GBol Arts

George Bolger is a Taichi Instructor, teaching private and semi-private classes at his home studio in the Tucson area. He is also available for group or private instruction in-home, at your Spa, Holistic Center or other location, as well as weekend group workshops. This section of the site is dedicated to the Art of Taichi and George’s Taichi classes, including locations, times and cost of classes. Also featured is George’s music for Taichi practice, meditation, or relaxation. Please read below for some basic information about Taichi and a basic introduction to the Temple Style system of Taichi that you will learn on your Taichi journey. If your question is not answered here, or you need additional information, you can contact George by e-mail

The most common question asked by people is "What is Taichi?".

The art of Taichi has been around for thousands of years, and is one of the few complete systems of moving meditation in existence today. Through repeated movements, you learn how to flow your Chi or Life Energy to improve your health and well-being. As you clean and restore your Life Energy, you can again connect with your True Self. This can only be accomplished by reestablishing an unrestricted flow of your Life Energy and moving meditation is the key.

The best way to achieve this end is through Single Form Practice. What this means is that, instead of learning a long sequence of movements, each form is practiced one at a time repetitively. When training in this manner, the energy begins to flow properly, each form developing a different energy flow. This strengthens the flow and allows the energy to grow, returning your Life Energy to the way it was when you were born.

As the student advances, the practice evolves from being strictly physical level practice, to what is described as mental level practice. At this stage, energy flow plays the main role in the movements. Now the student feels the energy move the body, rather than the mind sending messages to the muscles to move. This is where the true flow comes into the Taichi movements, and the density and frequency of the energy increases.

Taichi then, is an internal art. It is not strictly a Martial Art, or healing art, but rather, these are ways you can choose to use the internal energy that you develop. More important is to connect with your True Self, your original Life Energy, and that is what each of the different practices you learn are really designed to do. This is not accomplished through physical motions, but through learning to flow your internal energy, your Chi. Moving Meditation is the key to accomplishing this.

What makes this Taichi different from others?

Taichi learned in a Single Form manner, also know as Temple Style Taichi, focuses on one form at a time, first learning the details of how the form is done from the perspective of physical posture. Rather than stopping there though, the specific flow of energy associated with the form is also learned, giving the student a full understanding of what the form is really intended to teach. By the time the student has learned each form and is ready to put them together into the longer sequence, the student has a good understanding not only of the physical posture, but also the associated energy flow of that posture. Then, the longer sequence, rather than just being a succession of physical moves, becomes one long flowing sequence, which is the reason for learning the longer form. You want to be able to flow your energy without break from form to form, the same way you do when doing a single form repeatedly. Taichi is about energy flow, not simply learning a sequence of forms to be practiced by rote, hence the term Moving Meditation.

This flow is also emphasized in Two Person Practice. Practice starts in a slow, soft manner so that you can develop the sensitivity to sense the overall energy flow that you and your partner are generating. You have to be slow and soft to develop this skill, so this is the emphasis of Two Person Practice in the beginning. By practicing this way, both you and your practice partner benefit by gaining heightened awareness and stronger energy flow. At the higher levels of this practice, you learn to sense your partner’s energy flow, thus allowing you to follow energy, rather than relying on physical pushing to move you. From here, you will learn to broadcast a signal, and use that to move your partner, instead of relying on strength, speed, or size.

As you progress into the higher levels of your study, referred to as being an Indoor Student, your study begins of the Daoist principles behind Taichi. Here you are introduced first to Chi Gung Meditations, and then later, as you reach higher levels, Dao Gung Meditation forms. These studies are based on the principles of the Dao De Jing, which becomes an important part of your studies. At this point Taichi becomes not only an Art, but a lifestyle. Your goal now is to get in touch with your Deh, that piece of the Dao that we all have, allowing you to reconnect with your True Self. This is the beginning of the Spiritual level of Taichi practice.