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Instructor calls for end to tai chi church hall row
A MARTIAL arts teacher has called on fellow Christians to halt a 'wave of fear' triggered when a tai chi class was kicked out of a Sheffield church hall.
Rachel Barrow, a Christian who teaches tai chi to heart patients in Sheffield's hospitals, said the church community has nothing to fear from the martial art because it has nothing to do with religion.
Her call comes after a tai chi group was kicked out of All Saints Church in Totley after leaders decided the martial art was incompatible with their faith.
Rev David Rhodes, said: "Our understanding is that the basis of tai chi is an Eastern religion, and from the church's point of view that isn't something that we want to be involved in."
The Totley tai chi group has now found a new home in the Dore and Totley United Reformed Church on Totley Brook Road - but Mrs Barrow said a 'wave of fear' about the discipline had spread beyond the Totley community.
She said a young Christian heart patient she was treating at the Royal Hallamshire had refused treatment after spotting The Star's coverage, and others may have also been put off.
Mrs Barrow, who with her husband David has been teaching the martial art in Sheffield since 1975, said tai chi is proven to improve endurance, circulation and breathing in heart patients.
She said: "We were ourselves removed from churches during a similar panic 20 years ago, and although it is not our organisation involved in the current removal from church premises, I feel Christians have a right to know more.
"Tai chi is a martial art, now almost exclusively learnt for its health benefits, originating in China and based to some extent on the philosophies of Taoism and Confucius that were prevalent in China at the time."
She said although tai chi was developed by monks for self defence it never had anything to do with religion.
"Christianity is rooted in Judaism, which is itself rooted in ancient eastern religions, but Christianity and Judaism are not the same thing," she added.
She insisted that while some martial arts groups spout a "bogus mysticism", true tai chi groups only teach "exercise, breathing techniques and principles of movement such as relaxation, stillness and slowness".
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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