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Burn Calories Dump Stress Boost
Immune Function - Without Sweating
Bill Douglas
Time Magazine wrote, ". . . Tai Chi is the perfect exercise . . ."
While serving as the Tai Chi Expert at
DrWeil.com, I learned that best
selling author and acclaimed naturopathic physician, Andrew Weil,
suggested that poor breathing habits are at the root of many of our
health problems. This was exciting news to me, confirming what I'd
spent a lifetime learning in my Qigong (Chi Kung) and Tai Chi
education. Yet, Dr. Weil's insights helped me describe to people just
why Tai Chi is the perfect exercise.
Qigong, pronounced chee-kung,
literally means "breathing exercise." The more popular exercise of Tai
Chi is a form of Qigong. Modern medical research is now revealing that
Tai Chi & Qigong are powerful health sciences, as well as effective
aerobic exercises.
Studies have shown that
Tai Chi can lower high blood pressure, and profoundly boost aspects of
the immune system, while improving balance and coordination far better
than any other known exercise. Tai Chi can reduce or eliminate chronic
pain or limited mobility, while lessening the incidence of anxiety,
depression, or overall mood disturbance. Tai Chi is the lowest impact
exercise there is, and has even been used by those with arthritis, yet
as gentle as it is it burns about 280 calories per hour, and provides
roughly the same cardiovascular benefits of moderate impact aerobics.
Sounds too good to be true
doesn’t it? But, it is true, and this is only scratching the surface of
what Tai Chi offers our busy lives. Not only can Tai Chi do all these
amazing things, but it is so multi-dimensional that it provides these
healing results to all the systems of our mind, body, and spirit in a
regimen that only takes less than 30 minutes a day, and can be done in
office attire at work in an empty boardroom or stock room. Anywhere
where you can have some time alone with a little space to be
uninterrupted, making Tai Chi the exercise of the future.
A major fitness
manufacturing association recently released a study that found Tai Chi
was at the top of the growth charts for health & fitness exercises. For
those who’ve learned to enjoy Tai Chi and Qigong’s gentle workouts, this
is no surprise, as they’ve seen their outlook improve, and an increased
sense of well-being in their lives. Many notice improved sleep, reduced
allergy symptoms and lessened asthma symptoms over the years as they
practice Tai Chi & Qigong as well.
How does Tai Chi do all of
this? Tai Chi is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM. TCM has
evolved over thousands of years of medical research in China, and
evolved a system to understand how the Qi, or life energy, moves through
the mind and body to support all the health systems, mental, emotional,
physical, and spritual. When energy is blocked, mainly by unmanaged
stress, our health diminishes. What’s fascinating is that modern
Western medicine is now beginning to validate the insights of TCM.
Kaiser Permanente’s twenty-year study finding that 70 to 85% of their
patient’s illnesses sending them to their doctors were caused by stress,
absolutely validate TCM’s understanding of our health.
Tai Chi’s gentle
movements, breathing techniques, and visualization techniques combine to
massage the accumulated stress loads out of our 50 trillion cells in our
body. The result is to cultivate a newness of being each time we “play”
Tai Chi. The Chinese don’t speak of “work-outs,” but rather “play” Tai
Chi. If you can play yourself into a whole new life, a healthy, and
happy, and hopeful one . . . why wait?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Bill Douglas is the Tai
Chi Expert at
DrWeil.com, Founder of World T'ai Chi & Qigong Day (held
in 50 nations each year), and has authored and co-authored several books
including a #1 best selling Tai Chi book “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to
T’ai Chi & Qigong.” Bill’s been a Tai Chi source for The Wall Street
Journal, New York Times, etc. You can learn more about Tai Chi &
Qigong, and also contact Bill Douglas at
www.worldtaichiday.org
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