John’s Tai-Blog @ Camp Tai ChiTai Chi and anything I can relate to Tai Chi … like life

Holding Together Body and Soul

Since I’m just coming off one of those inexplicable Summer Colds I thought I’d quote one of my new favorite spiritual leaders on the subject of a weak body and soul.  When the body is strong and vital, it seems the presence of the soul can be more easily felt.  When the body is weakened, it feels as if the soul is out to lunch.

Over the years I’ve found, and witnessed through others, that tai chi practice gives us more energy than it takes.  When tired at the beginning of practice, I find I have quite a bit more energy at the end of class.  Other forms of exercise can do this as well; it seems though that the effects of tai chi are more far reaching, health wise.

There’s a fair amount of information around my tai-blog and my main site, CampTaiChi.com, if you’d like to take a look around.  If you have an anecdote of your own you’d like to share, please leave a comment at the end of this post.  If you have a question regarding the heath benefits you can leave it as a comment or use the Contact Me Form by clicking on these words.  Your input is what makes this site more interesting.

In the meantime I’ll leave you with today’s quote from my favorite new spiritual leader.

“When the body ails, the soul is weakened. When the soul is weak, you get disco.” 

Bob Tzu

John

P.S.  I found this (probably retouched) photo of the Disco God here:  http://www.castrotheatre.com/nov.htm

Summer Cold?

It’s pretty rare for me to get a cold.  If I do I’m usually sick for a day or two and that’s it.  Well, you guessed it.  This one of those times… and a Summer Cold no less!

This cold hasn’t really knocked me out but it has hung on for about 4 days and has somewhat drained my energy.  If I’m feeling tired and I do some tai chi I find myself more energized and last night really clinched it for me, again.  I was teaching class and was feeling particularly tired just before hand.  By the end of class I was full of energy despite being at the tail end of this cold.

Last fall I wrote a post, Cold And Flu Season, The Natural Flu Shot, where I talked about the positive impact of tai chi on the immune system (click on the title here if you’d like to read it).  This morning I woke up feeling a bit better yet still a little drained, so I did a few minutes grasp birds tail stationary drills and immediately felt better.  Now I know this because I’ve experienced it many times over the years.  The thing is it still amazes me.  It’s one of the benefits that really got me hooked on tai chi.

When I started taking tai chi I was also studying an external art and had no intention of going very deeply into it.  As time passed however, I met Master Cui, took some of his classes, and the enthusiasm of my teacher, Laoshi Holland, infected me as well.  Now I can’t imagine life without tai chi.

If you’re looking for a boost, either physical or mental, try tai chi.  If you’re wondering about sticking with it, try it when you’re down and then try it when you’re up.  If you’re really paying attention I’ll bet you’ll decide to stick with it.

Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  I found this Summer Cold pic here:  http://justbecause-res.blogspot.com/2008/12/sniffle-sneeze-achoo.html

The Best Defense is A Good Offense… Or Am I Just Being Defensive?

It is often said the best defense is a good offense.  You might wonder, “Does this apply to tai chi?”  Let’s see.

Tai chi is a defensive art when studied from a martial perspective, the true intent of tai chi.  Most people today however, study tai chi purely as a form of healthy exercise.  This being the case, what is tai chi doing for someone studying it without interest or knowledge of martial applications?

Well if you’re studying tai chi strictly for the many health benefits, then it definitely is a good offense against poor health.  By regularly practicing you’re oxygenating the body, increasing blood flow to the extremities, lubricating joints, releasing harmful tension, practicing good posture (preventing damage from misuse of the body), and a number of other things.  So, yes this is an excellent offensive strategy to ward off physical problems.

There is still however the original intent of tai chi, which is self-protection.  I guess you could say that practicing the martial applications of tai chi, push hands, and running through forms both slow and fast, you are taking the offensive.  However, I think it’s more accurate to say you’re practicing a good defense because you ultimately wait for your opponent to strike and then use their own momentum and energy against them.  Tai chi is reactive at its core.

I also prefer to see the glass as half-full, rather than half-empty.  This brings me back to practicing tai chi only for the health benefits.   You could look at this practice as promoting a strong, healthy body rather than staving off health problems.  You might think I’m just being picky here, but really I’m not.  Our thoughts have power over our lives.  Which though would you rather feed, growing and remaining strong, or fighting off illness… which is always right around the corner?

The Master of Duhism, the infamous Bob Tzu, has a slightly different take on this topic.  I’ll let him tell you in his own words.

“Angry? Write a letter to your enemy. But don’t mail it. Deliver it in person and see if you learned anything in that self-defense class.”  Bob Tzu (click on the quote to visit Bob)

Your Thoughts?

John

Live Long and Prosper

Sometimes I get the question, “does tai chi make you live longer?”  I think the best response to this is , “I’m not sure, let’s try it and find out.”  However, that response is usually met with a blank stare.

I used to wonder this myself.  As I’ve studied tai chi I’ve noticed tai chi masters live about as long as the rest of us, with an interesting caveat.  Aside from Yang Chengfu, who died fairly young supposedly because of living too much of the good life, the tai chi masters I’ve met are much like the rest of us.  By this I mean their work is tai chi and they live the rest of their lives as the rest of us do.  They smoke, they drink, they laugh, they play; all in all they seem to enjoy life.

Westerners mostly have the image that a tai chi master or teacher must be a very healthy person.  When you think about it though, it doesn’t really add up.  Tai chi is supposed to help your body clean itself and support healing.  If your body can do that why sweat the other stuff?  My Master doesn’t smoke and lives a fairly healthy life of moderation.  My Teacher smokes and drinks a lot of Coke; she gets along just fine and moves like someone 30 years younger.

Tai chi may not help you live longer, but it will add to the quality of your life.  A funny story about my Teacher happened at a tournament she was attending some years ago.  Someone who had watched her perform, later saw her coming back in from outside with a pack of cigarettes.  Very surprised, they said “You smoke and do tai chi?”  She just looked at them at little perplexed and replied “Not and the same time!”  I think that says it all.

Your thoughts?

John

More Fuel For The “Tai Chi Fire” And It’s Many Health Benefits

One of the issues with medical studies done on tai chi, and its physical benefits, is that most studies are small and statistically insignificant.  A number of these studies are also not well designed or controlled.  Of course I believe that tai chi is extremely helpful, but short of personal experience how can we be sure?

I think the best way to see if these studies have any real meaning is to look at them as a whole.  If all or most of these small studies form similar conclusions, then I image the statistical significance of them is greater.  Although I studied statistics in school, I don’t know if my teachers would agree with this statement or not… but it sure sounds good to me.

Today I’d like to share some additional information about tai chi and arthritis relief from the June 2009 issue of Arthritis Care & Research.  This information comes from the article The effectiveness of Tai Chi for chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions: A systematic review and meta-analysis, published by Amanda Hall, Chris Maher, Jane Latimer, and Manuela Ferreira.

This study took information from small trials with 95% confidence interval, 7 clinical trials in all.  While there was additional information regarding other types of pain, this study concluded that there was a “small positive effect on pain and disability in people with arthritis”.

Once again the conclusion does not appear definitive, but is just one more study saying the same thing.  Tai chi helps treat arthritis.  To me this says tai chi should be used in conjunction with other treatments, but it should definitely be part of just about everyone’s treatment plan.

Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  I found this image of an arthritic knee here: http://zimmer.com.au/z/ctl/op/global/action/1/id/379/template/PC/navid/924

“It’s All Fun and Games”

I just read one of those strange facts I like to read about, and you’ll never guess what happened.  It got me thinking about tai chi.  I know, I know, it’s unusual for some obscure fact to get me thinking about tai chi but it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Tai chi is entertaining and meaningful for a lot of us.  It feels good, but why do we do it so slowly?  The reason for doing tai chi slowly seems to be lost on  a lot of people, and even some tai chi instructors.  I hear things like “tai chi is the Chinese equivalent of yoga” and “tai chi just a healthy exercise that’s based on an ancient martial art”, etc.   While there are a fair number of people who know the truth I do find these statements entertaining.

Tai chi is done slowly so we can learn to relax and to properly align our bodies, so that when we move quickly we can be effective.  As far as tai chi being a healthy exercise, it is, but the health benefits are a side effect of learning to move energy more freely through the body.

So what is this strange fact that got me thinking about this?  I guess I should share it with you.

The term, “It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye” is from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, “No eye gouging.” Everything else was allowed, but the only way to be disqualified was to poke someone’s eye out.

Pretty weird huh?  What do you think?

John

P.S.  I found this strange fact here: http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1528489