|
How Does it build inner strength, develop balance, increase
circulation, improve respiration, decrease blood pressure, relieve
pain, reduce weight?
Traditional Chinese Medicine is a holistic approach to health that
includes Herbal Remedies, Accupuncture, and Qi Gong/Tai Chi. Hundreds
of medical studies, some more rigorous than others, have chronicled the
health benefits of Qi Gong/Tai Chi. Many of these studies have focused
on older practicioners because the gentle nature of the practice makes
it particularly well-suited to their needs. Qi Gong/Tai Chi are
appropriate for, and practiced by, people of all ages.
A study funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine "at the University of California,
San Diego showed that Tai Chi significantly boosts the body's immunity to a debilitating viral infection and enhances one's
overall feeling of health and level of activity." "Those participants
who before Tai Chi had the greatest impairments in physical activity
experienced the greatest gains from the program." "This is the first
scientific study to demonstrate that a complementary or alternative
medical therapy is responsible both for improvements in physical
function and in virus-specific immunity. Although immunity to VZV was
tested specifically in this study, the cells responsible for immune
system memory are critical in defense against a wide range of viral
infections. Consequently, the findings of this research may be relevant
to resistance against an array of infections that challenge the health
of aging Americans."
The National Institutes of Health recommend exercise such as Tai Chi as part of a prevention of Heart Palpititions.
The Arthritis Foundation
states, "With slow movements as fluid as silk, the gentle Chinese
practice of Tai Chi seems tailor-made for easing sore joints and
muscles."
We CoPE at The Mount Sanai Hospital
(Wellness Complementary Program for Empowerment) includes Tai Chi and
Qigong in their Integrated Medicine approach for patients with chronic
neurologic diseases.
The ALS Association recommends Tai Chi as a stress-reducing strategy.
The Neuroscience Institute at Shands Jacksonville offers Tai Chi classes to patients to aid in relaxation, flexibility, stress reduction and improving balance.
Orlando Regional Healthcare and the National Osteoporosis Foundation recommend exercise such as Tai Chi as part of a prevention of Osteoporosis.
Orlando Regional Healthcare recommends exercise such as Tai Chi as part of a prevention of Heart Disease.
The American Tai Chi Association maintains a Tai Chi Health & Information Center to provide "Reliable and Authoritative Information" on health benefits of Tai Chi.
The following article was originally published in Natural Awakenings and is reprinted here with the permission of the author.
Who Moved My Chi…?
By Candis Roby
As I read through Natural Awakenings every month I enjoy seeing the
various phrases used to describe healthy living: holistic health,
mind-body connection, connective healing, etc. I enjoy this
because I believe in treating the whole person and because, as a
history teacher, I know it really isn't anything new. The fact
that we are embracing it is encouraging but a central concept seems to
be lacking. What connects the mind to the body? What
explains the success of holistic approaches? Millions of Chinese
over the last 2500 years call it chi. Chi is actually pronounced gee,
like in "gee whiz who moved my waist?" From now on, for the sake
of clarity I will refer to it as qi. It is, most simply, your
life force, the life force that unifies mind, body, even spirit, if you
will.
Most people know the phrase Tai Chi. Here Chi indicates the superlative
of a word - biggest, best, deepest. Tai Chi means large or great
and "Chi" notches it up to indicate the largest or greatest, or supreme
ultimate. People practice Tai Chi to develop their qi. This
"supreme ultimate" refers to the universal qi, which is the life force
or invisible energy originating in our hearts, flowing throughout our
bodies, and extending throughout the universe. This energy can be
increased in a person to make a weak person vital or an ill person
robust. When your qi is strong and balanced your emotions and
thoughts function more smoothly and life is more satisfying.
To understand how qi relates to you feeling more youthful, imagine
waking up after a wonderful nights sleep. You feel
clear-headed, fresh, ready to live the day to the fullest, confident
you can handle anything life throws at you. Your body is relaxed
and you feel centered in our values. Now, imagine yourself at
noon. If any of that life force you woke up with has dissipated,
so has your qi. You may manage to appear calm outwardly for the
remainder of the day, but the weakening in your mind and body prevents
you from feeling as enthralled with life as when you first awoke.
Add the fact that this is just another day in your 30th year of your
career and you can see the effects of aging exacerbating your
condition. Developing and nurturing your qi enables you to be
physically and mentally "fresh". It is also the source of one's
moral integrity, enabling us to take a stand on principle at the end of
that long workday!
Qi can be depleted by excessive concentration of the senses on external
objects or of the heart on intellectual processes. Two ancient
schools of thought existed during the 4th century B.C. One held
that people are born with a fixed amount of qi and must exercise wise
stewardship to prolong its positive effects on life. The other
school of thought believed that we can add to our individual qi by
tapping into the universal source. This is the enhanced theory of
qi advocated by Mencius 2500 years ago and is the approach followed
today. Mencius compared the heart, as the source of qi, to a
mountain.
"There was a time when the trees were luxuriant on the Ox
Mountain. As it is on the outskirts of a great metropolis, the
trees are constantly lopped by axes. Is it any wonder that they
are no longer fine? With the respite they get in the day and in
the night, and the moistening by the rain and dew, there is certainly
no lack of new shoots coming out, but then the cattle and sheep come to
graze upon the mountain. That is why it is as bald as it
is. People, seeing only its baldness, tend to think that it never
had any trees. But can this possibly be the nature of a
mountain? Can what is in man be completely lacking in moral
inclinations? A man's letting go of his true heart is like the
case of the trees and the axes. When the trees are lopped day
after day, is it any wonder that they are no longer fine? If, in
spite of the respite a man gets in the day and in the night and of the
effect of the morning air on him, scarcely any of his likes and
dislikes resemble those of other men, it is because what he does in the
course of the day once again dissipates what he has gained. If
this dissipation happens repeatedly, then the influence of the air in
the night will no longer be able to preserve what was originally in
him, and when that happens, the man is not far removed from an
animal. Others, seeing his resemblance to an animal, will be led
to think that he never had any native endowment. But can that be
what a man in genuinely like? Hence, given the right nourishment
there is nothing that will not grow, and deprived of it there is
nothing that will not wither away. Confucius said, 'Hold on to it
and it will remain; let go of it and it will disappear. One never
knows the time it comes or goes, neither does one know the direction.'
It is perhaps to the heart this refers." (Mencius, book 6, part A,
chapter 8)
I really identified with being "lopped" day after day! Mencius is
advising people to take care of the heart, the original heart, in order
to be healthy. That is exactly how qi is strengthened - from the
inside out. The ability of qi strengthening to influence the
individual's psychological/moral perspective is so vivid that it is
often considered a spiritual aspect of Tai Chi. For example, consider
courage. When we think of feeling courageous, we think of a state
of heightened tension in the body in which breathing and heart rate
increase. This need not be so. If a person can unite his
physical courage with his internal qi, the body's reactions decrease
and the person is spurred on instead by the knowledge of being morally
right. Think of it as relaxing into your courage. A person
with healthy qi would be confident!
The good news is you don't have to chase after your qi! The bad
news is you can't chase after your qi! Qi is the breath which
moves the heart, leading the blood accompanied with qi throughout our
bodies. If you force the qi you only end up with heart
palpitations and deplete your qi. The breath, heart, circulatory
systems must all work together in conjunction with the qi. What a
great mind-body connection!
Candis Roby teaches high school in Orange County and studies with Tai Chi Master Lien Gwa Chang.
|
