied presence.

This practice is less about doing more and more about sensing more, learning how to move with efficiency, grace, and calm authority.

Who This Class Is For

Tai Chi is for all people across all stages of life who are seeking a practice that is both meditative and strengthening, subtle yet deeply effective.

This class is especially supportive for:

• Beginners new to Tai Chi, as well as experienced practitioners refining internal connection with grounding techniques

• No prior Tai Chi experience is required.

• The forms are taught progressively, with attention to alignment, safety, and individual pacing.

Tai Chi is about cultivating vitality, circulating it wisely, and expressing power only when appropriate. A lifelong practice that evolves with you, meeting each season with steadiness, clarity, and quiet strength.

For optimal support, join Radiant Flow Meno-Qigong the same morning. They are set up to be complementary.

Session Details

• 90 minute sessions

• In person: Ventura, California: Portside Resident Courtyard

What you need

• Comfortable loose clothing for easy movement, bring layers

• Flat shoes with wide toe box: Barefoot Shoes or Xero Shoes work best

• Water

• Hat or Sunglasses for outdoor class

Pricing Options & How to Register

• Single Drop In Class: In Person Registration Only $25/Class. Come show up!

• Two Classes per week: In Person Registration Only $35/Week. Come show up!

In Peace, Love, and Gratitude,

Dr. Ellie