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Members were “filled with joy” when they finished their 40 sets.
While most fundraisers for the annual 40 Hour Famine go without something they love, Warkworth Taoist Tai Chi group went the opposite way and did back-to-back tai chi sessions on June 26 and 27.
Normal tai chi classes consist of two sets of 108 different moves and positions, each of which takes around 20 minutes. However, for the World Vision 40 Hour Famine weekend, president Anne Taylor came up with the idea of doing 40 sets over the two days at their Warkworth Scout Den base.
“We did it from 8am to 4.30pm each day, a total of 13 hours of tai chi over the weekend,” she said.
“Before this, I’d never done more than two sets in a row, so it was a really interesting experience.”
Members were able to dip in and out of the sessions if they were unable to do both days, but three people did all 40 sets – Anne Taylor herself, Joy Drower from Wellsford and Terry Lloyd, who came up from the Waikato to take part.
The group effort raised more than $1050 for the 40 Hour Famine fund and Anne hopes to raise even more next year with more NZ Taoist Tai Chi branches joining the cause. She said the experience had other benefits, besides raising money to help stop world hunger.
“At the end, it was amazing, I just floated out of the door. We were absolutely filled with joy when we finished,” she said. “It was like a complete energy balance, and it was a nice thing to do as a class – very bonding.
“Tai chi is all about health, wellbeing and compassion for others.”
Anne added that Covid lockdowns had seen Warkworth membership drop from around 120 to 80, and that Australia and NZ were currently the only countries able to run classes because of the pandemic.
She also expressed thanks to Warkworth Scouts for the use of their hall over the weekend.
