Tai Chi Rules in Lower School

by Joan Martin

BFS physical education teacher Staci Otto is a Renaissance woman of sports and fitness. Not only is she an accomplished multi-sport athlete, she also is a practitioner of yoga, taebo total body workouts, kick-boxing, and tai chi.

Tai chi is a traditional Chinese mind-body relaxation exercise consisting of 108 intricate exercise sequences performed in a slow relaxed manner over a 30 minute period. It uses slow sets of body movements and controlled breathing to improve balance, flexibility, muscle strength and overall health.

Staci incorporated tai chi lessons into all of her lower school classes this fall; in early December she led an assembly in the upper gym in which all 215 kindergarten through fourth grade children carried out a group tai chi.

Accompanied by lyrical and relaxing music, everyone in the gym—all lower school teachers, the PE faculty, several school administrators, and Head of School Michael Nill—followed Staci and her 10 student leaders in the tai chi routine.

It was an amazing and memorable experience, and an activity that the children, and especially the adults in the community, want to continue.