Testimonials | Robinson Tai Chi

"I have been learning Tai Chi with Don for ten years. The practice has helped me cultivate a mindful awareness that has improved my day-to-day life. The practice is one that relaxes the mind and the body. It has helped me to develop a calm demeanour and unwavering focus. This has benefited me greatly at work and at home. At the same time, the practice of Tai Chi relaxes and strengthens the body without the wear and tear of conventional exercise. Don is an observant and knowledgable teacher of Tai Chi and I highly recommend his classes!”

Graham S.

“I recently had the pleasure of working with Don and Donna Robinson of Mind Your Business North America. They taught a group of serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces and veterans the basics of Tai Chi. Their commitment to helping out Soldier On members, their compassion as well as their professionalism were unparalleled.

The group thoroughly enjoyed their time with Don and Donna. They dedicated themselves fully to their art and ensured that each Soldier On member received the attention they deserved. Each of us learned a great deal from them.

Should you consider using their services, know that I stand behind them and recommend them with the utmost enthusiasm. I am confident that they will provide a pleasurable experience to whatever endeavour you decide to pursue together.”

Francois G.

"When you first engaged with Don Robinson in Tai Chi what was the first thing or feeling that you can remember feeling?

—complete relaxation, a calming as though it slows your heat rate down. As a sloths heart rate is slow. This allows them to live longer.

So upon that relaxing moment in the beginning stages of your Tai Chi, how did you feel yourself grow from relaxed and calm to another state of mind or being?

— Tai Chi to me is about the calm in the motion, exactly that. I felt a deep and alive state of self empowerment as I learned some of the self defence movements.

Being in a wheelchair & having the knowledge of those movements gives me a sense of security that I had honestly never felt before in my life. I hadn’t been shown self defence so to learn it caused me to feel the need to be less self reliant on others for my self protection.

So, what did it feel like physically to engage in the movements?

— although I cannot place my feet flat on the ground to get “grounded” there are other parts of me that enable me to perhaps gain even more from the movements.

Hand stretching or reaching out helped my shoulders and my arms to loosen up and feel like they could go further... so now I’m able to do more stretches that I’ve created for myself because of learning wheelchair Tai Chi with Don Robinson.

Are you incorporating your movements into other forms of working out?

— in the gym the body areas that I move most are the arms and the upper extremities in specific directions. I ride the bike to work my legs. I extend myself beyond my normality because of Don’s wheelchair Tai Chi. While doing Tai Chi moves my mind is fed also.

What do you mean by that Rob?

—- if you’re willing to learn new things you always grow with what you’ve learned because you never let go of it.

Do you feel this is beyond a physical experience?

— it happens for you in the spirit realm first and it manifests into the physical. The spirit is more powerful that the physical mortal body. It’s there that you get your determination to constantly do something. What I’ve done physically has steeped into my memory like coding with computers. The Tai Chi I was taught by Don, I’ll never forget and I never want to forget.

So you feel value in what he’s brought into your life by creating Tai Chi for wheelchairs with you?

—Don was calming and knew what he was doing which was also a very reassuring part of my learning. If you are taught anything by an instructor who isn’t confident then you will not be confident with what you’re learning and you’ll not hold onto it.

So Rob, what is the message that you’d like to give to those who are wheelchair bound?

— first you can empower yourself by learning different things and those things don’t have to be what everyone else is learning! Be yourself and know that you can learn the same things in different ways. That’s what Robinson Tai Chi has accomplished.

Don has created an opportunity for people to learn self defence techniques and movements that otherwise we would not know.

Don taught me “push hands” or “Tui Shou”. This is the forerunner in self defence for those who are vulnerable to violence. I feel more balance in my stance in the way that I feel since Tai Chi but I also feel encouraged to strengthen my body by working out so that I can use these techniques more affectively if needed. I aspire to teach this to others who are in wheelchairs!

Thanks Don for letting me experience this life changing task with you. Society thinks that wheelchair bound persons are limited in learning. This type of learning for us turns our world around and alters society’s way of thinking about us.

Robinson Tai Chi, when we get the disabled bodied people to know what we do, the world will be more accepting of us. We will be let out of our box that we’ve been put into up until now. Society has everyone who has an incapability in a box.

Let’s get that box broken and teach Tai Chi to those with all limited abilities!"

Rob B.