Tai chi Getting Popular with Millennials

CNN reports that millennials are seeing benefits of tai chi practice for stress reduction. Locked into leaning over a computer for hours in stressful environments, they are learning to loosen up with this ancient Chinese art. "I live in Southern California, so driving on the freeways, it can be tempting to rush through traffic and go as fast as you can," one interviewee said. "But since I've been doing tai chi, I've been able to stop and pull back and just be like 'all right, here I am in the flow. I'm going to go with it, and if it's slow, that's OK.' "
Read the article here.

Tai Chi for Seniors.

 

"According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey, an estimated 2.3 million U.S. adults had used tai chi in the previous 12 months. That number is growing among aging adults for practical reasons: Tai chi requires no special clothing, shoes or equipment, so it’s affordable; it can be done almost anywhere; its slow, relaxed, and fluid movements are less stressful on aging joints and muscles; when practiced with a group, it lends itself to socializing.
"Most important, though, are the physical and mental benefits that tai chi can provide. In studies by medical researchers, this form of exercise addresses common age-related conditions such as chronic pain, loss of balance and stress. Some studies even show that tai chi can increase flexibility, promote cardiovascular fitness, increase bone mineral density, lower blood pressure and increase aerobic capacity.^"

 Read this article in full at the National Academy of Sports Medicine website.

"6 Benefits of Tai Chi for Your Health"

 


A great article on the benefits of tai chi:

"My senior year of college, a friend and I signed up for a tai chi class offered on campus. We thought it would be an entertaining hour or two every week, and it gave us a few extra course credits. But a week or two in, I realized that the classes were actually something I really loved and valued as a part of my week. I looked forward to the few hours each week where I got to calm my mind and move my body at the same time." Read the whole article at Mother Earth News.

Tai Chi in Everyday Life

Cartoonist James Sturm brings tai chi to worklife—our mentor Maggie Newman's words of wisdom are featured.  See the full cartoon at Medium.

Tai Chi for Fall Prevention

"Minnesota has the nation’s fourth-highest rate of fall-related deaths," the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported in a recent article about how Tai Chi can prevent falls. Many studies have shown that Tai Chi helps improves many aspects of health, mobility, and balance. State commissioners of health and human services are seen here, following along in a training workshop.

Tai Chi participants can note a dramatic and quick improvement in balance and mobility by practicing even just the basics. Tai Chi is very multi-faceted, and can serve as a mindfulness exercise, as well as a martial art. See Great River's current schedule below for information on beginners classes.

In Memory of Bataan Faigao

Bataan Faigao, head of Rocky Mountain Tai Chi, has passed away. Bataan visited Great River Tai Chi many times, as did his late wife Jane, and many of our students enjoyed their summer camp in the mountains. We will miss him greatly. We'll have a time to remember Bataan, Thursday, Oct. 4th, 6 p.m. at the studio. 
 The Boulder Camera reported that Bataan was terminally ill, and was on a pilgrimage to China's sacred locales, when he died. He is known as someone who really embodied a deeper sense of tai chi. He had a very quiet way of teaching. He is quoted as saying,

"T'ai-chi Ch'uan is a journey of spiritual discovery. I encourage students to work hard and to adhere to principles," Faigao wrote about his philosophy of teaching the discipline on the foundation's website. "I teach T'ai-chi Ch'uan as a complete system for health, meditation, self-defense, and as a way of the tao. Learning this art is a process that takes care of the external to get to the internal, going back and forth from form to application, understanding and experience."

 Bataan was born Dec. 1, 1944, in Cebu, Philippines. He married Jane Greeley Faigao in 1966; she preceded him in death. They were lifelong students of t'ai chi ch'uan, studying with Grandmaster Cheng Man-ching in New York City from 1968 until Cheng's death in 1975. They moved to Boulder the following year and established the Rocky Mountain T'ai Chi Ch'uan Foundation and directed Naropa University's Traditional Eastern Arts department. A memorial will be held in Boulder on October 6th.

 For the complete article in the Boulder Camera, click here.

Explore the Many Benefits of Tai Chi

A recent article in the Marlborough, New Zealand newspaper gives a great look at why tai chi practice is good for you.
"Seventy-year-old Lynda Neame said she started modified tai chi classes in 2008 after suffering from concussion, which caused vertigo and dizziness. "I thought I would learn how to stand up straight, walk in a straight line and get control of myself." The benefits proved more extensive.
Mrs Neame also suffered from osteoarthritis and had resigned herself to gradual loss of mobility because of the pain in her shoulders, legs and hips.
"I spent an hour recovering after half an hour in the garden and thought `this will be my life'."
But with the tai chi, she can now also enjoy pilates, bike riding, swimming and her beloved gardening."

How can tai chi benefit you? Find out at classes this fall at Great River Tai Chi. Our beginners' classes will be held Sundays, starting September 18th, at 6 pm, 1940 Hennepin Av. S. 2F. Tuition is $150 for ten weeks of class.

Robert W. Smith, Student of Cheng Man-ch'ing

We note the passing of our taiji "uncle" Mr. Robert W. Smith, July 1, 2011. Mr. Smith studied taiji with Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing in Taiwan, and went on to teach in the Bethesda, Maryland area.
Mr. Smith's copious writings about Professor Cheng and other great masters of the Asian martial arts helped set the stage for taiji and other arts to spread to the United States in the 1960s. Mr. Smith gave workshops in the Minneapolis St. Paul area in the 1970s. For more information, see the Taijiquan Journal blog.

Tai Chi for Heart Health Study

 A recent study reported on in US News found that tai chi "could boost heart patients' quality of life. Researchers split 100 patientswith heart failure into two groups: Half participated in a 12-week tai chi program, while the others spent 12 weeks in an educational program learning about heart-related issues, like low-sodium diets and heart-rhythm problems. At the end of the study, the tai chi group reported improvements in mood, less , less fatigue, and more energy than the others—and those in the first group were more likely to continue with some type of physical activity, according to findings published Mondayin the Archives of Internal Medicine. "Maintaining an exercise regimen is important in heart failure," study author Gloria Yeh of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center told HealthDay. "Tai chi may be a suitable alternative or adjunct exercise for these patients."

While studies such as these help integrate tai chi into the health care system (such as it is), tai chi is much more than sheer exercise. Yes, those who do take up tai chi find it has many unexpected benefits: improved balance and gait, mental focus, straightened posture, lower stress, improved immune system, and more. But tai chi is also "philosophy in motion," a martial art (improved balance and posture do wonders for "standing up for oneself"), and it can be a window into understanding more about Chinese culture. It is a calming, yet is exercise, and can be modified to fit anyone's physical needs, regardless of age.

Tai Chi Helps Fibromyalgia

Tai Chi has been practiced for hundreds of years, and has been studied scientifically for several decades. Medical reserachers have clearly demonstrated tai chi's usefullness for treatment of numerous conditions: arthritis, diabetes, balance problems, fall prevention, bone density loss, high blood pressure, shingles, stress, anger management, schizophrenia, and for improvement of general well-being.

"The ancient Chinese practice of tai chi may be effective as a therapy for fibromyalgia, according to a study published on Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine.

A clinical trial at Tufts Medical Center found that after 12 weeks of tai chi, patients with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, did significantly better in measurements of pain, fatigue, physical functioning, sleeplessness and depression than a comparable group given stretching exercises and wellness education. Tai chi patients were also more likely to sustain improvement three months later."

Read the complete New York Times article here.