Health Benefits of Tai Chi

   Tai chi can be used as a preventive health measure, a way to maintain good health, or to help with a specific ailment. While tai chi cannot cure disease, it is often recommended as a complementary therapy to conventional treatment. Specifically, tai chi can be used to help:

• Stress. Some studies have shown that tai chi is as effective as meditation and walking for reducing the amount of stress hormones in the body. The preliminary reason for this being the amount of shear concentration needed to perform each posture in a slow, balanced, correct manner when learning Tai Chi.

• Balance. Research shows that regular tai chi practice over 15 weeks improves balance in older people and reduces the risk of falling by almost 50%. A student at our Institute is now standing on one leg for large quantities of time after a severe craniotomy debilitated her movement and balance for months.

• Posture. Tai Chi is built around good posture and can help counter our bad postural habits we've developed through years of staring at monitors, slouching, or general immobility. Many of our students have gained increased posture over the course of their studies.

• Arthritis. By stretching and strengthening the muscles and tissue surrounding a joint afflicted with Arthritis, Tai Chi increases the range of motion and promotes circulation to the damaged tissue without causing pain. Bone and cartilage damage can not be treated by Tai Chi but it can lessen the severity and pain of the disease when started early enough. Students with Arthritis have mentioned to us on repeated occasions that Tai Chi has removed or lessened the pain of their Arthritis.

• Circulation problems. The posturing used in Tai Chi is designed for opening the channels or gates in the body. Aside from its martial purpose it allows for better circulation which means increased blood flow to all areas of the body.

• High blood pressure. A recent study done at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions revealed that tai chi lowered blood pressure almost as much as moderate-intensity aerobic exercise in older adults who had been sedentary. We have seen marked improvement in students with High Blood Pressure practicing Tai Chi on a frequent and regular basis.

• Multiple sclerosis. Preliminary studies suggest that tai chi helps people with MS to increase their physical functioning as well as their mental well-being.