A new 8-week session of Beginner Tai Chi for Fall Prevention is starting next week at Neighborhood Connections! See below: Worried about falling? Here's a solution: Tai Chi for Falls Prevention is a class sponsored by Senior Solutions and taught by Certified Tai Chi Instructors Tamasin Kekic and Helena Wu. It is free to adults 60 or better.

This beginner's class will be held every Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., starting May 3rd and running through June 25th, at Neighborhood Connections in Londonderry. There is no charge, but there is a little bit of paperwork to fill out at class. Feel free to just show up!

With regular practice, Tai Chi improves balance by strengthening muscles and coordination; simultaneously, it strengthens the mind, enhancing calmness and confidence in not falling. Thus, both physically and mentally, Tai Chi is a highly effective exercise for fall prevention.

There remain skeptics who see Tai Chi as too gentle an exercise to have such significant effects. True, Tai Chi movements appear to be gentle and graceful, but like the force beneath a seemingly calmly flowing river, Tai Chi movements contain much power and internal strength.

What is fascinating is that the fear of falling often results in more falls; hence, confidence in "not falling" will help to reduce falls.

For more information on Tai Chi for Fall Prevention throughout Southeastern Vermont please call or text Wendi at 802.755.7295 or email her at wgermain@seniorsolutionsvt.org