Butler YMCA holds free class for World Tai Chi Day
Saturday, April 27 was World Tai Chi Day. In honor of the occasion, instructor Bill Weber and the Butler YMCA used the following day to hold a free class to give people the opportunity to experience tai chi for the first time.
“This is what we do on World Tai Chi Day,” Weber said. “We try to bring people in to show them what tai chi's all about.”
Weber teaches both beginner and advanced-level tai chi classes at the YMCA on Mondays and Thursdays. There is a fee to participate in the regularly scheduled classes. Sunday’s class served as a free preview of sorts.
“On World Tai Chi Day, everybody at 10 o'clock around the world, their time, practices tai chi,” Weber said.
The first part of Sunday’s program was dedicated to using tai chi to relieve arthritis, while the latter half was dedicated to practicing Taoist tai chi — a form of tai chi consisting of 108 movements which involve smooth stretching and balance.
Weber first started practicing tai chi while he and his wife, Joyce, were spending part of their year in Texas. For years, the couple would make a nearly 2,000-mile road trip between Butler County and Texas while towing a trailer.
“I liked it and found out the benefits of it, and I just continued on from there,” Bill said.
After some years had passed, Weber went from just practicing tai chi to teaching it in Texas after his instructor passed away.
Eventually, the Webers settled down in Butler and stopped traveling to Texas for the winter, and Weber started teaching tai chi in Butler.
“I told him to call BC3 to see if they would put a program together, and they did,” Joyce said. “So, he's been with BC3, and then he started here at the Y.”
Now in his 80s, Weber is feeling the physical and mental benefits of tai chi more than ever.
“I'm still 85, but I'm moving pretty good because of tai chi,” Weber said. “It helps my balance and my mind.”
In addition to the YMCA, Weber also teaches classes at Butler County Community College and Concordia Lutheran Ministries. His regular students, including Celia Puz, absolutely swear by him and his teaching methods.
“We’re so blessed to have him in Butler,” said Puz, who has been taking classes with Weber for nearly nine years. “He’s a very, very good teacher, and he knows tai chi inside and out.”
Newer students, including Art Hoff, also have taken to Weber’s teaching. Hoff began taking tai chi classes with Weber roughly two months ago to help relieve his arthritis, and was immediately sold.
“It was awesome. That guy there, he has a lot of patience,” Hoff said. “If anybody ever wanted to take the course, he’d be the guy.”
