COOKEVILLE – On Saturday, April 25, Cookeville will join 100s of cities around the world, in 80 nations, in observing World Tai Chi and Qigong Day as Cookeville Leisure Services hosts free Tai Chi demonstrations
at the Cane Creek Recreation Center starting at 10 a.m.
This year marks Cookeville’s fifth annual participation in the event.
“We had been offering Tai Chi and Qigong classes and found that other places were offering them too,” Programmer Mildred Garrett with Cookeville Leisure Services said. “There are studies showing the health benefits and the classes were popular, so I thought that if it was that important, we should get a
proclamation.”
In 2014, the city’s mayor signed a proclamation declaring the cities’ participation in World Tai Chi Day and Garrett visited Governor Bill Haslam’s office where he also signed a proclamation declaring the state’s participation. Garrett’s initiative marked the first World Tai Chi and Qigong proclamation for the state.
World Tai Chi and Qigong day is an international event that invites people to participate in the slow, focused movements and deep breathing exercises of Tai Chi, which have been widely claimed to have a number of health benefits, including stress reduction.
Recently, Garrett and Tai Chi instructor Nikki Desch visited with Governor Haslam again as he signed the 2015 World Tai Chi and Qigong Day proclamation.
The event, with a motto of “One World, One Breath,” will be led locally by Desch, who has many years of marital arts experience, and other guest instructors. For more information about the event and how to participate, call Garrett at 931-520-5286.