Improve Your Golf Game with Tai-Chi

MEET THE WELLNESS TEAM:
ROSANN ARGENTI, TAI CHI
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR

Rosann Argenti has taught Tai Chi for more than 30 years, and has been a contracted instructor at Plymouth Harbor for nearly 20 years. Today, she teaches our Tai Chi and Tai Chi Meditation classes.

In part, what’s made Rosann so successful — in addition to her passion, drive, and calming nature — is her non-Tai Chi beginnings. Originally, Rosann earned her BSW and started out as a social worker in Montreal, Canada, serving in educational and psychiatric settings. From there, she opened her own dance company and studio. She then started searching for an outlet that provided more personal growth and development, and began meditating — eventually discovering Tai Chi. She enjoyed it so much that she founded her own Tai Chi school, and her social work and dance background helped her bring a unique approach and skill set to the profession.

Her school, Mountain Crane Tai Chi Tao Academy, serviced fitness and community centers in Montreal and is still in existence today. In 1989, Rosann moved to Sarasota, Florida, and passed the school on to some of her former students. Not only did she continue teaching Tai Chi in Sarasota, but she became a licensed massage therapist, and even contracted with WEDU Tampa (PBS) to produce a Tai Chi TV series that aired for nine years nationwide. All the while, Rosann taught at fitness and community centers, rehabilitation centers, hospitals, private medical institutions, retirement centers, education centers, and cancer treatment centers. She also created the continuing education course, “Tai Chi/Chi-Kung for Professionals,” approved by the Florida Boards of Massage Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Occupational Therapy. 

Rosann is a specialist in Tai Chi, Tai Chi Swordplay, Fighting Fan, and Double Daggers, and has worked with all populations — from the “average person” to professional golfers, tennis players, skiers, and more. “Tai Chi is based on martial art techniques,” Rosann says. “I teach it as a healthcare system, yet students feel the dynamic instincts of martial arts. It is slow and methodical, with virtually no risk of physical injury.”

Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese tradition and a graceful form of exercise. Whether you’re looking to advance in a specific sport or a way to help center your life, Tai Chi is a wonderfully effective exercise. It helps train you to move to the “zone” — what Rosann refers to as “a place of inner fortitude and outer strength, where your mind is still and your body flows efficiently and effectively.”

“It’s truly a meditative, relaxation process that heightens awareness and focus in everyday life,” Rosann adds. “I’ve been doing Tai Chi for many years, and each time it feels like the very first time. I’m never bored.”

Rosann Teaches Tai Chi to Commercial / Residential Realtors

People from all walks of life enter into the realm of the martial science of Tai Chi for a variety of reasons. Ian Black (Ian Black Real Estate, Commerical realtor) has been practicing this unique system of exercise for over 20 years bringing him strength, balance, mental focus and variety in his daily exercise regimen.

Jim Soda (The Soda Group, Residential realtor) discovered that Tai Chi gave him a safe and creative exercise format that strengthened his spinal column and relieved the many years of chronic back pain. He could practice frequently and never have to deal with unwanted injuries! Both Ian and Jim have incorporated Tai Chi into their business world, whereby they remain calm and focused during challenging moments.

Health Matters, Observer Sarasota Fl "Tai Chi" Mind-Body Connection

September 2015

Are You Having Trouble Focusing During Your Sport?

1)   Are you apprehensive about winning and losing?

2)   Do you lose your focus during a game and wonder what happened?

3)   Are you distracted by external occurrences such as the weather, noise, and people watching you?

4)   Are you troubled with interfering feelings of nervousness and uneasiness?

5)   Do you hold onto mistakes and cannot release them?

6)   Do you judge yourself negatively by the way you play, including feelings of not being worthy or saying mentally, “I’m going to quit”?

7)   Do you over analyze and end up choosing the wrong action, and knew you did not listen to yourself?

If you have answered yes to any of the questions above, you realize that self-inflicted negativity, loss of focus and clarity, and being “zoned out” can lead to frustration and lack of optimum results.

However, do not feel hopeless, as we all go through these difficulties at various moments. But there is a solution to lessening the severity and to actually dispelling the distractions.

Our minds are sponges and the adage “As you think, so you become” is accurate. Our thoughts create our emotions and our emotions are what guide us moment by moment in or out of the zone. We can alter our thought patterns, we can encourage optimism, we can accelerate mind/body awareness and integration, and we can have plain good old fun just like we did when we were kids.

When we allow our minds to focus on unwanted thoughts that create negative or unwanted emotions, we stray from our natural state of composure and balance. If we are wondering what is for lunch or why we did not score, we are no longer playing our sport. Training the mind is as important as training the body. The key elements of Tai Chi allow the mind and its thoughts to relax. The gentle breathing and dynamic movements of Tai Chi help one to focus on the action at hand. The mind and body then become aligned in the sport we are playing. When this happens we are brought into the present moment. This feeling of being present is what energizes and exhilarates us. This is how it feels to be in “The Zone”.

Sports-Tai Chi enables us to be self-assured, self-reliant, and self-energized. Literally, the word “chi” means our vital or essential energy, and “tai” means harmony and peace. Therefore, distributing chi-force throughout our being helps to promote harmonious and well-functioning capabilities. Sports-Tai Chi is concerned with increasing the chi dynamic within each of us, allowing our personal rhythms to return to a state of equilibrium. This has a tremendous affect on the dynamic quality of play in sports.

Ian Ziering of the hti TV Series 90210 and Rosann Argenti

Why Wait Until the Stars are in Alignment?

Do you sometimes feel that you are under pressure, whereby there isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish everything you need to do? Do you put your own life on the back burner hoping that one day you will have the time to include yourself in your own life?

It is a common ailment to feel that we have to wait for our lives to arrive at a balance before we can fully participate in what is truly important to us. However, there is a solution.

A Universal Law exists, which briefly states that if you focus clearly on what it is that you truly are dedicated to, you will attract that positive force to you. However, you must have clarity of mind to be able to carry out this task. A simple exercise such as following your own breath can bring you to moments of heightened awareness. It is this “space between thoughts” that activates your consciousness and allows focused clarity to become part of your everyday life. It is this slowing down process that alleviates the mind and body tensions that inhibit our full participation in our very own lives. The more relaxed we are, the more present we are. How simple it all truly is given the fact that our breath is our life force and readily available at all times.

So remember to follow your breath while you are driving the car and relax your grip on the wheel; remember to follow your breath while you are in a state of discomfort and feel the “letting go” in that moment; remember to follow your breath while you are playing your sport, and experience moving with ease and awareness.

The more you follow your breathing pattern, your ability to focus increases, and you will arrive at a state of equilibrium. This allows you to be more available and present in the moment. Be patient and persevere. It is in that state of alignment that Life brings to you that which you have wanted.

For further education on proper breathing exercises, take a peek at my Zone Shop. . .