This year at McGuffey, our students have had the opportunity to study Tai Chi and Taekwondo. Both are martial arts; Tai Chi (a Chinese martial art) emphasizes softness, balance, and yielding, while Taekwondo (a Korean martial art) emphasizes hard strikes, cardiovascular endurance, and strong kicks.
This fall, we practiced Tai Chi for four weeks. The students learned about the concept of “stillness in motion,” controlled breathing, and keeping a balanced body position. The students learned the initial six moves in the simplified Yang-style Tai Chi form, from “parting the wild horse’s mane” to “repulsing the monkey.”
We are currently practicing Taekwondo with the help of Oxford Martial Arts. The older students are learning some basic self-defense, while the younger students are learning about strikes and kicks while getting some great exercise.
