About tai chi

Rooted in the feet,

directed by the waist,

and expressed in the hands

An internal martial art

While what you see now may look like more of a dance, or like old people drawing watermelons in a park, tai chi originated as a martial art. While playing the forms, we aim for flow and balance, an efficient use of energy; these same principles can be applied in self-defense. Like water-bending in Avatar the Last Airbender, tai chi uses the opponent's energy against them, retreating only to circle that energy back as an attack. Today, tai chi, also written as taiji generally refers to the slow moving circular motions that the elderly practice in parks in China for its health benefits, while tai chi chuan, or taijiquan, where chuan means fist, or boxing, engages with the more martial aspect of the practice and uses exercises like push-hands for sparring.

Tai chi literally means the 'supreme ultimate,' but perhaps a more meaningful description was given recently in an interview with Grandmaster Aping Cheng when she describes tai chi as 'centered harmony.' In tai chi, we avoid extremes, aiming to maintain balance, often with a 70/30 weight distribution in our feet, or when standing on one foot, supporting ourselves through the play of energy in our hands by 'pinching off the sky' or holding our palms to heaven or earth. Aiping goes on to say that centered harmony means "means maintaining balance amid change and resolving opposition through balance." In this way, tai chi shows many similarities with concepts in Doaist philosophy like "maintaining the balance of Yin and Yang, and overcoming hardness with softness."

We play tai chi

Practice & Play

A walking meditation...

In a 2016 systematic review of the 500 studies of the health benefits of tai chi since the early 1970s published by the NIH, studies were ranked on a scale ranging from 'evidence of no direct benefit' to 'excellent evidence of benefit.' Notice the wording, no direct benefit. This means that if you are diabetic, developing and maintaining a tai chi practice is not going to lower your A1C or improve your fasting glucose.

But what about indirect benefits? Each and every one of the studies that were classified as 'evidence of no direct benefit' reported 'improved quality of life' for the group that practiced tai chi. But what does that improvement look like? There is evidence that shows that tai chi can improve several general health metrics like balance and fall prevention, cognition, aerobic capacity, strength, and sleep.

No Negative Effects
No studies showed tai chi as having a negative impact on the health conditions studied, and a safety review said there were no severe adverse affects requiring intervention; in fact, most adverse affects were minor and primarily musculoskeletal.

So, worst case scenario, tai chi does nothing to help any specific chronic health condition you may have, you might be a little sore, a risk with starting any new fitness regimine, and your quality of life may improve.

And the best case scenario?
Improved quality of life, improved general health metrics, and improvement of symptoms and health metrics related to conditions such as osteoarthritis, Parkinson's, COPD, depression, dimentia, and hypertension, or recovery from heart attack or stroke.

Find the study here

For more information on the health benefits of tai chi, see here.

A practice in patience...

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