The Auckland Tai Chi and Wellbeing Inclusive Programme

Auckland Council Grant

We are very pleased to announce that we have been successful in our application for the ‘Auckland Council – Regional Sport and Recreation Grants Programme 2020/2021 and 2021/2022’.

Quoted from the Regional Sport and Recreation Grants Programme Guide:

‘Auckland Council’s Regional Sport and Recreation Grants Programme supports regional sport and recreation sector organisations in their efforts to inspire and encourage Aucklanders to be more active more often.

The Grants Programme focuses primarily on enabling children and young people to participate in sport and recreation, and on providing affordable access to sport and recreation to groups with low participation numbers. These groups include Māori, people with health and wellbeing needs, and those facing other barriers, such as affordability and accessibility.’

About the programme

We have selected two of our sets to be the main focus for the grant project and we have named it the ‘Auckland Tai Chi and Wellbeing Inclusive Programme’, kind of gave it away in the blog post title.

The first set is the Calm, Energy, Focus Qigong. This qigong (pronounced chi-gong) has simple movements which help to combine the mind, body and the breath. It only takes a few minutes and is designed to provide movement breaks in the day for a quick reboot. All those breaks add up to being much more active throughout the week.

The second set that we created helps with physical and emotional development. These movements have a direct focus in developing skills in five particular areas. These are Awareness, Balance, Coordination, Core Strength and Self-Regulation. We have been using the five sets to good effect for children who have disability and certain challenges in those areas and not only have we found the increase of activity is beneficial, it has also helped them in their daily lives with all sorts of tasks.

What you get

This grant will help us deliver a number of online access accounts to the movements and also the training on how to get the most out of the programme. The parents and carers will also have access to a online community group to help connect people across Auckland and ask any questions that you may have. Also live sessions will be delivered online via the community group. The accounts will be for Teachers, Group Leaders, Occupational Therapists and individual parents and carers for use at home with their whānau.

The Auckland Tai Chi and Wellbeing Inclusive Programme will allocate accounts to Auckland residents that are supporting children/young adults with a disability or a mental health challenge. Thanks to the grant – the accounts will be at no cost to the user and Tai Chi Earth will also be contributing to the programme.

It is fantastic that we can be involved with this opportunity to increase wellbeing for people with disabilities and their families/whānau in Auckland.