Charlessa Thatcher
Stanfordville
New York
Charlessa Thatcher’s passion is teaching children and adults to use Qigong as self-care tools in their daily life. Charlessa is a NYS Licensed Master Social Worker, a certified Trauma Professional, a certified teacher of Kripalu Yoga, Creative Kids Yoga, Holden Qigong, Integral Qigong and an IIQTC Tai Chi Easy™ Senior Trainer. She is a Reiki Master, Qigong Healer, and a Core Faculty Teacher for Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y. teaching group classes for staff and program participants. She has assisted Tai Chi Easy™ Practice Leader Trainings in the United States and has extensive experience teaching in a variety of settings and with diverse populations. She is currently teaching private and group Qigong, Tai Chi and Yoga classes and is a choreographer and musical director at a local middle school, integrating these practices into the theater experience. Charlessa is co-founder of Theda and Charlessa WELLNESS ESSENTIALS (TACWE), Theda & Charlessa Wellness Essentials curated body/mind tools to empower people to develop and maintain a daily wellness practice to restore, recuperate, recover and/or build resilient and radiant health. Charlessa’s vast teaching experience has taken place in training centers, gyms, county government, private and public organizations. She has taught county employees techniques to use in their offices to help them to reduce stress, enhance concentration and foster energy. Additionally, she provided trainings for the employees on the subjects of Honoring Diversity, Sexual Harassment Prevention, Ethics, developed curricula and supervised a peer mentoring program with children experiencing emotional, behavioral and or social challenges. For 11 years, Charlessa has worked with Cappella Festiva summer choral group through movement and breath work ways to focus, reduce worry and enjoy their performances. She has helped bodybuilders with flexibility and various breathing techniques and has 15 years of supporting and inspiring children/teens to use their creativity as they explore movement and breathwork while connecting with nature. Working as a choreographer and director at a local private school with middle school aged students for 14 years, Charlessa has integrated Yoga and Tai Chi/Qigong practices into the theater experience. Charlessa has taught yoga for over 30 years, and Qigong and Tai Chi for 4 ½ years (although she has practiced Qigong for over 15 years). She loves to see how these practices of movement and breath work have helped children and teens with mental focus and concentration for preparing for a performance or sporting event, to ease test anxiety, and to be strong, confident and relaxed as they find ways to manage the stress/anxiety in their daily lives. As for the adult student, Charlessa has seen how these techniques have empowered them to help themselves through situations of discomfort or stress, anxiety and insomnia. As influential as these eastern practices have been in Charlessa’s life, it never became more personally important than when in 2019, she was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. She was hospitalized for a month for a stem cell transplant and before, during and after this hospitalization, these practices helped her to manage all the experiences she had. In fact, she was so overcome with how the benefits helped her that during her stay in the hospital, she shared her love of qigong with the nurses and doctors. Upon her release and subsequent remission, Charlessa has found strength in her practice and the strong desire to guide others on this journey. With this motivation, Charlessa went on to train with Roger Jahnke, Robert Peng and Lee Holden. A lifetime resident of the Hudson Valley, NY, in her spare time, besides her love for Qi Gong, Tai Chi and yoga, Charlessa enjoys being in nature and dancing for joy with her family and friends.
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