Faulk TaiChi

Learn the beautiful, flowing movements for health and relaxation.

New Book Underway!

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Signs of spring abound — flowering bushes, new shimmering green leaves popping out on trees, longer hours of daylight and hints of warmer temperatures filling our days. Out my door walking down my lovely city block, I snapped pictures of nature displaying its magic rebirth in Chicago after a long winter.

I love this time of year because it brings new energy, new possibilities, new ideas. We feel it in our bones. In Tai Chi classes we root our legs and feet into the ground, connect with the rich nutrients and energy of the soil and bring up that energy to nourish our bodies. Like the trees. Our arms are like the branches and our hands and fingers resemble the flowering, the new leaves that are the result of moving earth energy throughout the our entire body. It is refreshing, calming, and energizing at the same time.


This new energy resonates with me in a big way right now. I just submitted a completed manuscript to my publisher and had a first meeting with my project manager to discuss the process, the steps ahead to publish my new book. My new book!! How exciting to be at this point, about to make my words, my ideas come alive and go out into the world.

Details to unfold. I’ll keep you posted and share my progress. Spring — the perfect time of year to have a new project spring forth and flower!

A Tai Chi Short Film

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Mindfulness in Motion. This is a good way to describe the gentle, flowing movements of Tai Chi. Often I hear people say they relax when watching people in a park doing Tai Chi. Even better is experiencing the centering energy (Qi)in a class.

Alex, a Northwestern University journalism and film student contacted me. He asked if I would be open to his filming one of my Tai Chi classes for his film class project. I immediately said yes because I really enjoy working with students, inviting them to film the visually appealing movements of Tai Chi. I always look forward to the nuggets they show as they film an hour of class and condense the film to five or six minutes. What did Alex see? Feel?

Take a look inside my class through Alex’s eyes and camera lens:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MKH8Ms90dNLHEG2-N35gzpmH7fOV-n68/view?usp=drivesdk

Faulk Tai Chi

Summer Light

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What is special about summer for you? Many of us are eager to be outside, go for long walks by a lake or in a park, enjoy a picnic with our family, stroll through our neighborhood farmer’s market, attend an outdoor concert or a movie night on our lawn chair at a community gathering, watch boats glide along Lake Superior.

What do you like the most? The freedom of walking out the door in shorts and sandals, taking binoculars and camera to watch and listen to the birds, relaxing outside with friends over a glass of wine. All good possibilities. We think mostly about “doing”, being active because we have a sense of freedom to move around and go places when we know it will be light well into the evening.

We are in the season of Yang energy – activity, blossoming trees and flowers, bright colors, heat, light. While we are out “doing” we want to pay attention, enjoy the moment. Take it all in.

Recently my sister and I went to Starved Rock State Park in northern Illinois. It’s amazing to drive across flat terrain, rich farmland filled with corn and soybeans and then. . . huge trees, winding roads going up, up, up to a natural filled park. Looking out over a panorama of green trees as far as our eyes could see, we listened to a variety of singing birds, felt a summer breeze, marveled at small red berries we happened to see because we were still and paying attention to everything around us.


The sun shining brightly highlighted the various shades of green on the thousands of leaves surrounding us. It was mesmerizing, the stillness and calm of those moments. The light outside and how nature took it in, made it beautiful and we, in our stillness took it all in and thoroughly enjoyed the moments.

What moments of summer have made you feel this way?

World Tai Chi & QiGong Day

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A lovely worldwide tradition occurs on the last Saturday in April — celebrating Tai Chi and QiGong across the world. “One World, One Breath” calls us to breathe and send our calm energy to others.

Get ready to participate — the energy wave starts at 10am on Saturday in Australia and travels across every time zone in the world. At 10 am on Saturday, April 26, stop what you are doing and focus on breathing. Focus your breathing and send its life and good energy across the world connecting with others who are doing the same thing. We can send calm and create unity with others who are in the moment, breathing, perhaps doing some Tai Chi and QiGong moves.

Let’s connect with our breath and our focus of sending calm energy across every time zone. Participate. I look forward to receiving your energy!!

Celebrating Year of the Wood Snake

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People born in the Year of Snake are said to be resilient and courageous with strong interpersonal skills and leadership qualities. The wood element adds a layer of growth and creativity, because just as the Snake sheds its skin, this year represents the opportunity to renew oneself, embrace new possibilities and leave behind outdated ways.

What a fun, energizing afternoon Tai Chi students and friends had as we gathered on February 2 to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Come with us and feel our positive energy reach out to you.

We began by centering and cultivating positive energy with Michelle Bobier.

Letting go of our to-do lists we focused on standing in good alignment, breathing and stretching, moving our energy to enhance our physical and mental well-being. Ahhh. . .

Sarah Bernauer lead us in a discussion of opening chakras to enhance energy flow. We moved gently to feel the energy come up through our feet into our center and upper body. The image resonated because in Tai Chi we root our feet like a tree into the earth and bring up the nutrients and rich energy the earth provides.

Daniel Thatcher continued leading our energy movement with fundamental principles of Tai Chi — proper body alignment, methodically shifting our weight with intention, moving from our waist and hips rather than the upper body,

relaxing our knees as we stand with our weight equally distributed on our two legs. Look how centered and relaxed everyone is, focusing entirely on the moment and breathing.

In “The Movements of Magic – The Spirit of Tai Chi Ch’uan,” Bob Klein says: “Often in life, we are so caught up in concentrating on the past and future that we miss the present. And truly, the present is all that exists for us. We may think about the past or imagine the future but we can actually deal only with the present. In the present we have power.”

What a wonderful way to celebrate the 2025 Lunar New Year, breathing and moving in the present, being mindful of the moment.

Daniel, Sarah, Arlene, Michelle

A big thank you to Daniel, Sarah and Michelle!