We had a lovely evening at Temperance at the Supper Club last week where we were joined by Julia Mitchell from Hatton Tai Chi who gave everyone a taster class Tai Chi and some background into this ancient martial art.

There was as always plenty of inspiration to take from the evening. I find Julia herself to be an inspiration as she has taken control of her own health challenges through adapting both her diet and exercise over the years. She describes Tai Chi as life changing. She came to it when she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in her knees and was starting to find yoga and Pilates too challenging.

What is inspirational is that Tai Chi is accesible to everyone, and has numerous health benefits including improved coordination, strength, balance and concentration.

Julia’s classes combine Tai chi with Shibashi Qigong, which she describes as a moving meditation,  I love this because it is another way of making mediation accessible to everyone. Taking time for mindful moments in our busy lives are beneficial to our health but not everyone finds conventional meditation easy. A moving meditation therefore might be more appealing to some. I try to take time out daily to meditate using the brilliant  ‘calm’ app, but I also find movement a real opportunity to lose myself for a while, particularly when I am focused on the tricky steps in my fitsteps class, or breathing through the poses in a yoga class. Its all about slowing down and getting into the ‘flow’ state that is so beneficial to our health & wellbeing.

The end of the year is often an opportunity to reflect on the past year.

I set up the Supper Club to bring people together to share ideas and learn and be inspired by a variety of speakers on health and wellbeing, and I am thrilled by the variety of areas we have covered over the year.

There are so many factors that contribute to our wellbeing, and I hope that everyone who has joined us at the Supper club will have taken something different from the sessions. I have taken so much from them, too many to mention but some peoples advice and wisdom remain with me…. I refer often to Jon Burgess’ analysis of the ‘overflowing tank’ when he describes how continued small stresses add up and eventually threaten to overwhelm us if we don’t take action…. I know that I am susceptible to feeling overwhelmed and this has a negative impact on my sleep. I can then recall the wise words of the lovely Sarah Orchard who encouraged me to slow down, have more cuppa’s with friends and take more baths! I also channel Su Menon frequently who has been tremendously supportive of everything I have achieved this year, and has taught me to be a little kinder to myself. Self compassion is key to wellbeing and is definitely something I struggle with at times. It has taken me many years but I think I may be starting to at last to challenge my negative thoughts and self limiting beliefs. I am finally realising that I  have listened to a lot of advice over the years but ultimately I am the only one who can take the necessary action.  Learning and inspiration is brilliant but can only have an impact when we take action!  My plan next year is to really put all this advice and inspiration into action and I would  love to support others to do this too. I am thrilled that the aim of our January Supper club is to help people to do just that! We will be joined by the brilliant Esther Williamson who is going to share her years of expertise and research in Physiotherapy to help us plan and set goals to make exercise more than a new years resolution. Please click on the Supper Club link to book on.