"Why Tai Chi Is as Good for You as Crossfit" a Time magazine article published in 2017

“ It’s like meditation on wheels. ”

— Dr. Wayne, author of The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi

Most of us are aware of the importance of physical activity for good health. You may have seen groups of people practicing Tai Chi or Qigong in a park, noticing the slow, mindful movements, no weights, low intensity … the antithesis of most modern exercise programs that emphasize fast, vigorous activity. What you may not be aware of is that Tai Chi and Qigong hold up when compared to other more strenuous types of exercise – and actually provide additional benefits. Studies have shown that people who do Tai Chi achieve similar levels of fitness as those who do other forms of exercise and the practice may improve fitness and endurance of the heart and lungs, even for healthy adults. "It's like meditation on wheels. You're getting all the cognitive pieces you might get from meditation — mental clarity and focus and positive thoughts and lower stress — but you're also getting physical exercise" writes Dr. Wayne author of The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi. Benefits include improved balance, flexibility, strength and agility as well as increased vitality, creativity and athletic performance. You can read the entire article here: https://time.com/4758683/tai-chi-exercise/

Birthday Candles

This practice helps to create flexibility and ease of movement in the spine. As you turn the wrists, the belly moves back. Inhaling as the spine extends and exhaling as the spine rounds Energy moves around the waist and through the whole body.. All very relaxed!

Settling in Between Heaven and Earth

Finally, after many requests from my students and with the encouragement and assistance from my student Cori, I am offering a few videos. My goal is to eventually provide a series of short, 3-5 minute videos – ‘Qi breaks’ to help reinforce the foundations of moving energy through the body and support you in daily practice. Please be relaxed and comfortable as you perform the movements. In this way, your energy will be able to flow easily through the channels in the front and back of the torso and to the limbs. Make it feel good. Relax and enjoy!

In this first video – Settling in Between Heaven & Earth, we begin by noticing our connection to both the solid supportive energy of the earth and the vast, expansive, boundless energy of the sky. Our inhale helps to bring the energy up through the body, countering gravity with ease. Then we can relax with a long slow exhale yeilding to gravity allowing the energy flow with ease down to the feet. Dancing with gravity.

Yang Sheng – The original lifestyle medicine

“An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.”

The ongoing pandemic has made us especially aware of how important it is to maximize our wellbeing, our health resiliency, and our immune capacity.

“An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” Taking affirmative and consistent steps to support and balance the energy of our mind and body can help prevent the development of ill health and ‘dis-ease’ in the longer term.

The term Lifestyle medicine has become a bit of a buzzword, but it is in fact a concept of self-care that is rooted in 2,500-year-old Chinese philosophy. The Taoists believed that vitality and longevity can be sustained and strengthened through holistic healthcare practices.

‘Yang Sheng’ or ‘Nourishing Life’ is the foundation of Taoist practice and lifestyle. It includes Qigong, (originally known as ‘Dao Yin’) - an exercise combining physical movements, mental focus, and breathing), good nutrition, restful sleep, meditation, stress management, social connection and living in accord with the cycles of nature to balance to support the energy of mind and body.

Yang Sheng should be an ongoing process of health maintenance that we apply over the course of our lives. A series of small and regular actions and lifestyle choices can, over time, add up to produce larger benefits for our health.

Most Yang Sheng practices can be done for yourself and cost very little or nothing at all.

Move, Nourish, Connect, Pause

Good health starts with self-care and it’s something that we can all do.

Top Reasons to Practice Integral Qigong and Tai Chi from Roger Jahnke and the Institute of Integral Tai Chi and QiGong

Cultivating the Qi through Qigong and Tai Chi triggers the numerous health benefits:

1. Qigong and Tai Chi initiate the “relaxation response”, which is fostered when the mind is freed from its many distractions. This decreases the sympathetic function of the autonomic nervous system, which reduces heart rate and blood pressure, dilates the blood capillaries, and optimizes the delivery of oxygen and nutrition to the tissues

2. Qigong and Tai Chi alter the neurochemistry profile toward accelerated inner healing function. Neurotransmitters, also called information molecules, bond with receptor sites in the immune, nervous, digestive, endocrine and other systems to excite or inhibit function to moderate pain, enhance organ capacity, reduce anxiety or depression, and neutralize addictive cravings.

3. Qigong and Tai Chi enhance the efficiency of the immune system through increased rate and flow of the lymphatic fluid and activation of immune cells. Resistance to disease and infection is accelerated by the elimination of toxic, metabolic by-products from the interstitial spaces in the tissues, organs, and glands through the lymphatic system.

4. Qigong and Tai Chi increases the efficiency of cell metabolism and tissue regeneration through increased circulation of oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to the brain, organs, and tissues.

5. Qigong and Tai Chi coordinate and balance right/left brain hemisphere dominance promoting deeper sleep, reduced anxiety, and mental clarity.

6. Qigong and Tai Chi induce alpha and, in some cases, theta brain waves which reduce heart rate and blood pressure, thus facilitating relaxation and mental focus; this optimizes the body’s self-regulative mechanisms by decreasing the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.

7. Qigong and Tai Chi moderate the function of the hypothalamus, pituitary, and pineal glands, as well as the cerebrospinal fluid system of the brain and spinal cord, which manages pain and mood as well as optimizing immune function.

“Tai chi is often described as “meditation in motion,” but it might as well be called “medication in motion.” This mind-body practice can help treat or prevent many age-related health problems,
…it may be the perfect activity for the rest of your life.”

— Harvard Women’s Health Watch (May, 2009)