Characterized by his love of animals and nature, Howard Waldman teaches various academic classes in the science department. You may know that he leads the Science Research program along with Dr. Koppa and also teaches Ecology and Animal Behavior elective classes. However, did you know he is an avid Tai Chi enthusiast and has been for 32 years?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tai Chi is a martial art that promotes relaxation and long-term health. \u201cSome people call it moving meditation. Other people say it\u2019s a form of Qi Gong, which is an energy discipline some people practice. I think it\u2019s really all of those things,\u201d shares Waldman. The practice involves a series of postures linked together through smooth movements. It emphasizes rooting oneself by dropping weight into one\u2019s legs in a certain way, \u201cwhich makes them strong and which relaxes our back,\u201d comments Waldman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked how he became interested in Tai Chi, Waldman responded, \u201cwhen I was a kid, I used to watch a TV show called Kung Fu [including] this Buddhist monk.\u201d He added, \u201cI love the message of peace of harmony that the monks in the temple always talked about.\u201d Later, Waldman became interested in a different form of material art called Aikido. However, a back injury forced him to take a break.Waldman explained, \u201cThen I saw a little poster about Tai Chi, so I decided to just try it. And I tried it once and I never went back to Aikido. I just liked it so much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since becoming a teacher at Fieldston, Waldman made an effort to incorporate Tai Chi into all of his classes. I still remember my surprise walking into Science Research class as a sophomore and learning that I would be taking two classes in one period: Tai Chi and science research. Waldman shares that he includes this in classes, \u201cbecause it\u2019s so relaxing, and because it\u2019s such a change of pace. I realized years ago what a great way to just stop kids from thinking or talking\u2026 and get started on our next thing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On top of teaching at Fieldston, Waldman teaches a Tai Chi class in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan on Thursday evenings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Waldman recognizes that Tai Chi could be a useful tool for students in the future. He explains, \u201cNow I don\u2019t think that most of the students are gonna run out and do Tai Chi for the rest of their lives. But it\u2019s great to just give them a taste of something\u2013particularly something that they might come back to years from now when they\u2019re thinking, \u2018I need to relax. I need to help my back. What can I do? Oh yeah, I used to do this weird thing with Mr. Walkman.\u2019 Maybe that\u2019s a good way to start practicing these things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After practicing Tai Chi for over three decades, Waldman learned numerous lessons. He comments, \u201cPpeople often talk about meditating or achieving a kind of inner peace. What I found is that I could not do that unless I was moving my body.\u201d Another important lesson he believes in is that \u201cYyou have to strengthen and prepare your body so that a clear mind can enter.\u201d Lastly, he emphasizes, \u201cYou can\u2019t have a healthy mind without a healthy body.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For aspiring Tai Chi practitioners, Waldman recommends: \u201cTake one of my classes.\u201d In a fast-moving and sometimes stressful environment, Tai Chi is a great way to slow down and relax.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Characterized by his love of animals and nature, Howard Waldman teaches various academic classes in the science department. You may know that he leads the Science Research program along with Dr. Koppa and also teaches Ecology and Animal Behavior elective classes. However, did you know he is an avid Tai Chi enthusiast and has been for 32 years? Tai Chi is a martial art that promotes relaxation and long-term health. \u201cSome people call it moving<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":395,"featured_media":12526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[644,318,385],"tags":[],"coauthors":[655],"class_list":["post-12525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-3-e1763753483296.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12525"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12756,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12525\/revisions\/12756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12525"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}