The Tai Chi Club
Sun City, Arizona
Described as "meditation in motion", Tai Chi consists of perfoming a series of postures in a slow and graceful manner, with each movement flowing into the next without pause. It involves gentle physical exercise and stretching.
Club email address: taichiclubaz1@gmail.com
Our Instructors
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Michael Swanick
Michael Swanick is a certified teacher in Tai Chi and in Qi Gong from the Zen Wellness Center. He has been training for 20 plus years and teaching for 10 plus years. He has developed a program for applying Tai Chi to improving the golf swing and is the author of "The Art of Martial Golf".
His philosophy is "Do something today that the person you will be 5 years from now will be very happy you did"
Patty Schnupp
Patty first became involved with the Sun City Tai Chi Club by attending an open house in 2021 and has been involved ever since. She has completed all three sets of the Yang 108 form and continues to refine her movements by practicing daily. Patty works to create a calm and positive experience for everyone in her class. She retired in 2021 after 39 years as an elementary teacher and continues to volunteer in the classroom setting.
Jan Stittleburg
Jan comes to us with over 20 years of practical experience with Tai chi and Qi Gong. Jan studied several forms with a variety of masters and teachers including 200 hours of instructor training. For the last 15 years, Jan has been sharing her love of these arts with beginners.
Craig Snyder
Craig started his Martial arts training when he was 16 years old. He trained in the USA GOJU style of karate. He attained his black belt and started teaching a youth class while assisting with the adult classes. Many years later when his wife Debby and he moved to Sun City, he decided to try Tai Chi since it is a softer art and much easier on the body.
He is currently assisting with the set 1 class and teaching set 2. He certainly enjoys the Sun City Tai Chi club and the people in it.
Visiting Instructors
Linda Voorhees
Linda Voorhees is one of the original members of the Sun City Tai Chi Club. Linda was trained by Grandmaster Franklin Wood and continues private lessons with him, currently, in Tai Chi Sword. She has taught all three sets of the 108 form and introduced Balance and Tai Chi Basics to the club. In her effort to bring in-depth understanding of Tai Chi principles to seniors in a way that relates to their everyday movement, she created the Everyday Movement class.
Elisa McArthur
Elisa brings a wealth of skills from developing Corporate seminars and classroom trainings to teaching the visually impaired independent living skills and cane mobility. Elisa developed and hosted our Club Special Events, designed and taught Chair Tai Chi and a short form titled Pure & Simple. Elisa trained in 108 Yang style with Taoist Grandmaster Franklin Wood and continues weekly classes with Sifu in Sword and Fan. She has taught the 108 and Balance for many years for our club. Elisa received her certification for Tai Chi Senior Instructor from the School of Tao Chi Taoist Grandmaster Franklin, Director and CEO.