Tai Chi was first offered in Desert Breezes during the Covid shutdown of tennis and the gym. It was a popular choice for an older crowd, not physically taxing but meant to improve balance and stability.
Coachella Valley offers a few choices for Tai Chi including Sunnylands every Saturday and the Joslyn Center three days a week. These are good programs and the Joslyn Center classes are geared towards older adults.
What sets Desert Breezes Tai Chi apart is:
- It’s completely free
- No need to travel, we’re already here
- It is progressive. You can move from the simple movements to more advanced forms.
For the last six months we’ve been working on a Fan Form. This is the most graceful and elegant of the Tai Chi “weapons” forms.
Current Schedule, 2026
- Mondays, 7:30am – Beginners should start here: Eight Silk Brocade Qigong, Silk Reeling, Fan Form, Yang 24 form
- Wednesdays, 7:30am – Silk Reeling, Yang 108 form
None of us are young, and all of our practice is geared towards flexibility and balance.
Liam Caulfield’s Tai Chi resumé
In the early 1990s, I was recovering from two sprained ankles, sustained while playing Rugby in San Francisco. I was a fan of all sorts of Kung Fu and Samurai movies, and when I saw Tai Chi classes offered close to my house, I went to check it out.
That was when I met Wong Jack Man. He taught every sort of Kung Fu style in a large hall at Fort Mason, twice a week. I was one of three students learning Tai Chi. Another thirty students were learning WuShu, sword forms, fan forms…everything you could imagine.
I did not know then that Sifu Wong was one of the most famous Grand Masters of all time. You can read about his life here.
I studied Tai Chi with Sifu Wong for eight years, learning the Yang 108 long form, Push Hands and Da Lu, and the Yang Sword form.
In 2000, I moved to Los Angeles. It took me a few years, and a move to the Westside, to discover the TC Society. I spent seven years attending their Tai Chi courses with Paul Terry in Mar Vista Park.