Tai Chi & Qigong Surrey

02/05/2026

CONTINUING MY SERIES - UNDERSTANDING TAI CHI & QIGONG

🌿 Quietening the mind 🌿

As you move through Tai Chi or Qigong, you’re gathering a lot of information about your body.

But there’s another piece that’s just as important… the mind.

When the mind begins to quieten:
• You can notice how thoughts and emotions affect tension in your body
• You create space for the nervous system to settle
• You stop overriding what your body is actually asking for

A busy, “on-the-go” mind can keep the body in a more activated state.

A quieter mind, on the other hand, creates the conditions for the body to regulate, rebalance, and heal more naturally.

It’s not about forcing stillness—it’s about allowing it.

01/05/2026

🕸️ Your body understands more than you might realise — and much of that awareness lives in your fascia.

Research suggests fascia contains around 6–8 times more sensory receptors than muscle tissue (with some estimates even higher). In simple terms, that means a large part of how you feel your body — and regulate it — comes through this connective web.

So what does that mean in practice?

Those slow, continuous, flowing movements in tai chi and qigong aren’t just “gentle exercise.” They’re a way of improving how clearly you sense tension, effort, balance, and ease — and that directly affects how you move and how you feel day to day.

When that sensing system is clearer:
• You notice tension earlier, before it builds into pain
• You release unnecessary effort instead of carrying it all day
• Your balance and coordination improve
• Breathing becomes easier and less restricted
• The body settles more quickly out of stress

Fascia isn’t just tracking position — it’s responding to pressure, stretch, and your internal state. So when you practise softening, releasing, and moving with continuity, you’re helping your system shift out of holding patterns and into something more efficient.

That’s a big part of health management — not just fixing problems, but sensing and adjusting before they take hold.

When we say “soften,” “release,” “feel the weight drop,” we’re guiding that process.

To find out more about our tai chi, qigong and meditation classes please contact Nicci at twgwithnicci@gmail.com.

27/04/2026

🌿 Spring Social – Mindfulness Walk in Nature 🌿

Just before the end of last term, we went for a lovely walk in Fellands Copse to see the bluebells.

I’m sure many of you take walks like this throughout the year—getting some fresh air, stretching the legs, and enjoying being outdoors. What we sometimes forget is just how powerful these moments can be for our body and mind when we approach them a little differently.

Spending time in nature helps to calm the nervous system, ease mental chatter, and gently restore our energy. When we slow down, our breathing softens, our awareness expands, and we start to feel more connected—not just to nature, but to ourselves as well.

The focus of this walk was to really slow things down and notice what was around us. Not just the obvious beauty of the bluebells, but the many other plants and flowers, the textures of the woodland, and the variety of birdsong (with a little help from the Merlin app to identify them!).

It was quite amazing how much we found simply by taking our time—as you can see from the pictures.

Next time you head out on one of your nature walks, try slowing your pace just a little. Pause, look closer, listen more carefully… and see what you discover 🌸

26/04/2026

UNDERSTANDING TAI CHI & QIGONG

🌿 Working with the fascia 🌿

In both Tai Chi and Qigong, we gently activate the body’s connective tissue—also known as fascia.

This is where things get really interesting…

Fascia connects everything in the body, so tension or pain in one place isn’t always coming from where you feel it. That knee discomfort? It could be linked to your hips, back, or even your ankles.

By moving in a slow, connected way, you start to sense these patterns more clearly. Over time, this can help you understand your body on a much deeper level—and begin to release areas of holding and restriction.

Some theories even suggest this is how practices like acupuncture work—through these same connective pathways.

In that sense, you’re learning how to tune into—and work with—your own body from the inside out.

25/04/2026

UNDERSTANDING TAI CHI & QIGONG

🌿 Slowing down 🌿

One of the most important things we do in Tai Chi and Qigong is… slow everything down.

In everyday life, we rarely give ourselves time to notice what’s going on in the body. But when you move slowly, something shifts.

You start to feel:
• Where your weight really is
• How your feet connect to the ground
• Where you might be holding tension
• How you’re actually moving (not how you *think* you are)

This awareness is like turning a light on. It gives you real, usable information about your body—information you can use to support your health, improve your movement, and reduce strain.

Sometimes, simply slowing down is where the change begins.

24/04/2026

QIGONG WORKSHOP – REIGATE – SATURDAY 9 MAY (AFTERNOON)

Feeling wired but tired…
Struggling to switch off…
Or just craving a few hours where you can properly reset?

This gentle afternoon workshop is a chance to slow everything down.

Through simple, flowing qigong movements, guided breathing, and quiet awareness, you’ll begin to:

🌿 Release tension you didn’t realise you were holding

🌿 Settle a busy mind and feel more grounded

🌿 Breathe more deeply and naturally

🌿 Leave feeling calmer, clearer, and recharged

No experience needed — everything is taught step by step, at a relaxed pace.

This isn’t about fitness or pushing yourself.
It’s about learning how to restore your energy and feel more like yourself again.

✨ Small, friendly group
✨ Suitable for all ages and abilities

🗓 Saturday 9 May
📍 Quaker Meeting House, Reigate
🕐 1:45–4:30pm
💷 £30

📩 Message me or email twgwithnicci@gmail.com to book

(Image - my teacher, Shen Jin, demonstrating one of the Ba Duan Jin exercises)

24/04/2026

The connection between hormones, histamine and stress.

The connection between hormones, histamine and stress.
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🌸 When your body feels like it's overreacting to everything — it might be a histamine story

Have you noticed that certain times of the month you suddenly get headaches, feel flushed, your skin flares up, or you're congested for no obvious reason? Or that stress sends you into a spiral of symptoms that seem completely unrelated to each other?

There's a connection that doesn't get nearly enough attention: oestrogen, stress and histamine.

Here's the simple version 👇

**The oestrogen-histamine loop**

Oestrogen and histamine are in a feedback loop — oestrogen stimulates the release of histamine, and histamine in turn triggers more oestrogen production. When oestrogen rises (in the lead-up to ovulation, or in perimenopause when hormones fluctuate unpredictably), histamine can spike with it.

At the same time, oestrogen suppresses the enzyme (DAO) that breaks histamine down. So you get more histamine and less ability to clear it. A double hit.

**Where does stress come in?**

Stress activates mast cells — the immune cells that store and release histamine. So when your nervous system is in "threat mode," histamine release goes up. Chronic stress means chronically elevated histamine. And most of us are carrying more stress than we realise.

**What might this look like?**

Headaches or migraines (especially mid-cycle or pre-menstrually)

Flushing, hives, itchy skin

Nasal congestion with no cold in sight

Bloating, nausea or digestive upset

Heart palpitations

Anxiety, irritability or feeling wired but tired

Reactions to wine, fermented foods, aged cheese or leftovers

**What can help?**

🥗 Diet: Reducing high-histamine foods during sensitive phases (fermented foods, alcohol, processed meats, spinach, tomatoes) can make a noticeable difference. Supporting DAO enzyme production through B6, copper and vitamin C is also worth exploring.

😴 Sleep and nervous system regulation: This is foundational. Your body clears histamine and regulates mast cells best in a parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) state. Easier said than done — but this is exactly where consistent practice pays off.

🌿 Movement as medicine: Gentle, mindful movement — qigong and tai chi in particular — activates the parasympathetic nervous system, reduces cortisol and supports lymphatic clearance. It's not "just relaxation." It's a physiological shift. Over time, regular practice genuinely changes how your body handles stress and, by extension, how it manages histamine.

🪡 Acupuncture: There's growing evidence that acupuncture modulates mast cell activity and supports the regulation of the HPA axis (your stress-response system). From a Chinese medicine perspective, we'd often be looking at patterns involving Liver qi stagnation, Heat, or Spleen-Stomach imbalance — all of which map beautifully onto the histamine-stress picture.

Treatments are tailored to you and where you are in your cycle.

If this resonates and some of these symptoms feel familiar, I'd love to discuss how acupuncture, tai chi or qigong might support your wellbeing.

💬 Drop a comment or send me a message.

23/04/2026

✨ Tai Chi & Qigong – what’s the difference? ✨

I get asked this a lot, so here’s a simple way to think about it…

**Tai Chi** is a *martial art* that has been adapted for health and wellbeing. It’s practiced as a flowing sequence of movements, bringing together balance, coordination, awareness, and calm.

**Qigong** shares the same roots and principles, but is usually simpler and more repetitive—making it easier to focus in on specific aspects of the body and mind.

Both practices help you slow down, tune in, and support your body’s natural ability to regulate and heal.

Over the next few posts, I’ll share a bit more about *how* they do this—and why it’s so powerful 💛

10/04/2026

QIGONG WORKSHOP - 9 MAY PM - REIGATE

Feeling stressed, tired, or just in need of some time for YOU?

🌿Qigong combines slow, flowing movement with conscious breath and focused awareness — and the benefits speak for themselves:

🌿 Reduces stress and anxiety — calms the nervous system and lowers cortisol

😴 Improves sleep quality — fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply

💪 Builds strength and flexibility — gently tones the body without strain

🫀 Supports heart health — reduces blood pressure and improves circulation

🧠 Sharpens mental clarity — lifts mood and improves concentration

✨ Promotes deep wellbeing — whole-body vitality, inside and out

Whether you're brand new or returning to your practice, you're warmly welcome.

🗓️ Saturday 9 May | 📍 Quaker Meeting House, Reigate | 🕐 1.45-4.30pm | 💷 £30

👉 Email Nicci on twgwithnicci@gmail.com to book your spot

06/04/2026

Stiff shoulders, low energy, a mind that won't quiet down? The 8 Brocades are a classical qigong form designed to move qi (vital energy) through every major energy pathway — gently and effectively.

Fifteen minutes a day can make a real difference.

This workshop will include an introduction to a number of these exercises as well as a selection of other qigong and meditation tools tailored for the health and wellbeing needs of attendees.

The workshop is taught by a teacher with 17+ years experience of qigong and some-one who actively uses qigong exercises and energetic forces to support patients and students in my classes and acupuncture clinics every week.

Beginners welcome.

If you'd like to know more about this workshop please contact Nicci at twgwithnicci@gmail.com

06/04/2026

Our next Tai Chi Pushing Hands workshop is on Saturday 9 May (10-12.45) in Reigate.

This is a great way to explore using tai chi principles and forces in connection with another person.

The workshop is part of our ongoing series and is open to all including beginners.

If you'd like to find out more or sign up please contact Nicci on twgwithnicci@gmail.com.

06/04/2026

Announcing a brand new tai chi class on a Thursday morning in Reigate - 10-11am.

Our new tai chi class is starting at the beginning of May. We'll be focussing on a short tai chi form at first. This is a form that is easy for beginners to learn and practice and introduces many of the key tai chi principles.

The first class is free for new students.

Classes taught by a teacher with over 17 years tai chi experience and training in Western Medicine Anatomy and Physiology .

Email Nicci on twgwithnicci@gmail.com to find out more or to sign up.