Accessible tai chi for blind and low vision community

Tai chi is being made accessible to blind and low-vision people through free sessions offered at Cornwall Park throughout March.

Founder and lead instructor of Kia Ora Tai Chi, Jocelyn Watkin, is conducting these sessions to help those in the blind and low-vision community improve their fitness, balance and posture.

Watkin has been teaching sighted people in Cornwall Park for nine years.

It was not until last year that she began taking sessions for people with visual impairments.

After Cornwall Park's events staff observed a teaching interaction between her and a blind woman,

"They said to me, 'you look like you're really familiar with that,' and I said, “I am familiar with it. It's a passion of mine, and I wish I could do more of it."

Cornwall Park funds Kia Ora Tai Chi’s sessions to help make the park more accessible and inclusive for all.

A Cornwall Park spokesperson said it is their goal to make the park "A place where all people can come to play, exercise and enjoy the health-giving benefits of the natural world".

Watkin first began teaching visually challenged people Tai chi at the Blind and Low Vision Education Network NZ Homai campus in 2017.

After noticing the independence of her friends who are blind, she predicted that blind and low vision people would learn tai chi faster than a sighted person.

Watkin launched a pilot programme and was "blown away" by the positive changes she saw in her students.

"I expected there would be differences in terms of fitness... better balance and avoiding falls.”

"I hoped there would be some differences in terms of stress management with the breathing that comes with tai chi...what I got was all those plus more."

Tai chi student David Boyd was born blind, and he participated in the 2017 pilot programme.

He said "It's [tai chi] definitely something I think blind people can do. It's not difficult as long as you have someone there who knows the movements or a sighted person there just to guide."

People who are visually impaired have fewer opportunities for movement and exercise, but Watkin acknowledges that tai chi is achievable and beneficial for blind and low vision people.

Free sessions will be held at Cornwall Park every Sunday in March, and Watkin hopes to continue to "enable" the blind and low-vision community through teaching tai chi.

*AI was not used in the creation of this story