I still clearly remember the first Tai Chi class I attended. It was the year 1986 and I had just enrolled at school in the acupuncture and Chinese medicine program. The very first class of the program was a Tai Chi class. Dr. Richard Browne, the director of the school, believed that Tai Chi and Qigong should be integral components of the education for Chinese medicine practitioners.
During that Tai Chi class, the first thing my teacher did was place my body in the right Tai Chi posture by adjusting my head, hips and back. At that moment, I recall feeling a sensation of lightness, relaxation, and comfort in my body. I could feel a subtle flow of energy running up and down my body and a sense of calmness in my mind. I remember telling myself: “This is what I want to experience when I run and do exercise. Why do I have to run six miles every morning to feel this way?” And thus began my life-long practice of Tai Chi.
So, what is it that makes Tai Chi exercise so beneficial and enjoyable? To answer this question, let’s explore how Tai Chi promotes the five main areas of health and supports our mind and body wellness.
1. Tai Chi strengthens muscle-skeletal health
Originated as a form of self-defense, Tai Chi places great importance on proper body posture and muscle-skeletal alignment in order to achieve stability, body integration, and optimal generation of force. The guiding principle is to make optimal use of the pull of gravity upon the body. By placing the body on a vertical plane and aligning our center of gravity perpendicular to the ground, we release undue pressure on any single tissue or joint. In this way, we can optimize the distribution of weight upon the body, allowing gravity to support the frame and movement of the body.
Proper posture and muscle-skeletal alignment also enhances proprioception, or the ability of the body to sense its position and movement in space. Proprioceptors within muscles and joints are continually sending information to the central nervous system. They work in a coordinated fashion making use of muscle spindles (stretch receptors) that register changes in muscle length, the Golgi tendon organ that registers tension in muscles, and the Gamma system that adjusts the length of muscle spindles. These various aspects of proprioception work together to maintain muscle tone, posture and coordinated movement.
There is always a certain degree of ‘tone’ or tension necessary for maintaining an upright position. This tonus is referred to as “postural muscle tone.” The goal of Tai Chi practice is to attain the minimum degree of tension and the maximal level of relaxation in order to achieve maximum efficiency of movement.
At the same time, every movement in Tai Chi follows a circular pathway in an arc. We avoid rigid movements or straight angles. Circularity helps to make movements continuous, smooth, and unbroken. This method of circular motion is called “Reeling-silk exercise (chan si gong).” Tai Chi movements are performed by linking the rotation of the joints one-by-one in a sequence, also referred to as “linking the nine pearls or joints of the body.” Rotating the joints involves lengthening the fascia network and the connective tissues at the joints. At the same time, the muscles must stay relaxed.
The main function of circular movements is the ability to redirect an incoming force as opposed to resisting or blocking. This is in accord with the Tai Chi principle of yielding and not resisting. At the same time, circular movements favor the rotation of the joints and connectivity of the frame of the body, in contrast to just using the action of individual muscles.
Further, Tai Chi incorporates the principle of dynamic relaxation. It doesn’t mean a passive state of flabbiness and limpness. The term used for relaxation is “song,” pronounced “sung.” It means to loosen, extend, open, stretch, lengthen and relax the joints, muscles, fascia and connective tissues. This type of muscle lengthening creates a ‘tensile stretch’ that allows the muscle to restore its natural length, tone, and elasticity.
Tai Chi has been found to improve posture, stability, gait, balance, connective tissue strength, range of motion of the joints, flexibility, leg strength, joint and skeletal health, bone density, coordination, functional health, and elastic strength of the tendons and ligaments.
2. Tai Chi promotes nervous system health
The gentle, slow, and smooth nature of Tai Chi movements encourages relaxation of the nervous system, facilitating the release of muscle tension and stress. As the practice progresses, we extend the principle of relaxation to the deeper tissues, the internal organs, the nervous system, and the mind. Over time, we acquire a feeling of lightness, openness, fullness, and pliability that extends and permeates every part of our body.
While practicing Tai Chi the mind should be calm, focused, and relaxed. The movements of Tai Chi provide a kinesthetic focus for the mind, away from mental chatter and stress. Thus, during Tai Chi the mind is both awake and relaxed. This state of mental alertness and relaxation helps achieve a balanced function of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic). In effect, Tai Chi has been called “moving meditation” or “stillness in movement.”
Tai Chi makes use of three components of movement as follows: intention (yi), vital energy (qi), and body movement (sheng). That is, the mind (yi) leads the flow of vital energy (qi), and vital energy elicits the movements of the body. This principle of practice is illustrated below.
Mind intent (Yi) → Nerve signaling (Qi) → Motor ability (Sheng)
Focusing the mind and connecting it with the actions of the body helps mobilize the flow of vital energy, which in turn enhances the motor ability of the body. At the same time, cultivating relaxation facilitates nerve signal transmission and allows faster and more efficient body movements. The process of optimizing Tai Chi movements involves the interactive communication between nerve receptors in the body, the kinesthetic awareness, and the mind focus and attention. It is this interactive feedback between the body and the mind that helps refine Tai Chi movements.
Each movement in the Tai Chi form requires a specific point of focus, point of application or contact with the opponent, flow of energy along the body, and method of breathing. It is the integration of body movements, mind intent, and energy flow that makes Tai Chi a premier form of mind-body fitness exercise.
This state of dynamic relaxation has obvious benefits for our health including reducing stress, balancing the nervous system, calming the mind, lowering blood pressure, increasing concentration, enhancing circulation, improving digestion, reducing anxiety and increasing psychological well-being.
3. Tai Chi promotes digestive health
An essential feature of Tai Chi, different from other forms of exercise, is that every movement is initiated from the core of the body, called the dan tian. The core of the body involves the lower trunk, waist, lower back, lower abdomen, and the junction between the inner thigh and the pelvis (kua junction).
Tai Chi movements are performed by turning the waist and the alternate opening and closing of the kua junction at the groin. They also involve the internal rotation of the lower abdomen and the core of the body (dan tian). That is, Tai Chi actions are initiated by the body’s center of mass. This method of motion is called “unified body movement and coherent body mechanics.”
Turning the waist and rotating the core of the body helps the alternating stretching and compressing of the abdominal cavity and provides an internal massage to the digestive organs. In this manner, Tai Chi exercise increases the secretory action of the digestive organs and glands, enhances circulation to the internal organs, promotes digestion, improves appetite, enhances metabolism, stimulates motility of the intestines, loosens the lower back, strengthens the kidneys, improves sexual and reproductive function, harnesses and pressurizes qi into the core of the body, and develops vital energy or qi.
The classical texts of Tai Chi have a principle that states: “When one-part moves, the whole body moves”. Another quote is: “The movement of the body is rooted at the feet, directed by the waist, extended along the back, and expressed in the hands.” The implication is that every movement in Tai Chi involves the coordinated action of the whole body. There are no isolated, single, compartmentalized movements.
Connecting the movements to the core of the body provides greater mechanical efficiency. The aim of this way of utilizing the body is to develop unified movement and energy connectivity (called jin), and optimize the generation of force.
4. Tai Chi promotes respiratory health
Tai Chi is a mild-intensity, weight-bearing aerobic exercise that encourages slow, rhythmic, deep breathing. The various movements of Tai Chi stimulate the action of the diaphragm muscle to work more efficiently. At the same time, Tai Chi emphasizes lowering the shoulders, relaxing the chest cavity, and sinking the ribs, which together facilitate breathing.
At the initial phase of practice, Tai Chi employs slow, deep and natural breathing. As the practice progresses, Tai Chi utilizes deep abdominal breathing as well as counter-abdominal or reverse breathing in order to emphasize the efficiency of Tai Chi techniques and movements.
New students often ask how should they breathe. The best answer is to make sure you are not to forcing or holding the breath. The initial focus of practice should be on achieving correct posture and movements of the body and cultivating relaxation. Once these requirements are met, breathing will naturally become deeper and smoother.
In addition, the raising and sinking, expanding and contracting, and opening and closing movements of Tai Chi encourage the vertical movement of the diaphragm muscle and promote complete breathing.
During the practice of the Tai Chi form or choreography the body must be stable and grounded. Breathing then becomes deeper and smoother, and vital energy (qi) sinks to the core of the body (dan tien center). Further, the mind should direct the movement of qi to sink, gather, and permeate the core of the body, thus optimizing breathing.
5. Tai Chi promotes cardiovascular health
A statement in the classic texts of Tai Chi says: “Running water doesn’t get stale and a moving door hinge doesn’t rust.” Another quote states: “When practicing the Tai Chi form movements should be smooth and continuous like a flowing river.” Tai Chi movements are performed in a smooth, gentle and continuous manner. At the same time, we make use of circular movements that are combined with relaxation, supporting better circulation. Further, deep abdominal breathing favors more efficient gas exchange in the capillaries of the lungs, promoting better oxygenation of the tissues.
As a martial art exercise, Tai Chi places attention on the various defensive and attacking actions of the hands and kicking maneuvers of the feet that enhance peripheral circulation to the extremities.
The combination of relaxation, gentle, smooth, and continuous actions, circular movements, deep abdominal breathing, and hand and feet maneuvers help optimize blood circulation.
Tai Chi also helps lower blood pressure, increase microcirculation, improve oxygenation, strengthen the heart function, improve heart rate variability, and enhance peripheral circulation.
6. Tai Chi promotes mind-body wellness
While most types of exercise provide some form of stress release, the mind-body connection is the core of Tai Chi practice. Stress has been implicated in the development of a great number of chronic diseases including high blood pressure, heart disease, nervous disorders, headaches, digestive disorders, gastro-intestinal ulcers, diverticulitis, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis, mood disorders, autoimmune diseases, and cancer, among others.
When a focus of stress is developed in any given area of the body, the normal function of that area will be impaired and a state of disorder will gradually arise. When this state of disorder reaches a certain degree, inevitably disease will result. Therefore, removing stress is a means for eradicating the source of many diseases.
Tai Chi is a mind-body exercise that requires focus and attention. Regular practice helps develop a sense of “kinesthetic or feeling awareness,” involving the ability to sense the state of tension and relaxation, and the coordinated movement of various parts of the body. Initially, relaxation should be a conscious process. Later on, it should become a spontaneous and natural condition.
Tension can be of three types: physical, emotional, and mental. Physical tension refers to tension of the muscles, joints, and tissues of the body. Emotional tension is related to blockages of the energy channels associated with unresolved feelings, past trauma, and unprocessed cellular memories. Mental tension is connected to nervous tension and arises from mistaken sense of self-identity, limiting beliefs, and false perception of reality.
In the process of cultivating relaxation (song), relaxing the mind is essential, for without mental relaxation we can’t achieve physical relaxation. Tension in the mind creates nervous tension, which in turn creates muscular tension. Thus, the key to achieving relaxation is cultivating a state of calm and tranquility of the mind.
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