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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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.
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"
Sue Bryant
Sue Bryant has been a member of the Sun City Tai Chi club since 2017. She came into the club with very little knowledge of Tai Chi. Her training comes directly from the instructors at the Tai Chi club. Over time, she progressed through all 108 forms, and continues to work, improve and fine tune the soft, graceful movements of Tai Chi. Her teaching style is straightforward, in a relaxed atmosphere.
Patrick Hesselmann
Patrick Hesselmann, the Advanced Class teacher of Yang Style Form 108 Tai Chi, has studied Tai Chi with Sifu, Grandmaster Franklin Wood for 14 plus years. He continues his studies with him. Patrick is accomplished in many different forms of Tai Chi including Form 108, 7 Stars and Sword.
Patrick received his certification for Tai Chi Senior Instructor, from The School Of Tao Chi Taoist Grandmaster Franklin, Director/CEO.
His patient approach to teaching is to demonstrate each "micro-step" so that students gradually and steadily build their own knowledge through repeated practice. He strongly encourages students to practice at home between classes.
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.
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. Her Qi Gong class emphasizes flowing movement, stability, flexibility while incorporating the breath in each movement
Jim Oksol
Jim joined the navy after college and upon discharge, entered the business of computer systems sales and later insurance risk management where he taught workplace safety.
Jim has dedicated several years to learning Yang Style Tai Chi through a variety of classes, practice and thoughtful study. Jim’s teaching skills and innovative approach blends well to help students develop stability and balance.