30 Mins Tai Chi for Weight Loss - Seniors & Beginners - Gentle Full Body to start New Year

Hi everybody. Today's session is a gentle tai chi workout designed to help you with weight loss, especially if you are over 50, 60 or 70 years old and are completely new to exercise. There's no jumping, running, no floor work and no pressure to keep up. Just slow, smooth, flowing movements to help your body burn energy naturally, boost your metabolism, improve your circulation and help you feel lighter physically and mentally. Move within your own comfort zone, listen to your own body and just keep at your own pace. We're going to get started. So this tai chi for weight loss session is the perfect way to get your body moving in a gentle and low impact way. Add this session to your regular routine three times a week and make movement part of your habit. We're going to start with our feet hip width apart. We're grounding our feet to the floor, lifting up through the crown and keeping everything relaxed at the joints. Remember to listen to your own body as we move. Let's start with our warm up, turning our head. Keep any movements with your head well within your own comfort zone. We want to be feeling a relaxed stretch through the neck and trying to release any stress and tension. Drop the chin to the chest and focus on turning the head to look around the room, keeping this really slow and the head under your own control. Let's change direction. Moving on to shoulder rolls and imagine we are releasing gently any stiffness, any tension that we are feeling. Changing direction. Let's wake up the arms. We're reaching out to the side, feeling an expansion across the chest and coming forwards with the arms. Your breathing wants to be calm. Inhale as the arms rise and exhale as the arms lower. Let's soften the knees with a small bend and add separating the clouds. A big breath in as the arms rise up and exhale slowly as the arms come down. A lovely qigong movement next called painting the rainbow. So we're keeping the arms elevated over the head and we're just slowly shifting the weight from one side to the other, adding a small stretch through that side. Next, getting the full body involved, bending the knees slightly and we're doing a waist turn, knocking on the door. We want to swing the arms freely. We're waking up our body, waking up the joints and waking up our metabolism. Keeping with this movement, we can progress it a little bit further with that turn of the body by bringing the arm across the body and tapping the shoulder. Rounding the upper body to a hug, opening out. A wise owl looks over its shoulder, feeling a stretch across the chest. Gathering the qi, big breath in as the arms rise high and breathe out slowly as the hands come down the front of the body. Really feel like you are gathering positivity into the body and releasing any negativity and shaking out the body. Just feel nice and relaxed, loose and ready for a little bit more of our Tai Chi. Okay, so we're going to start with our feet slightly wider than hip width and then we can sink into our horse stance. Remember our posture again, grounding the feet, lifting up through the crown, keeping everything relaxed. Inhale to prepare and exhale as we sink the body weight down and bend the knees into our horse stance, breathing in as the legs stretch straight again. Adding some arms, floating the arms up to shoulder height and relaxing them down like they are pushing through water. Opening the chest, opening the heart, adding that stretch out to the side and expansion across the chest. Separating the clouds and remember again our posture as we're sinking into horse stance, we still want to be lifting up through the crown. Stepping the feet out slightly wider and we're transferring the weight over to side bow stance. So really feel like this is a transfer of body weight across to one side and then the other by bending the knee. Let's add some arms, turning the waist to push across to the corner and again imagine we are pushing something heavy out of the way so we add that natural resistance to the movement. Keep it slow, smooth, controlled and flowing. Adding a progression by sliding across with a body weight transfer from one side bow over to the other through our horse stance. So do listen to your knees and make sure this movement suits you. A modification here is bringing ourselves back up to a straight standing position in the middle. This time instead of a push we're going to make a fist and punch across to the corner. Let's position ourselves in bow stance, we want our feet hip width apart in that front lunge position. We're going to rock the body weight backwards and forwards slow and steady. Let's add the arm movement and turn of the waist to power that push across the body. I'm going to use both hands to double push. Let's set up on the other side and repeat all that. So we want to be in a good bow stance, make sure that knee stays in a comfortable position and rock the body weight backwards and forwards. Adding the arm push across the body and progressing to that double push. Returning to our first side we're going to step out now to bow stance so a bit more of a dynamic movement by transferring the weight all the way into that back foot and stepping back out. Making our hands into fists let's add the punch and we're creating a more powerful movement now so this is going to burn more energy as we move with intention. Progressing to a double punch we want to circle the arms around to this double punch position and lifting the arms over the head is going to increase the cardiovascular benefits of this workout. Let's turn around and repeat all that on the second side. So remember we are stepping out into that bow stance transferring the weight all the way into the back leg to do that again. Adding the punch powering that with the turn of the waist and the transfer of body weight and progressing to our double punch. Fantastic work we're doing really well. Next we have a qigong movement called pressing palms we sweep the arms up above the head press the palms together and sink down into that horse stance. We're going to add opening the fan which means we're coming back up the middle turning the waist opening the hands so that they are shoulder height with the palms facing up. I really want you to try to sink your body weight into a deep horse stance with these movements. Sticking with these two movements we're going to bring our feet together and then as we open out into opening the fan we're going to step out to the side nice and wide so we can sink into that deep horse stance turning the waist to face that side wall. Stepping to face the corner we're scoop the C and look at the sky so we're bending that front knee to scoop the C and rocking back to open out opening the chest feeling that expansion and that lovely stretch through the body as we look at the sky. Let's repeat that on the other side. Returning to face the front with our feet wide we're going to do waving hands through clouds so first of all going to do the first bit which is transferring the weight to side bow into that starting position by raising that front arm across the body with the turn of the waist and if it suits you add in that progression for the lower body by staying low into our horse stance as we transfer the weight from side bow stance. Let's move on to the whole cloud hands movement and visualize all your worries melting away as we do our waving hands through clouds really get into the zone and feel your own flow. Let's open the chest open the heart really get a deep inhale here expanding the lungs and chest and exhale as the hands come down bringing the arms around to hugging the tree and we're we're going to count to five release as we stretch high holding up the heavens and feel a good stretch through the body and relax. Let's repeat that again this time stretching forwards at the waist down to a forwards bend just wherever feels comfortable for you and then scooping ourselves back up to stretch high moving on to pressing palms focusing on those moving hands and connecting mind to body feeling at one and at harmony with the movement and finally stepping feet together bringing the hands to the heart. Be thankful for our health and fitness a privilege to move with you today and I hope you've enjoyed this Tai Chi for weight loss session. Remember to subscribe to the channel if you've enjoyed the session and check out some of the others that are here for you to follow at home. Remember to try and do Tai Chi three times a week make it a habit and enjoy the benefits see you soon bye