Prairie School of Tai Chi Chuan (Regina, Saskatchewan)

01/11/2026

This last year has seen a great upsurge in online Tai Chi instruction ads promising body builder results particularly for older men. Or, maybe it varies depending on your algorithm. I guess you know what I'm seeing... Ha!

Regardless, these are for the most part AI generated ads. Some of them even have some fine print admitting to this.

One of the most common ones has a VERY buff man who always presents himself with his shirt off. He confidently claims that any one can get ripped in a short time doing Tai Chi.

I'm just here to tell you that this ridiculous. If you want to look like him, please go to a gym, gorge yourself on protein shakes, and starve yourself of fats.

Listen, your body will get healthier with Tai Chi and even look better, but it won't look like the man in these ads. In my opinion, it's not even healthy to look like that.

Please don't be ashamed of having some fat on your body. And bulging muscles are not the healthiest type of tissue.

If you really want to learn Tai Chi, I recommend finding a Tai Chi School in your area. If the school can claim some decent lineage, then that's good. If they teach the complete system, whether or not you want to learn all aspects, then that's better, too. Just give it a try.

If you really need/want to learn online, there are some legitimate teachers, or at least adequate ones, offering some instruction. They won't promise that you'll get ripped...

But, you know what? There are other things you can try, too, if there are no Tai Chi schools around. Swimming is brilliant. Yoga is everywhere. Cross country skiing. Dancing.

You don't have to do Tai Chi! If you were drawn in by those ads, then you probably don't WANT to do Tai Chi!

And, if you want to look like the guy in those Tai Chi ads, then join a gym. It's actually insulting to Gym bros, too, that a month of Tai Chi basics will get you all beefed up like that!

Anyway, I'm sorry about those ads. They are leading you astray. Also, they debase the style I have worked very hard on for the last few decades and from which I have derived many physical and mental benefits. Or, I guess I'm wasting my time if I don't look like I'm a body building competitor.😉

Cheers friends!

Eric James

01/05/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CMuewWUgY/

The Cathedral Village Community Association is dedicated to making the Cathedral Area a vibrant neighbourhood with a hometown feel and a rich sense of community. We offer a variety of classes for a…

01/04/2026

It’s 2026! I (Wybo) am sharing the following options for you to try this year or come back to. I have two courses that I have been offering for about 3 years at the Cathedral Area Neighbourhood Centre.
1st course: Tai Chi Chuan: Yang Style (Sunday mornings)
2nd course: Qigong: Flow, Balance & Breathe (Tuesday evenings)
To register for one or both, please click on the link below and find the titles in the list of adult programs.
Eric also has his event happening in February and March for those interested.
Please share with anyone you think may be interested.

The Cathedral Village Community Association is dedicated to making the Cathedral Area a vibrant neighbourhood with a hometown feel and a rich sense of community. We offer a variety of classes for a…

12/21/2025

ANNOUNCEMENT: Winter Qigong session in February and March. Sundays 3 to 5pm starting February 1, 2026!

Season’s Greetings everyone! I have an idea for a different (yet same) sort of class for the new year. Firstly, 6 weeks instead of 8. Also, 2 hour sessions instead of 1.5. However, we’re still at the lovely FadaDance studios.

As for the curriculum, in previous sessions you may have noticed an increased focus on inner awareness. In this next class, we’ll practice some familiar Qigong sets in the first half of the class, but then we’ll also have a look at some seated Qigong, and even meditation. Like never before, we’ll work on the inner aspects of Qigong while still paying respects to the outer form. At the heart of it, I prefer a Daoist approach to internal styles where the physical is never left behind to cultivate the mind/spirit without it. We perpetually work both.

We have some wonderful terms that Tai Chi and Qigong schools use to talk about inner and outer work, although not always in the same way. This is not so much as two separate places, but as poles that work together and for which Qigong has approaches that help guide one’s focus to be relatively external or relatively internal to activate change in the mind and body at different levels. All things gain identify by being sufficiently opposite to something else, and I think the greatest change is discovered while travelling between the two poles and working points along the way. There are numerous terms for this type of study. I’m going to pick these two:
• Waidan - Alchemy which focuses on external methods
• Neidan - Alchemy which focuses on internal methods

Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong are usually considered “Internal” arts, however it can be very useful to consider how even within these arts some aspects are external and some internal. So, in my Qigong classes, we are relatively external when we focus on the body movement of an exercise, how the postures should look, and all the aspects we can see with our physical eyes, whereas we become more internal as we use interoception to search for tension lines in the body or the correct moment to be aware of an aspect of our alignment that is not visible but felt. We are even more internal when we feel energy gates open and close or intentionally enhance energy lines using our attention alone or some subtle adjustment to our alignment using breath rather than external manipulation.

So, we’ll do a Qigong set and some stance training to get the energy moving. Then we’ll use that enhanced sensitivity to explore the more subtle internal regions with simple techniques, even seated meditation. We’ll use specific intentions to guide movements to drive the results deeper into our bodies. There are specific energy points I’ll direct you to. There are energy pathways sometimes called “vessels” that we’ll find and intentionally work with. This is not easier than the outer work, although an audience would find much less to see.

Ideally, to take this class you will have already taken one of my other classes, or you have had some experience with inner work. I am not closed to complete beginners taking the course, but the second part of the class might not feel like much is going on if you are not yet introduced to feeling inner movement. I will do my best to help you experience as much as you can from the class.

Please keep an eye out for the event and more info. It’s coming soon.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

-Sifu Eric James

10/20/2025

Here's another short offering. Free except for the membership fee of about $5. See you there, if you're interested!

Tai Chi starts TONIGHT!

📍1770 Halifax St.
⏰ 6:30-7:30 PM

There’s still time to sign up. Call (306) 757-9952. Open to all ages!! See you there!

10/19/2025

Today's the day! We're on for 3pm! See you soon.

And, there is still room in the class if anyone still wants to join us!

10/10/2025

Class starts on Sunday October 19 at 3pm at FadaDance. People are registering! Please register now to reserve your spot. I'm looking forward to seeing you!

08/09/2025

Good morning! The retreat is on today at 10am. There are spots left, so please feel welcome to simply drop in and register.

Have a great weekend!

Sifu Eric James