We've come to the point in the year again where it is warm enough and light enough to be comfortable practicing Qigong in the open air.

This is now the 3rd year that Centre for Integral Health have organised a summer series of classes in the park to allow people and their families to explore the benefits of Qigong (Chee gung) in the open air. Qigong is an ancient Chinese practice that many will recognise in it's most popular form as Tai Chi. But Tai Chi is one of only 3500 forms Qigong, most of which are not a fighting system like Tai Chi, but are aimed at developing aspects of health and wellness.

In more recent times, Tai Chi and Qigong have been credited with improving knee and hip problems, even aiding recovery from surgery on those joints more quickly and easily. It has also been recognised that it offers a great deal of calm and relaxation due to it's slower nature and has been found to be of benefit for cognitive development and helping to slow the onset of dementia and Alzheimers.

Centre founder Ben Calder has been practicing Qigong for over 25yrs now and feels it is one of the most beneficial antidotes to modern fast paced, stress based living. "It really gives me time to just focus on my body, breathing and movement in such a way that all else just seems to dissolve away. If I am feeling stressed or tired, then even a short practice can really boost my energy and reset my mind, not to mention that if I've been sitting for a long time, a real modern health cause, it will help me to shake off the stiffness and improve how my body feels and moves."

Ben has been running a weekly Qigong class on Monday evenings at the Centre for Integral Health for over 3 years. The classes are always open to all abilities and ages, with the majority of them being a donation only payment, to make this amazing practice open to as many as possible.

The Summer series this year will be mainly held i the Sydney Avenue park, in Castlefields, just down the river from the weir. 

There will be a series of guest teachers who come in and teach classes on some of the weeks, with the rest being taught by Ben as he share the amazing LifeForce Qigong system developed by his brother Simon Calder and is currently the only person in the UK offering LifeForce Qigong. 

There are 2 special events happening, starting this Sunday 20th May and the second on 22nd July, where the normal single hour practice will be extended into a half day or whole day depending on what option participants select. These days will be tied into the Chinese 5 Element system which links the seasons to certain organs in the body. These days will focus on the summer and later summer elements Fire and Earth which are connect to Heart and Spleen energies. These will run in the Quarry Park or at the Centre for Integral Health if weather is wet.

The other practices will be single hours and will be held in Sydney Avenue Park in Castlefields, with a potential online live version if the weather is poor.

More details of all the events can be found on the Centre website events page, Ben's own website events page or on the Facebook group Qigong in the Park - Shrewsbury Summer Sundays

any questions can be asked by contacting Ben on 07748947131 or email ben@bencalder.co.uk