Calm down! Relax! these instructions rarely work.
Tai Chi gives you something concrete to focus on so you can relax. WE all need to relax. Especially now in this decisive time. We need to turn off the news, and be an elephant. Or a flying crane or a tree. You will be amazed how easy it into relax when you are imitating and visualizing an animal.
Read about it here from the Wall Street Journal
A recent article describes Tai chi as the perfect exercise. The perfect exercise is one that:
Read the full article from the ECONUGENICS here.
Don’t you know someone who needs to relax?
The increasing interest in Tai chi in Schools, hospitals, prisons, parks and everywhere is wonderful ! Let’s go further for more focus, fitness, fun and relaxation.
| Improvements in physical condition, muscle strength, coordination, and flexibility | Improvements in pain and stiffness, including arthritis pain |
| Improved balance and mobility | Improved sleep and overall wellness |
| Reduced risk of falls, particularly in the elderly | Enhanced immune function |
Doctors recommend it. Researchers recommend it. Teachers recommend it.
Have you tried it?
Benefits of this meditative movement include:
Even gentle forms of exercise like tai chi, or t’ai chi, and qigong can have major health benefits, according to research by Sala Horowitz, PhD, published in the journal Alternative and Complementary Therapies. Read the full story
This year, let’s make balance and focus an important part of everything we do. Take a break from rushing around, getting upset or frustrated, trying to do too much in an hour. Take time to breathe, feel, become aware of ourselves, our feelings, our potential. Let me inspire you with a wonderful VIDEO ON FOCUS
“To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short”. Confucius
Take time to breathe, relax and focus. Take time to be in the moment. Take time to think, visualize, imagine, reflect and enjoy. You can be a tree – rooted, connected, empowered by the stability of the earth.
“The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.” Euripides
Even if you just take 5 or 10 minutes a day you will feel better, work better, perform better, and be a healthier person. Try 5 – 10 minutes of Tai Chi. It can be the first step on your road to balance.
Here is a wonderful video on focus and concentration and the balance they can give to everything. Balance is delicate. You may not be able to perform as in this video, but you can take steps in that direction. We all can. We only have to start
Tai Chi is a safe alternative exercise for patients who are at risk of CHD (CORONARY HEART DISEASE) or with existing CHD. Implementing Tai Chi exercise may improve serum lipids, blood pressure, and heart rate.
There is lots to read, lots to know. But most important of all is to
Routine practice of Qi Gong (chi kung – the grandfather of tai chi) seemed to significantly improve pain in patients with fibromyalgia and lessened the impact of the disorder, a randomized trial showed.
After 8 weeks of regular practice of this “meditative movement,” pain as measured on a 10-point scale decreased by 1.55 points, compared with a change of only 0.02 points in controls, according to Jana Sawynok, PhD, and colleagues from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
And on the 100-point Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, which quantitates the effects of multiple disease components including pain, function, sleep, and psychological distress, there was a decrease of 18.45 points compared with a change of 0.93 points in controls, the researchers reported online in Arthritis Research & Therapy.
Mulitmobidity means the presence of 2 or more chronic conditions. This study looked at the effect of Tai Chi on 4 chronic conditions.
The participants who practiced Tai Chi had significant improvement in the 6-minute walking distance test (6MWD) and better knee extension strength in the four targeted chronic conditions: cancer, osteoarthritis, heart failure, and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Additionally, the researchers also found out that Tai Chi improved disease-specific symptoms of pain and stiffness in patients suffering from osteoarthritis.
Harvard Medical School believes that Tai Chi, which combines aerobic activity, coordination of breathing, and cognitive techniques can not only alleviate the physical inactivity of people with COPD but also can reduce their symptoms of dyspnea, anxiety, and depression. A 2015 study in Singapore showed that Tai Chi could have a positive improvement in people with subsyndromal depression (SSD) and subsyndromal anxiety (SSA). A 2013 study in Taiwan showed that Tai Chi could have a significant and positive effect on blood pressure and lipid levels.
AND ANOTHER STUDY
from MEDPAGE
I case you don’t want to read the whole article, here is a summary.
“To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first evidence of a possible reduction of cardiovascular risk through tai chi exercise by improving endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness in patients with RA (rheumatoid arthritis),” wrote the study authors in Arthritis Research & Therapy.
Endothelial dysfunction is a major physiopathological mechanism that leads towards coronary artery disease, and other atherosclerotic diseases.It can be involved in hypertension, diabetes, septic shock, and other diseases. Physical inactivity is another risk factor. Tai chi combines meditation with slow, gentle movements, deep breathing, and relaxation. The intensity of tai chi is equivalent to walking 6 km/hr, and moderately increases heart rate.
In this study participants did tai chi once a week for 60 minutes over 3 months. There was significant positive change in the tai chi group in all areas measured including artery flow-mediated dilation, cholesterol level, cardiovascular risk and arterial stiffness.
ANOTHER STUDY
I am so happy when I get reports of new studies on Tai Chi. Every months there is more “proof” in the western sense of the word that Tai Chi really works. Of course, those of us who practice tai chi and qigong know that it works. But scientific studies make it even better!
Remember if it works on adults, which is mostly where the studies are conducted, it will work on children, too. We are all human beings with internal energy flow that can become stuck or stagnant. We all have stress that is hard on our body, regardless of our age. We all need moments of silence and relaxation, focus and inner peace. It doesn’t matter how old you are. It will make a difference for you, too.