Agar-Hutton Tai Chi Academy
Online Training Program

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You should learn Tai Chi for health and wellness

Hundreds of years of experience and modern scientific research, show that Tai Chi can help you maintain a healthy body, improve recovery from illness, improve balance and co-ordination, aid peace of mind, and help with reducing stress...
              ... and it's fun too.

Learn Tai Chi the easy way with an online training program that puts you in complete control of the learning process.

Tai Chi

Testimonials

Tricia Dawson
- Tricia Dawson -
"I have found it is easy to fit around a busy lifestyle and it helps me stay fit and flexible."
Chris Welbourne
- Chris Welbourn -
 “Being able to practice at home with instruction is invaluable! Thank you for setting up and producing this amazing resource.”
Linda Watts
- Linda Watts -
   “Graceful, informative, calming but invigorating at the same time.”
Siew-Peng Crevel
- Siew-Peng Crevel -
“I love the idea of using my body to function as a unified unit which is what Tai Chi allows me. It stretches my physical 'me' but does not leave me feeling exhausted.”
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Tai Chi For You

1. Learn the ancient and beautiful...

...arts of Tai Chi (also known as Taiji or Tai Chi Chuan) and Qigong.

Their timeless abilities to help and heal, will aid you in maximising your physical and mental wellness.

2. You only need this program...

...as you will receive a complete Tai Chi and Qigong training experience via online pre-recorded courses with (if you want it) direct email access to your instructors Robert and Lee Agar-Hutton.

Additionally there is an option to attend live Zoom sessions as well. 

3. Tai Chi combines gentle precise...

...movements that are slow, soft, and relaxing, with specific breathing, and techniques to relax and focus the mind. Tai Chi is designed to invigorate you and improve the way you use and move your body.

4. Tai Chi has the capability to be... 

...used for self-defence by anyone interested in that aspect of the art, and you will be shown that too, but most people practice Tai Chi for Health and Wellness and so that aspect of the art is covered in depth.

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The Benefits For You

You will have complete access to a wide range of courses that take you step by step through Tai Chi forms, Qigong exercises, and much much more.

• The courses contain straightforward and easy to follow lessons with video and/or written content.
• You can view them whenever you want, any time, any day, and watch them as often as you like.
• All the content is available to you as soon as you join so you proceed at whatever pace and in whatever way suits you.
• Help and guidance is only an email away - any questions, please just ask.

Easily Accessible Anytime

Woman practising Tai Chi

Learning Tai Chi has never been easier. Your online courses are available 24 hours a day, every day.

You can practice around a routine that suits you. That can be every day, once a week or whenever you like. Support and advice are just an email away. In fact, often a member’s question results in additional video material being added to a course, so every student can benefit.

You will be delighted by the quantity and depth of the pre-recorded Tai Chi training courses that are available to you in the program.

Just to clarify, the pre-recorded courses are a complete Tai Chi training program in and of themselves.

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Experienced and caring instructors who will teach and help you.

Robert Agar-Hutton

The founder and chief instructor of the academy is Robert Agar-Hutton. He has been studying martial arts since he was 18 (way back in 1971) and he started studying Tai Chi in the late 1970s. He has been teaching since 1993.

Robert Agar-Hutton

Chief Instructor
Robert’s martial arts experience includes training in arts such as Lau Gar Kung Fu, Wing Chun, Taekwondo, Bushi Kempo Jiu Jitsu, Five Ancestors Kung Fu, Judo, Shotokai Karate. and a few others. He studied Kyu Shin Ryu Karate for over 30 years reaching the rank of 5th degree Black Belt. However Tai Chi has been his most prolific area of study.

He has trained with a number of great Tai Chi instructors such as Erle Montaigue, Richard Watson, Simon Watson, Professor Li De Yin, Master Wang Yanji, Trevor Reynaert, Nick Taylor, Bruce Miller (USA), Ng Sifu (Malaysia), and others.

His main style of Tai Chi is Yang but he also has experience of Sun, Chen and Lee styles.

He holds a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Martial Arts and Sports Psychology from the University of Derby. His degree was earned after three years of full time study, as a mature student, between 2007 and 2010. This degree makes him one of only a handful of people and probably the only Tai Chi instructor in the country, with both a formal UK academic qualification in, and practical experience of, martial arts.

His main interests are Tai Chi for health and wellness, and Tai Chi for self defence. He has taught (and teaches) Tai Chi and Self Defence seminars in the UK, USA, and Malaysia.

As an instructor his main emphasis is making Tai Chi easy to understand and giving students all the information they need in order to learn and develop their skills.

He has also written several books on martial arts including “The Metamorphosis of Tai Chi: Created to kill; evolved to heal; teaching peace” ISBN: 978-1916494411 (Available from Amazon and leading bookstores).

If you have any questions about Tai Chi, please contact Robert, he would be very happy to answer them.

 

 

Lee Agar-Hutton

Lee Agar-Hutton has been involved with Tai Chi since the 1990s. She is Chinese (from Malaysia) and grew up understanding the Chinese language (The two main dialects, Cantonese and Mandarin) and also the cultural heritage that is part of Tai Chi.

Lee Agar-Hutton

Instructor
She has experience of Yang, Sun, and Chen styles of Tai Chi as well as previously having studied Lau Gar Kung Fu and a number of years practicing Kyu Shin Ryu Karate and earning her first degree black belt.

As well as teaching Tai Chi, Lee also takes part in several fitness classes a week at her local gym. She likes the balance between the softer exercise of Tai Chi and the much more aerobic nature of fitness classes.

Lee is a down-to-earth instructor who rarely discusses the history of the art or the reasons ‘why’. She focuses her energy on ‘doing’, believing that it is the actual practice that gives the benefits that we all need.

 

 

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What do you want to know?
Below are some Frequently Asked Questions that people often ask. Hopefully you will find them useful. If you have any other questions please do feel free to contact us directly.

 

Is Learning Tai Chi Difficult

No you are fine.

A fuller answer is that almost certainly you are not too old. We have trained people into their 90s and regularly, people in their 70s and 80s.

The simple thing to do is for you to give it go and see if you enjoy it and find it worthwhile.

Tai Chi moves are all natural but many of them require you to move your body in ways that are unusual for a beginner. An example, is that a move called 'Cloud Hands' requires you to walk sideways.

So, like any new thing, some students take to it quickly and some take longer.

The really great thing about learning Tai Chi is that it is an individual pursuit and you can take as little or as much time to learn it as you need to, and that is just fine.

The rest of your life and then a long time more 🙂

Seriously, Tai Chi is an enormous field of study. One that you could spend all day every day studying and still only know a relatively little about it. There are different styles and different sub-styles and much much more to learn if you wanted to.

So perhaps a better question is 'How long will it take me to learn enough Tai Chi so that I start to get some benefit from it?' The answer to that is much kinder.

You should start to derive some benefit from your first session onwards, and within a few months be able to see that there are changes in the way you utilise your body. You should find that normal movement should start to feel more relaxed and 'smoother'.

If you are subject to stress then once you have learned even the first beginners form (Eight Move One Step Form) then you should be able to practice and perform that and find that it helps reduce stress.

There is much more that can be said, but a chat with Robert Agar-Hutton is probably the most efficient way to answer additional questions.

You will have to learn new things but hopefully many of the things that you learned in your previous style will still be useful.

Give it a go and then you will be able to see if our way of doing things meets your needs.

What Is The Difference

Basically no difference at all, although some people do use the first term to refer to Tai Chi taught for health and exercise and the second to Tai Chi taught as a martial art.

Qigong (or Chi Gung) are exercises, often of ancient origin, that with a few (quite rare) exceptions are taught only for health and not for martial arts purposes.

Tai Chi was originally a martial art but is more generally taught nowadays for it's health and exercise benefits.

So, the basic answer is that both help each other and will help you become fitter and more at ease with yourself and life in general.

Financial Questions

There are a number of options depending on what you are looking for. Check out our 'Can I Join' page for pricing and membership details.

You can start from as little as £19.99 a month (That's less than 70p a day). And, more importantly, consider how much is your health and wellness worth?

You can cancel anytime just email cancel@taichitraining.pro

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You can pay safely by credit or debit card using your Visa or MasterCard.

About Tai Chi And Exercise

We have had students from the proverbial 80 pound weakling through to power lifters.

It is fair to say that excessive weight training or body building may conflict with some of the aspects of Tai Chi but it is your body and only you should be the judge of what training you want to do.

Yes. Indeed, as long as you are fit enough to take part in aerobic exercise (gym classes, running, whatever) I would strongly recommend it.

Tai Chi will generally not improve your aerobic capacity (there are some exceptions to this, especially with people who are unfit or recovering from illness) so to add this to the mix of things that you do to keep healthy - things like getting enough sleep, eating sensibly (some of the time), and etc... can only be of benefit.

My answer is yes. There are instructors who would say no, but I've never understood why. You wouldn't expect a school to say you can't learn two languages or two science subjects so why should learning two martial arts be any different.

However, it would probably make learning more difficult if you started two or more martial arts at exactly the same time, I'd suggest doing Tai Chi for six months before starting another art simply so that you have the basics memorised.

If you already do another martial art then adding Tai Chi will almost always be beneficial. Even at the simplest level of improving relaxation, that is something that any martial art will benefit from.

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Aspects Of Tai Chi

It is gentle like some forms of Yoga are but it is more relaxed and uses the body in a different way.

Also the origins of Tai Chi were as a means of self protection and it still has those capabilities. Yoga was never intended for fighting.

The Five Elements (Fire, Water, Metal, Earth, and Wood) are part of Chinese culture and they are referenced in some of the moves in Tai Chi and Qigong, but there is no need to understand anything about them unless those cultural references interest you.

This is an interesting and somewhat complex issue. There are multiple layers to ‘meditation’ from simple relaxation through more intense practices that will put you into a deep state of relaxation and all the way to deep religious and spiritual practices. We do NOT teach the religious and spiritual side of meditation because that depends on what religion you belong to.

We DO teach meditation through movement, the forms in Tai Chi can be used, in and of themselves, to help you relax. And we teach Qigong exercises, combining breathing techniques with either specific physical movements or certain static postures to allow you to bring about a meditative state.

This is an important question and one that I have been asked a number of times. The answer is another question... "Is knitting a religion?" The answer is not a simple 'No', the answer is 'It depends'...

If your Tai Chi (or knitting) instructor wants to infuse their teachings with their personal religious beliefs then yes, what you learn will have those influences. However I don't have any religious beliefs (I'm an atheist) so there is no religion taught in my Tai Chi.

It's my hope that all my students are mature and sensible enough to make up their own minds on the subject of religion.

All you should come to the Agar-Hutton Tai Chi Academy Online Program for is to learn Tai Chi.

There are multiple definitions of 'Chi'. Most generally it is the name given to the Chinese concept for an all pervading 'force' that permeates everything and that animates us (gives us life and energy).

It is a very useful if you think of it as a metaphor for the physical feelings and experiences that you will encounter as you practice Tai Chi. Of course, if you are more of a science geek, then you may prefer (as I do) to think more in terms of Western medical and bio-mechanical explanations for what you are doing and feeling.

However the definitions do not get in the way of the practice of Tai Chi.

It's a bit like breathing, if you know that you are breathing air and you know what gasses it contains and how they affect the body, that's great. If you don't know, it doesn't matter as long as you keep breathing.

Tai Chi Forms And Styles

Tai Chi comprises many different aspects. One of these are movements that are put together into fixed sequences called 'forms'.

A form is a learning aid so that you can remember what to do; a repository of knowledge in movement for the self defence aspects of the art, and it is the means of training the body in the particular Tai Chi way of movement that helps you to gain the fitness and health benefits of the art.

Forms are prearranged movements in a specific order they range from 8 move forms all the way up to (and past) 108 move forms.

A lot of people considering Tai Chi, will see someone performing a form (maybe on TV) and think 'That looks easy, I'll be able to do that' and then when they start training they are appalled at how difficult it seems to be.

I always explain to new students that nothing in Tai Chi is unnatural but the moves are new (to them) and unusual. So it will take time to learn them and that time will vary from person to person.

Taking as long as you need to learn a form is exactly as it should be. Tai Chi is not a race, it is a process of gentle and continual development.

There are many different styles of Tai Chi like Yang, Chen, Sun, Wu, Hao, CMC, and others.

You will learn primarily the Agar-Hutton variant of Yang style with, for advanced students, some Sun style too.

All the different styles of Tai Chi are interesting and worthwhile and if you want more information about the differences, please ask me.

The best style is the one you are learning.

All are good, but it is the practice of Tai Chi that leads to the benefits.

Think, if you will, of all the different makes of cars 'Ford', 'Volvo', 'BMW' etc... all have their differences but all of them will drive you from 'A' to 'B' and if you need to go from 'A' to 'B' then the car that you have (the style of Tai Chi that you practice) is the best one.

Online Learning Questions

Your online courses are available 24 hours a day, every day.

Your courses are only as far away as your internet connected PC or Smartphone.

Train every day, or once a week, or whenever you want. It's your choice.

Obviously (within reason) the more you train, the quicker you will progress.

With online training, YOU are in the driving seat. Do more of the things you enjoy and less (or none) of those you don't. Of course if you want to discuss your likes, dislikes, and progress, support is just an email away.

Being just an email away, we will absolutely do our best to answer your questions. In fact, often a member's question results in additional video material being added to a course to explain the question. So all students benefit.

Tai Chi Health Questions

Yes of course you can (I bet you weren't expecting that answer).

You can injure yourself doing ANYTHING, even just sleep the wrong way and you can wake up with a sore neck!!!

However, in general Tai Chi is VERY safe and you will be instructed in how to perform the movements and exercises correctly.

Tai Chi is also safer than many forms of exercise as so much of it is done deliberately and slowly.

Robert Agar-Hutton here, I have arthritis in my left foot and it can be painful at times! But I believe that Tai Chi helps me a lot.

People with arthritis, even quite severe cases can and do practice Tai Chi. It may or may not alleviate the pain but it will probably teach you how to relax the muscles that tend to tense up, so you may extend your range of movement.

Obviously, talk to your doctor as you should before starting any new exercise regime.

You have a medical condition and you are wondering if you can learn Tai Chi?

Obviously first speak to your doctor. Then as an informed adult decide if you want to give it a go.

Over the many years I have been teaching, I've trained people with a wide range of minor and serious ailments both physical and neurological.

Will Tai Chi help you? I don't know, but give it a go and see what happens.

This is a GREAT question. It's great because the answer is so complex that many, many books could be written about it. (And as I have authored a few books, that looks like a bit of an opportunity to me).

However, I want to give you a quick and concise answer, so here goes...

NO and YES.

Maybe I should explain, there is not much likelihood of Tai Chi directly curing any ailment, however one of the benefits of practicing Tai Chi is increased mental and physical relaxation. Relaxation reduces stress and as stress inhibits the immune system, relaxation gives the body the time and ability to heal itself (and the body is capable of some amazing things).

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Do you have any unanswered questions?

 

Agar-Hutton Tai Chi Academy
27 Ballantyne Road,
Rushden,
Northamptonshire,
NN10 9FJ, ENGLAND
eMail: info@taichitraining.pro
Tel: 07771 333 369
International: +44 7771 333 369

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