Tai Chi for Health
Tai Chi Practice Provides Increased Energy and a Good Disposition
Tai chi teaches mental concentration and relaxation, natural body alignment, grounding, and integrates posture and breathing techniques that increase energy and improve overall health. It is easy to learn and takes a lifetime to master. Develop physical and mental fitness and find a new harmony of the mind, body and spirit using this ancient Chinese martial art. Mastering the essentials of tai chi is especially valuable for individuals, or companies and organizations that want to have more productivity from their staff.
What Is Tai Chi?
Legend has it that Chen San Feng, a Shaolin monk, first developed tai chi as a much needed exercise for his fellow monks who spent hours in meditation and prayer. It was later taught as a fighting art to defend their Temple. Chen San Feng started by creating the 13 Postures of tai chi and developed a type of martial art based on these exercises that enhanced internal power and flexibility rather than external strength. Until the 17th century, tai chi was only practiced in monasteries. Then a retired general, Chen Wang Ting, learned the art and refined it into a series of continuous exercises - each exercise called a 'form' and each series of exercises a 'set.' Tai chi remained a secret art, known only to selected initiates until the 19th century when Yang Lu Chan further developed tai chi, and only at this stage did it spread through China. Many forms and styles of tai chi have developed from the original 13 postures.
What Experience is Needed, and What are the Benefits?
Tai Chi Chuan, or simply tai chi (also Taijiquan, Taiji or T'ai Chi), is most commonly practiced today for its amazing health benefits. Tai chi is movement, often described as "meditation in motion," done in a precise order to help facilitate energy flow, fitness, relaxation and mental concentration. Most basic forms take 5-20 minutes to perform and are easy to learn. Tai chi requires no special skills, clothing, or equipment and can be done anywhere: indoors, outdoors, alone or with a group. Students of tai chi are referred to as tai chi "practitioners" and they come in all shapes, sizes, ages and fitness levels. These slow, choreographed movements provide the lowest weight bearing exercise while simultaneously healing the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual components of the body. Yet, research has shown that tai chi provides all the benefits of a cardio vascular workout with no harmful side effects. Tai chi has been studied by the Western medical community and has found it to provide more benefits that any other single exercise. It also found that with regular practice tai chi can provide benefits including those in the list below.
Tai Chi Benefits
| Reduce Stress and anxiety | Speed heart attack recovery |
| Calm central nervous system | Increase breathing capacity |
| Help with weight loss | Reduce asthma and allergy reactions |
| Enhance muscle toning | Slow the aging process |
| Increase energy levels | Sharpen mental focus |
| Positive effects on arthritis | Improve coordination |
| Help ensure full range of mobility | Help with gastric problems |
| Help ensure increased flexibility | Reduce pain of arthritis, rheumatism, fibromyalgia |
| Boost the immune system | Ease back pain |
| Lower high blood pressure and heart rate | Stimulate circulation |
| Reduce risk of falls | Help with weight loss |
Reprinted From DrWeil.com's Weekly Wellness Bulletin, March 18, 2004:
More Good News About Tai Chi
The benefits of practicing tai chi, the gentlest of the martial arts, may be even greater than touted. In addition to building strength, balance and flexibility, particularly among older adults, a recent review of medical literature suggests that tai chi practice can have positive effects on people with chronic health conditions such as heart disease, multiple sclerosis and joint problems.
Results of a study published in the March 8, 2004, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that tai chi seems to improve functioning in the heart, blood vessels and lungs among healthy people as well as those with heart conditions, including patients who have had coronary artery bypass surgery. Practicing tai chi also appears to reduce pain, stress and anxiety and may improve memory, concentration and digestion.
So far, there's no hard evidence to explain how tai chi might affect health in these beneficial ways. The researchers from Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, who conducted the current study, now plan to investigate exactly why tai chi works and who it can benefit the most.
TAI CHI CLASSES IN THE WORKPLACE
Wise companies know that its success is dependent upon its most valuable resource: its employees. Wellness programs are springing up throughout our country today. Employers are investing in these programs for their employees. These companies are finding that after a few weeks of group fitness there is improvement in productivity and a decrease in absenteeism. Surprisingly, the timeless holistic fitness system of tai chi meets the modern criteria for keeping all employees healthy in mind, body, and spirit. At the same time it complies with the needs of the bottom line of a company. Tai chi can be inexpensively implemented. A program of tai chi is very simple to start in a work place. All that is needed is a qualified instructor and your employees. On a practical note, there is no need for expensive gymnasiums, equipment, showers, or uniforms. An employee can come dressed in work attire and flat shoes to class. Classes of forty-five minute or an hour refresh, relax, and re-energize people without the pain or strain of other kinds of exercise programs.
A tai chi class can be held in the morning before work, at lunchtime, or after the workday. These formal classes should be done at least one time a week for a minimum of twelve weeks. Daily group practice is encouraged; usually fifteen minutes is sufficient. The mini-breaks that most companies provide workers can be interspersed throughout the day and this time can be used for relaxing and re-energizing the worker. Today the enemy may be fatigue, stress, overwork or lack of understanding of 'self.' When incorporated into the workplace, most managers will see immediate improvement with the employees who are enrolled in tai chi classes.
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Links to Tai Chi Web Sites
Sources of information:
| Dr. Paul Lam's web site | http://www.taichiproductions.com/ | |
| Dr. Pamela Kircher's web site | http://www.pamkircher.com/taichi/index.htm | |
| Discovery Health | http://health.discovery.com/centers/nutritionfitness/.../taichi.html | |
| Interview: Bill Douglas on T’ai Chi | http://www.drweil.com/u/Article/M159/ | |
Tai chi is practiced today for its amazing health benefits. 
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