HEALTH AND TAI CHI VIDEOS AND LINKS TO ARTICLES

There has been a lot of research on Tai Chi: 

Harvard University Click Here the-health-benefits-of-tai-chi

Mayo Clinic Click Here for Mindfulness-tai-chi-is-a-gentle-way-to-fight-stress/

- and hundreds more. 

CTCA has put together a wonderful Physiological explanation of the effects tai chi has on our bodies from Dr. David Carson Click Here for video_drcarson.mp4

The US National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health published this easy to read synopsis of the Health Benefits of Tai Chi

 TAI CHI & Your Health Challenge - what you need to know

What you see is not necessarily what is happening.

What your mind sees is not necessarily happening in Tai Chi

Tai Chi may take longer to catch on to in part because of the differences between the muscular focused exercises us Westerners grew up with and the Traditional Chinese Medicine approach to health. Sometimes described as counter intuitive, a westerner when first approaching the art of tai chi must make mental as well as physical adjustments. Practicing tai chi is often referred to as Playing Tai Chi in traditional circles. Westerners hear the word 'exercise' and up pop images of healthy young people with rippling muscles acing the routines with every isolated muscle group clicking like a well tuned racing engine.

Eastern philosophy generally ascribes to an overall holistic approach to tai chi and health. TCM doctors will and can prescribe tai chi to their patients as therapy. In tai chi there is an efficiency of movement which tends to save energy and get better results. Eventually, practitioners of tai chi will generate huge amounts of energy by performing tai chi, especially on a regular basis. Rather than isolating the muscle groups the individual movements are integrated, or articulated, with each other to entice the whole body to contribute to what the practitioner perceives as 'the movement'.

There is the rub. What we perceive in tai chi movements is not what they actually are when we first start tai chi. We see a practitioner taking a step and then moving forward. Inside, all he is doing is providing an 'invitation' of support' by putting the front foot forward to support spiralling up on the back leg. When the transfer of body weight is complete it almost comes as a surprise because he is still standing up on the back leg when the body weight finally deposits itself on the front foot. Many only see the practitioner moving forward in Brush Knee Twist Step, or forward and backward as in Grasp Bird's Tail. Tai Chi Vertical from the feet, even on an angle

ANGLE, SIT, DIRECTION, TIMING AND BALANCE are all at work to provide the spiral up at the back and the spiral up at the front. Please notice the direction before the spiral up.

Have fun Playing Tai Chi! It's more a feeling than a regime and that is the language of holistic body.

Cliff

Video links and Practice Sheet Hints for Home Practice

NEW! DOCUMENT: HINTS ON

 STANDING JONG EXERCISES

Video Qi Gong for shoulders and chest.



Video Standing Tai Chi



Video Different type of TORYU lesson

You can practice tai chi (taiji) if you are fat, thin, just out of bed after surgery, young, old or middle aged. Tai Chi is about how you feel, not how you look. - Bruce Frantzis 

Have a sore lower back? 

First, if you have pain transferring down your leg(s), rest and heal. Consult your physician immediately. There is a good chance you may be doing irreparable nerve damage by moving with that kind of pain. 
Now, tai chi balances and strengthens the spine. However, overdoing it can exacerbate an injury or muscle soreness. 
How to do your tai chi to help mobilize and balance a sore lower back? 
The answer is hands high. 
Your hands stretching the ball, with each and every movement going up, should be 45 degrees, i.e half way between horizontal and straight up.
Try it now, and enjoy your gentle internal massage.
After, check your wallet and notice you saved the cost of a nice relaxing massage and you can pass on this choice tidbit of knowledge with your tai chi friends 😊

Regular practice of tai chi produces amazing benefits. Even just a few minutes of dan-yus at home can remind your musculature to relax and your frame to realign. Class time is always good, but the very few minutes spent 'playing tai chi' at home will prove very beneficial and eye opening 😊
Spend time, to realign.

Try not to focus on breathing so much, but let it happen naturally

INTERESTING ARTICLES:
MEDICAL RESEARCH, CLICK HERE: TAI CHI COMPARES WITH CROSS FIT TRAINING

HARVARD UNIVERSITY 5 OF THE BEST EXERCISES YOU CAN EVER DO

MAYO CLINIC REVIEWS TAI CHI FOR LOW BACK PAIN, NECK PAIN, HEADACHE/MIGRAINE, KNEE, FIBROMYALSIA,

MEDICAL RESEARCH, CLICK HERE: US National Library of Medicine: Tai chi mind-body treatment results in similar or greater improvement in symptoms than aerobic exercise

VIDEO: Bruce Frantzis best explains my approach to enjoying and reaping the health benefits from tai chi! Many classes teach you the moves, but I instruct 'how tai chi feels'! 

Yin and Yang is The Tao (The Way) moving in balance

A COUPLE OF THOUGHTS: Have you ever thought of your tai chi as the alignment of all your joints. Take the knee joint and look at your toryu. When does your knee twist coming off the back of a toryu. Why does it twist. It is connected through all the rest of the joints from the knee up, and below. If you have knee issues, you don't need to immediately turn the knee as you go up. The expression for the knee to foot is "the pillar". Leave the pillar alone and let the rest follow the bubbling springs in the hands.
I worked for the railroad for 31 years and have seen a lot of trains leave a station. Every rail car has a knuckle that closes upon another car's knuckle to join up. As they come together they automatically lock up with each other, like a joint in the body linking one member to another. With each car knuckle there is a bit of slack to each joint that is made. When the train is put together, the slack is usually taken out by compressing the knuckles together. However, as the engine (unit) starts to pull a train of 60 or a 100 cars the slack is taken out of each knuckle in turn, one by one until all the knuckles are connected by the pull of the engine. You can hear the metal clang of this process travelling down to the last car as the unit pulls the train out of it's track or station. Think of your body as all those parts lined up and each joint fitting perfectly together and the rails as the direction of your movement. Our joints are rounded but perfectly fitted together; designed to turn. However, the moment you introduce a thought of changing the alignment, your voluntary muscles go into action and alter the natural and relaxed, in gravity, fitting of the joints together. Immediately, this makes a hole in the form, a break in the connection between your bubbling springs on the floor and the bubbling springs in your hands, or finger tips. Let your body rest between the bubbling springs in your hands and the bubbling springs in your feet. Your intention (hands) should guide you, not the tension created from your brain. The brain is really only good for focus once the movement is started. Of course, this is true unless you are trying to break a 'habit', whereby you a managing some part of your body by reversing an unintentional 'hole' in the form.
Stay aligned, and guess what word I will utilize next...relax.

Whether or not you have a body that is overweight, underweight, an imbalance of movement from a dysfunctional part of your structure, you can find balance. Balance promotes ease of movement. Balance is alignment.

Practicing Tai Chi is learning to find your balance and alignment inside the structure you have now. Learn how to find where you are out of balance. The answers may surprise you. The mind works with and is integrally tied to the body; both are connected to the spirit. Work positively on any one and the other two receive the same benefit.

Where there is balance, there is ease of movement and alignment.

Where balance is needed, there is disease in movement and misalignment.  

A Little About Tai Chi...

Who Can Practice Tai Chi?

Over decades of tai chi practice, I have not met anyone who cannot practice at least some tai chi. Tai chi offers health benefits to anyone regardless of the individual’s level of fitness or mobility. Prior knowledge of tai chi or the set is not required when signing up for a class. (Mobility Challenged? Specialized classes for individualized instruction are available one on one or small groups.)

What is Tai Chi?

Tai chi is a form of qigong practice which is a Chinese system of physical exercises to improve general health. Tai chi was developed to maintain or regain good health, by ancient Taoist sages in collaboration with Shaolin monks in ancient China.
A tai chi set is a structured series of body postures attained through slow and continuous movement while either standing, sitting or a combination of both. The practice will gently stretch your entire body while maintaining alignment and balance. Besides the set, there are the tai chi ‘standing jongs’. These standing exercises are usually performed prior to the set. They are intended to strengthen, warm-up and loosen the body. The instructor will then guide you on how these ‘standing jongs’ are incorporated into and become various parts of the set. Regular practice of either the set or standing jongs or both will result in surprising health benefits.

What is Our Approach?

Tai chi is tailored to suit each individual so it becomes ‘your tai chi’. There is no ‘incorrect’ tai chi because the individual’s level is exactly what is needed at the time. If you wish to learn the basics of the set of tai chi, then a Level 1 class is all you need.

What are the Benefits of Tai Chi Practice?

Tai chi will improve both physical and mental balance as well as overall health. Your tai chi will improve with practice and become more efficient to achieve greater blood/chi circulation and even more improvements to overall health. Regular practice enhances physical balance, range of motion, flexibility and strength. Tai chi also balances the emotions resulting in overall sense of well-being.

Tai Chi for the Mobility Challenged?

Tai chi can be practiced sitting, standing or a combination of both. The sitting tai chi provides a surprisingly superior workout that enhances mobility, strength and balance. It is often used to refine the tai chi of advanced practitioners. Regular practice of either sitting or standing of tai chi will help regain your health, vigour and resiliency. Regardless of your level of mobility the instructor will adapt the jongs and/or set to suit your tai chi.