Tai Chi, Qi Gong, MELT Conditioning with Julia Kulakova

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Tai Chi, Qi Gong, MELT Conditioning with Julia Kulakova Qi Gong is the mastery of body's resources. Similar to yoga,Qi Gong connects breathing to movement (vs.

fixed postures) to improve health, appearance and to harmonize our body-mind communication. Tai Chi Quan is martial training, based on Yin-Yang balance Julia Kulakova is an American Council on Exercise PT and GF. She is a graduate of Leslie Kaminoff's 2005 Yoga Anatomy course and a certified practitioner of Myofascial release (MELT Method) for pain-free living. As a collegiate volleyball player, track and field athlete and life-long professional dancer, she selects techniques to overcome wear and tear of athletic activities and urban life stresses, yet to keep improving physical potential and grace. This led to Julia's study and practice of Qi Gong and Tai Chi with the world renowned Grand master, Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming of YMAA. In 2016 Julia, as the athletic recovery expert, implemented Qi Gong and MELT as a recovery protocol at The Great India Run, a 919.6 miles ultra-marathon between Delhi and Mumbai

06/07/2026

Tai Chi's context is human interaction; attack, defense and how they blend into each other. Interesting path awaits a new TaiChi for Wellness student. At first, a non-martially inclined practitioner draws on her exposure to martial movies, games and novels. Eventually it clicks that the confrontation tips, learned in Tai Chi class, are not just for an imaginary battlefield, yet are applicable for daily interactions. Teaching in this clip "Brush Knee-Strike" or "Block/Block/Strike" with relevance to physical balance, I hope that my students learn the value of not getting ahead of themselves neither physically, no mentally or emotionally.

From Tai Chi for Art of Wellbeing Series, New York Presbyterian Hospital collaboration with Lincoln Center.
Live music: Outstanding musicians Ismail Lumanovski(clarinet), Seido Salifoski( percussion) and Avram Pengas (guitar) (off the frame in this video).

Is Tai Chi the Best Tool for Better Balance?If you sit at a desk all day, your balance doesn’t vanish—it slowly erodes. ...
05/13/2026

Is Tai Chi the Best Tool for Better Balance?
If you sit at a desk all day, your balance doesn’t vanish—it slowly erodes. Muscles weaken, joints stiffen, and body awareness fades.
Most fitness methods help over time. Tai Chi helps immediately.
It gives you a simple internal reference system—Yin and Yang—that your body understands right away.

One of the first Tai Chi lessons is the Full vs. Empty weight shifting drill.
You move from 50/50% leg stance slow and deliberately to 60/40 → 70/30 → 80/20 → 90/10 → 100/0.
At 100/0:
•One leg is FULL—rooted, stable and strong
•The other is EMPTY—lifting easily, “like steam rising”

This isn’t philosophy. It’s a repeatable skill that teaches your body how to stay upright and move with confidence.

Why It Works Fast:
Shifting all your weight onto one leg strengthens alignment, bones, joint stability, balance. Bones respond to pressure just like muscles do to resistance. And this starts on day one of Tai Chi

Balance Comes From Awareness.
Once you feel “Full vs. Empty,” you naturally begin to:
•Move with intention
•Know how to Self-correct
•Feel grounded
•Apply balance skills in daily life

Perfect for anyone who feels disconnected from their body after years of sedentary work.

The Takeaway:
Tai Chi is perfect for anyone who feels disconnected from their body after years of sedentary work. It doesn’t wait till you get into a better shape to reap the benefits - it teaches how to use the body immediately. With simple awareness, you can become more balanced quickly and stay balanced for life.

“Separation of the Heaven and Earth” is a Qi Gong move, which balances out “too loose and too tight” parts of arm myofas...
05/10/2026

“Separation of the Heaven and Earth” is a Qi Gong move, which balances out “too loose and too tight” parts of arm myofascial sleeve, shoulder girdle and shoulder joint structure, rotator cuff included.
Advanced version(pictured) is done with “Earth Hand” reaching back and down or across the back.
Beginner version has both hands in front, outstretched and spiraled, while pushing up and down simultaneously, as if separating top and bottom, the Heaven and Earth.
This exercise could be done either seated or standing, and is great as a quick computer break.

04/11/2026

(Enjoy spring birds' songs in the video)
Controlled flow in Tai Chi is a meditative, slow-motion practice emphasizing continuous movement, body awareness, and mental focus. It synchronizes breath with movement—inhaling for opening and exhaling for closing—while maintaining a relaxed, upright posture to cultivate internal energy (Qi).
It allows to feel the mind, energy and body connection in a unique and wholesome way.
Tai Chi practice gets the person into a state of active meditation, leading to mental and physiological benefits.
Tai Chi, practiced with patient repetition, keep revealing layers of human mind-body experiences, preserved in them by masters.
Two principles shape up this journey. First, the marriage of mind and body, which — let’s be honest — sometimes feel like they’ve been living in separate apartments for years. Second, the awareness of inner energy — that subtle current you’ve felt at moments of clarity or calm — and how it transforms into outward expression: how we move, how we respond, how we meet the world.
Tai Chi is kind of gentle shapeshifting. You learn to expand like a horizon opening at dawn, then contract like a seed drawing power into its core. You rise and fall, soften and harden, stand still as stone or flow like a river. Through these shifts, you encounter the dance of opposing forces within yourself — not as abstractions, but as experiences you can feel, direct, and eventually master.
This mastery follows you into daily life. The flexibility you train shows up in your body and your reactions. The awareness you sharpen helps you navigate everything from social media interactions to business to family dynamics with more ease and grace and a knowing smile.
For those who have already lived through changes, Tai Chi offers something rare: a path that grows more satisfying with age, a discipline that respects experience, and a practice that invites you to keep adventuring — inward, outward, and onward.

The roles of women - the carrier of beauty, the supporter, the protector, the care giver are highlighted during Women's ...
03/09/2026

The roles of women - the carrier of beauty, the supporter, the protector, the care giver are highlighted during Women's History Month.
While ever in awe of Women's Power in its blooming creative multifaceted expression,
this year I'm especially attuned to noticing how women are born with the need to make the world brighter, more beautiful, tastier, healthier...
As humans of all genders, we do all the things mostly because there's a desire and need to do them...
For the last 3 months I ponder a lot on a role of a woman as a caregiver, given my mom's situation... For many people, taking care of the other being is so natural, that, consuming and exhausting as it gets, it is done easily, without procrastination and excuses(unlike the other tasks).

What sometimes becomes harder is to take care of self due to empathy trick of the mind.
Empathy is understanding of another's situation and trying to feel the same feelings, "fitting into the other person's shoes". This is a pitfall of caregiving - the mind starts genuinely focusing on the others, fulfilling their needs and, having only so much energy available, ignoring its (ours!) own needs, and overtime stops taking care of self.
I recently encounted the phrase "Taking care of self is not pampering, it is a need". Sounds nice, yet, with self-care associating with spas and retreats it equals "extra expenses". And I know that women are household budget planners, as well...
Here's my example as a possible inspiration and ideas of wholesome self-care.
Sometime early on, I got into a subculture of public bath houses. It is a rare breed this time, as market economy wants to "improve" on everything, yet they exist in every country.
Every week I go to a public bathhouse. For $7 ( an equivalent of "coffee+pastry" for two people here) I get the opportunity to use a specific steam room, heated by a real stone oven to cleanse the sinuses and sweat out toxins.
I follow with the shower rinse ( I prefer cold), and keep repeating the steaming followed by shower.
In the bathhouse women bond over this cleansing ritual and start coming at a particular time to see their "bath friends" and, of course, share their own beauty secrets and remedies.
Multiple homemade masks from natural ingredients were brought and generously shared by the bathhouse' women group who "adopted" me. I've tried masks from honey, starch, salt and milk - ah, glowing skin! Coffee left in coffee maker' filter is a simple yet wonderful scrub
with a follow-up moisturizer effect, as coffee oils are released into the skin by the heat in the steam room. No "packaged" scrub could match!
We exchange massaging and scrubbing each others' backs with loofahs, and - herbal teas in the front room.
The contrast heat/cold of bath certainly plays a big role in how wonderful one feels afterwards. Yet - human connection and the satisfaction of sharing and of giving yourself needed care is itself dramatically healing...
I hope that this little illustration reminded you first of a powerful bonding through sharing, and secondly, of the importance and the ease of giving yourself some love and care, especially in tandem with sharing.
Inviting and sharing beauty secrets or simply, quality time with your friends and relatives has a surprising self-care effect.

To honor International Women's Day, 8th of March and the whole Women's History Month - let's remember to self-care in a holistic, easy, soul feeding way.
Our own kitchens and our own minds have at least one simple beauty recipe. Let's translate this into self-care today - and continue for this wonderful month
"because sometimes the only control we have is how we come back to ourselves."

Fact: The energy in children and animals is more pure thus more relatable to adult humans than the energy of fellow adul...
02/22/2026

Fact: The energy in children and animals is more pure thus more relatable to adult humans than the energy of fellow adult humans (esp. in jaded New Yorkers).
Chinese Animal Zodiac wisely uses this trait of ours, focusing us on qualities of animal mascots every year.
There are 12 Animals and each of them goes through 5 stages - 5 Elements, e.g, 2024- Water Rabbit, 2025 - Wood Snake, 2026- Fire Horse. The whole unrepeated cycle is 60 years.
The last year of Fire Horse, the year with the same energetics as 2026, was 60 years ago, 1966.
As we learn and relate well by comparison, try a fun exercise of remembering either your experience of 1966 or - what you know of your family or the world events of that year.
It is not to determine badness or goodness of the upcoming year- “what’s good, what’s bad depends on the context, and the context is ever-changing”.
This exercise is to learn about similar dynamics and energetics, which make us tick and push our buttons, and be prepared.

Horses are viewed as a symbol of beauty and freedom, and these qualities certainly could inspire the upcoming 12 months.
For practical Chinese culture, the other 2 features of horses are emphasized in anticipating the new year -
strength (ability to pull the plow) and speed ( ability to run fast from the spot).
These 2 qualities enhanced/exacerbated by Fire element with its volatility, immediacy, distraction, power.
These simplified dynamics of the year may help us to make choices - probably, subconsciously, as we pride ourselves for being very analytical and logical. Yet, many studies show that our decision making is very impulsive and emotionally-driven.

The year will offer the fast pace, and ask us to keep working on our strength to sustain the race “in style”.
There would be combustible situations, as a result of impulsiveness and quick changes. Contemplating that in advance, even in the beginning of the year, goes a long way in preparing the mind to handle the situation when it comes.

Playing with archetypical imagery or agenda-less images and characteristics of Chinese Animal Zodiac, strengthens our intuitive and subconscious mind to help us make decisions all through the year.

If the wise Chinese culture developed and is holding on to its Zodiac significance, may be this knowledge is worth paying attention to?

Enjoy the Fast, Furious and Fun Year of Fire Horse!

Great Egret, graceful and inspiring, soaring over Central Park’s Reservoir ...
07/08/2025

Great Egret, graceful and inspiring, soaring over Central Park’s Reservoir

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