Finding their center: Seniors flocking to tai chi, mahjong

Light rain fell as a dozen people moved fluidly through their tai chi practice at the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center. Inside, mahjong players busily clacked down their tiles at a row of tables.

The weekly seniors program at the cultural center started small, but now is bursting beyond capacity as local Chinese — and increasingly, non-Chinese — residents seek to keep their minds sharp with the ancient martial art and the Chinese game, which is akin to gin rummy. They also learn line dancing, light exercise and hear from speakers on various topics.

When the seniors program started in 2006, fewer than 20 people showed up, said Patsy Lee, the program’s volunteer leader and a board member of the cultural center. But as word spread the numbers grew, surging about three years ago as more non-Asians started to take an interest in Chinese ways of keeping their minds and bodies healthy.

Now, more than 100 people come for the Thursday activities, which are for people 55 years old and above, and for a traditional Chinese lunch. When snowbirds return to Tucson for the winter months, the total rises to more than 130.

Most of the participants are of Asian descent, she said, but about one-third come from other ethnicities.

The growing diversity “keeps the center running and healthy,” Lee said.

The rising popularity of tai chi has driven much of the recent growth, she said. The center’s front desk frequently gets calls from seniors inquiring about classes after their doctors recommended they take up the practice.

“I think they see a billion people in China doing well at 90 years old,” she said.

Interest in tai chi classes quickly exceeded the cultural center’s capacity, said tai chi instructor Roger Ederle.

“We were getting 30 to 40 people at one time, which doesn’t allow much space to move,” he said.

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The classes grew so popular that they were split into two rooms. During lunch of home-cooked beef and broccoli on Thursday, a center administrator announced the possibility of adding more classes on Tuesdays.

Gloria Smith, a great-grandmother who says “age is just a number,” started attending the tai chi classes after the number of participants at her church-run class dwindled about a year ago.

“It’s very good exercise,” she said. She particularly likes the refreshing tea break midway through the class and the step-by-step teaching that allows her to say with a grin: “Look at me, I’m standing with one foot up.”

Ederle, who teaches the beginner class, said the focus is on “slow exercise” and helping seniors improve their core strength and balance.

“It engages all those tiny, stabilizing muscles that you might not engage in rapid exercise,” he said.

Tai chi is a natural outgrowth for seniors who practiced yoga when they were younger but may have trouble holding poses for long, said participant Ilse Swihart.

And there are mental benefits as well, said participant Queenie Chan.

“In a one-hour class, it lets your mind go to a peaceful state,” she said. “It lets you see things differently.”

Mahjong also helps the brain, said Marie Ihrig, who has played the game with friends at the cultural center for more than three years.

“It’s a lot of fun. It becomes an addicting game,” Ihrig said. “You have to wear all your lucky charms.”