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

Tai Chi’s Newest Benefit, Right At Your Fingertips

Prevention Magazine on-line is doing an interesting series of articles titled “Brain Power Workout”.  It’s a 7-day body and mind routine and I find it interesting because of a new tidbit of information I learned about yet another tai chi benefit.  What, you were expecting something else from me?

I hadn’t heard about this particular benefit, so as you can imagine this made my whole day.  Hell, it made my whole week.  Yea I know I need to get a life, but you try writing a blog about one subject three times a week and see how excited you get when you find new information.  In Day 2 they talk about this important benefit that improves the quality of our lives as we age.  The old adage “If you don’t use it, you loose it” certainly applies here.

This article sent me off looking for the original research, and I found an abstract of the study “Enhanced Tactile Acuity in Tai Chi Practitioners: Evidence for Neural Plasticity”.  According to the study, as we age our sense of touch diminishes.  With the exceptions of blind people who read Braille and musicians, we don’t exercise our sense of touch, so we loose it over time.  Practicing tai chi however, forces us to focus on our hands a feet differently and appears to counteract this phenomenon.

Aside from our sense of sight, our tactile acuity helps us in tasks such as threading a needle, or even installing tiny little batteries in hearing aids.  Since I first started playing tai chi I’ve noticed my ability to feel the flow of energy through my body has increased significantly, albeit slowly.  Chi energy is subtle, and although I’ve always been able to “feel” energy, the feeling has changed from a very subtle awareness to the feeling of a strong stream.  Depending on the day, to me it feels stronger or weaker and usually manifests as a tingling sensation.  It makes sense to me that this is what also helps us maintain our tactile sensitivity.

For those who practiced tai chi regularly for two years the study revealed no noticeable improvement in younger adults, but indicated a marked improvement for sensitivity in older adults.  The conclusion was of course, that further study is needed, but more importantly that a correlation between practicing tai chi and an improved sense of touch was strongly indicated.

If a loved one is getting on in years, I’d say this gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “reach out and touch someone”.  Why not give them the gift that keeps on giving in the form of some local tai chi classes.  In the form of a shameless plug, you could also give the gift of my “Beginning Tai Chi Exercises” video by clicking on these very words.  ;-)>

Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  You can read the Prevention Magazine on-line article here:  http://online.prevention.com/brainpowerworkout/list/2.shtml and you can download a PDF copy of the research abstract here:  http://www.dogpod.com/projects/kerr_lab/blogengine/newsblog/tai%20chi%20poster.pdf.  I found the photo here:  http://ahmedfernando.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/58-scooping-up-water/

Tai Chi, A “Secret Key” To Happiness

We all seem to be striving for that future state of happiness. We work long hours so we can have our dream homes, dream cars, go on dream vacations and ultimately experience our dream retirements.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t strive for these things. They have their place and each has it’s own value. I know when I’ve achieved something noteworthy, like buying a new house or having the kitchen remodeled, I feel pretty good about it and also gain a feeling of happiness from achieving it. It feels good.

What if you could not only experience that happiness for brief periods when you accomplished something you wanted - be it planting a special tree in your yard, finding a particularly comfortable and cool looking pair of shoes, or being promoted - but could also get that feeling for a little while each day? Wouldn’t that make life a little better, a little more worth living?

Sounds good doesn’t it? Imagine yourself feeling happy: no worries, no concerns, no outside pressures. That state of mind when realized, reduces stress levels, helps reduce blood pressure, relaxes the body, fortifies the mind, and strengthens the immune system.

Great, so how do you get there? It’s actually much simpler that you might think. It comes from a state of mind you can easily learn to adopt at different times during the day, and the more often you do it the more you find yourself feeling good for no particular reason. The key is to ‘let’ yourself experience it and to do this, all you do is let go of your worries and concerns for a few moments. It’s called mindfulness.

One way to to experience this state is simply by closing your eyes and focusing completely on the sounds in your environment. By this I mean the sounds, not what makes the sounds. When your mind runs off thinking about what the sound means, let go of that and just listen for other sounds. Focus on the direction of the sound, it’s pitch, it’s volume, while at the same time listening for other sounds.

Using your focus in this way for 5 minutes can give you an incredible sense of well being. This is what practicing tai chi does for you and it’s one of the reasons why people become addicted to it. On top of feeling better on an emotional level because of that state of mindfulness tai chi cultivates, it also strengthens the body in a multitude of ways.

So whether you’re interested in tai chi or not, find something you can focus on completely, several times during the day. The simplest way to do this is to focus on one of your senses completely without analyzing any of what you experience. The brief sense of well being you experience will make the rest of your life seem even more worthwhile. The good times and the not so good times will take on more meaning when your stress levels are lower and you can keep things in perspective.

Oh and one more thing.  When we’re not stressed out we tend to make better decisions, leading to even lower stress levels.  Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  I found this pic here:  http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/3d__and__animation/sound_and_vision

Link Found Between Lack of Cancer and Tai Chi

It’s the truth; I swear to God.  I was just reading an article on LiveScience.com about the Big C and cell phone use:  The Science Behind the Cell Phone Cancer Scare.  It seems the risk assessment may have been overstated.  In fairness to the director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, who sounded the warning, the jury is still out and it’s better to be safe than sorry when dealing with some issues.  However, according the article, “… there’s been no spike (yet) in rare head and neck cancers.”  This despite there being around 2 billion cell phone users World-wide.

I remember people being concerned about those big scary looking Power lines. You know the one with massive metal towers cutting pathways across the landscape.  Hell, I was one of them.  But alas, there’s apparently no evidence of increased illness due to living in proximity to these big silver monsters.  I wonder how much money was awarded in court cases around that one?

According to the LiveScience.com article, Billions of dollars were spent disproving the power line controversy.  Well our news stations need material for their broadcasts, and scary stuff is sexy.  Too bad it cost the shareholders a portion of their retirement funds.  Wait, aren’t the shareholders the same people who allowed themselves to be panicked?  Never mind.

To paraphrase Joe Lavin’s humor column, “but I digress”.  This is supposed to be a blog dealing with tai chi after all.  Therefore it’s my turn to sound the alarm bell.  TAI CHI CAN HELP YOU AVOID CANCER! Wait, that’s good thing.  So maybe this slightly unsubstantiated bit of health trivia won’t make the lead on the 6:00 news, but if you’re worried about developing cancer from holding your cell phone up to your ear, it might just help you sleep a bit better tonight.

And now for a bit of flagrant plagiarism - no not really, citing the aforementioned article of course:

No one has gone sterile from microwaves; no one has gotten cancer from their computer monitors. But people do get cancer from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation (UV).   Rare cancers have a way of revealing themselves. Lung cancer is rare outside of smoking, so causation was an open-and-shut case once half the U.S. population lit up. Industrial hazards are similarly identified when clusters of workers contract rare tumors.

Tai chi and chi kung have been linked to good health and a lack of cancer for sometime now.  So if you’re a member of an at-risk group, I prescribe tai chi.  After all chi kung is nice, but it’s not nearly as cool as learning to kick butt at a pace that would leave a snail green with envy.

Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  If you’d like to read the LiveScience.com article:  http://www.livescience.com/health/cell-phone-radiation-cancer-100118.html

Tai Chi May Be The Best Do Over There Is.

I was just reading another of those little know facts that got me thinking about tai chi again.  It got me thinking how we might not only become more physically able due to practicing tai chi, but that maybe we get something more valuable than a renewed body.  What could be even more important than becoming more physically able?  I’ll tell you in sec.

When a new student shows up at the school where I study and teach we like to joke around saying that the younger students are actually much older than they look.  It’s just that tai chi has helped them turn back the clock.  It always gets a little chuckle and some people do seem to get the deeper meaning.  The deeper meaning being that it’s as if tai chi really does let us turn back the clock.

It may not give you the kind of “do over” that would allow you to choose a different career, as many people seem to fantasize over.  However, it can help you feel like you have extra time, or at the very least that you have a higher quality of life while you’re still kickin’ around.

What’s this little known fact?  It’s the extra time you get by flying the Concord from London to New York.

“Flying from London to New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours before you leave.”

So while tai chi may not actually give you more time in your day, or a nifty do over, it will make you feel like a new person.  You might say it’s the Concord of health.  Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  I found this little known factoid here:  http://www.weird-websites.com/justweird/weird-facts.htm

Tai Chi Makes Us Whole… Smarter Too

I recently heard that one of my tai chi training sisters claims that tai chi has helped make her a whole person.  Of course I immediately thought, “What a great blog post!”  When I started to write it though, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, until synchronicity came into play.

My “sister” is a very smart woman and has spent most of her life in her mind with little in the way of physical activity.  Since she started attending classes about 6 or 7 years ago she’s experienced some remarkable improvements in her physical condition, not the least of which is significantly improved lung capacity and reduced reliance on her prescription inhaler.

So what synchronicity came to pass that made writing this post that much easier?  I’m so glad you asked.  According to a massive research study of nearly all Swedish men born between 1950 and 1976 and released last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, cardiovascular exercise [tai chi] can in fact make us more whole individuals.

After dizi class last Friday night (advanced practice) we were having dinner and discussing how tai chi makes us whole people. We all thought it pretty interesting that as we get older, we’re becoming more and more physically capable.  Just like my training sister has found she’s more able, and willing, to do more physically demanding activities despite some significant health issues and being over 60, we’ve all found we’re able to do things now we couldn’t 10 years ago.  Some of these things are handy, such as being able to stretch and reach further, others are more interesting like being able to balance in at unusual times to avoid injury.  One thing I’ve personally found interesting is being able to hold my arms above my head when working on a project without becoming too tired, or even becoming sore the next day.

It seems these benefits may not be all we’re gaining.  We’re undoubtedly increasing our mental capacity while decreasing our chances of crippling illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease.  Apparently it’s been postulated that smart people exercise more, so I guess the corollary to that is that dumb people don’t think to exercise.  Well this study shows that’s just not the case.  In instances where one twin exercises and the other doesn’t, they found the fit twin tests higher for intelligence.

Although these truths have been stated for millennial, this appears to be the first large-scale scientific study verifying their veracity.  “The saying, ‘mens sana in corpore sanum’ — ‘a healthy mind lives in a healthy body’ — is about 2,000 years old,” reports researcher Georg Kuhn, a neuroscientist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

According to an article posted on LiveScience.com, Kuhn explained cardiovascular exercise increases blood flow to the brain, supplying it with more oxygen and nutrients.  Moreover, during exercise, growth factors are produced that could improve brain structure over time.  This not only includes more and stronger connections between nerve cells, but also more neurons and supporting cells.  “From animal experiments we know this is the case especially in the hippocampus, a region of the brain that is important for learning and memory,” he said.

Tai chi is a true cardiovascular workout and the type of breathing done while ‘playing’ tai chi takes in more oxygen, making it available to the brain as well as the rest of the body.  Another interesting benefit of tai chi is that you learn to keep your shoulders and neck loose while performing complex movements.  This simple act reduces pressure on the circulatory system as it passes through the neck on it’s way to the brain, further promoting oxygenation and regeneration of our vital gray matter.

So if you’re wondering whether or not to exercise, wonder no more.  If you wondering what type of exercise to do, I recommend tai chi… hands down.  Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  You can read the LiveScience.com article here:  http://www.livescience.com/health/091203-exercise-academia.html

I found this pic here:  http://www.illumistream.com/index.php?id=92,196,0,0,1,0

How Martial Arts Improve Your Mental and Physical Health

I was recently approached by a Mary Ellen Ward about writing a guest post for my blog.  I liked the article she sent me and immediately agreed to use it.  Mary is an active mother of 4 who has been researching various activities of interest to and for her children, in an effort to keep them healthy in mind, body, and spirit - which of course brought her right into the field of martial arts.  The many benefits of martial arts have inspired her to read, write, and learn more on the subject, and further explore the best avenues for her individual children.  This is an informative article that applies directly to tai chi; I hope you get something out of it too.

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If you’ve never considered martial arts as part of your health regimen, then you’re really missing out on a great workout. Not only can martial arts be of great help to a sound body, but it can work tremendously for a sound mind as well. As you work through the various exercises, you are achieving a great picture of health and well being overall. So what is it about this ancient and yet contemporary type of exercise that is so appealing to so many? What about it works for both aspects of your health? It’s unfortunate that martial arts is often overlooked as a source of a viable workout, and here are just some of the many benefits.

Works on Balance, Flexibility, and Other Fitness Skills
What you may not realize, is that any form of martial art offers a helpful and rather comprehensive workout. As you work through the various poses, you’re practicing flexibility and stamina. Those are two aspects of fitness and well being that are often overlooked, but are very important to the big picture. Additionally you are gaining great muscle tone as you work through the various poses and exercises. This coupled with the inherent cardio exercise you’re performing throughout martial arts equals an amazing workout. You’re burning calories, gaining strength, and ultimately gaining skills and benefits, such as the flexibility, that are inherently important to your physical well being.

Gives You Great Focus and Concentration
If you feel that you need to be sharper mentally, then look no further than a good solid martial arts practice. As you practice martial arts, you quickly find that it is as much about concentration and the ability to focus as it is about the physical aspects. Another excellent aspect of martial arts is that it focuses so much on the breathing and the approach towards your target.  This is fundamentally important because it forces you to focus in and use concentration, as well as physical skills, to achieve your goal. It’s a nice alternative to other workouts because it sharpens the mind just as much as the body.

Offers Up a Good Balance
Though many workouts offer a nice relief from stress and tension, martial arts is one of the best. Because you are sharpening your mind and working towards better physical fitness, you’re balancing everything at once. You’re exercising focus and concentration, which in and of itself allows you to release stress. You are getting a good full body workout which burns calories through cardio, strengthens and promotes muscle tone, and increases your flexibility. Martial arts provides the whole package and is a nice balance between mental and physical strength, both of which are important to your overall well-being.

Mary Ellen Ward writes about how to obtain an LPN to RN online.  Click on this link to read more from Mary Ellen.