Lehigh Valley tai chi and qigong instructor Hilary Smith, RN, will lead the 2017 World Tai Chi and Qigong Day celebration at 10 a.m., April 29, as part of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival at Cedar Beach Park in Allentown, with thousands of participants in more than 70 countries.

Qigong is an ancient practice of cultivating life force energy for health maintenance, healing and increasing vitality. Tai chi is a form of qigong. The exercise incorporates a gentle series of relaxing motions designed to cleanse the body's tissue of accumulated stress while helping to maintain strength, flexibility and balance. Scientific research on tai chi supports the low-impact slow motion form of exercise as an adjunct to standard medical treatment for the prevention and rehabilitation of many health conditions. The Harvard Medical School has called tai chi “medication in motion.”

For more information, call Hilary Smith at 610-751-6090.