Boost Your Energy With Tai Chi

Many people who are practicing the Healthy and Active Lifestyle program have found some benefit by practicing the ancient art of Tai Chi. This art involves practicing a series of repetitive moves aimed to improve the movement of the lymph, rev up the metabolism and improve physical self-control,

What is Tai Chi?

Tai Chi is a very personal discipline that is about training both mind and body.  To some people it is a way of losing weight, to others a way of improving posture and balance and to still others a way of form of meditation and spiritual questing. Practicing it can also be about all of these things. It’s a kind of ancient Chinese cure all for everything from a stroke to low self esteem to depression to back problems…you name it!

Perhaps one way to sum up this discipline that can almost be described as a moving form of meditation and yoga combined is that it is about increasing personal power. The movements also teach you to let go and be balanced even in the midst of chaos.

In fact, the Chinese characters for Tai Chi Chuan can be translated as the 'Supreme Ultimate Force'. The notion of 'supreme ultimate' is often associated with the Chinese concept of having both yin and yang in balance.  Yin if you will recall encompasses such qualities and elements as female, passive, dark, shrinking and yielding. Yang encompasses the qualities of male, forceful, light, expanding and force.  The reason Tai Chi is the ultimate dance of balance is that it combines both.

Military Moves Combined With Bird Poses

The Tai Chi Sword Position

There is no one standard for Tai Chi. Most Tai Chi exercise sequences consist of = imitations of the movements of animals and birds and some of these postures are stances used in Asian military hand-to-hand combat. However even if you are doing what seems to be a militant posture all of the poses done in Tai Chi are done gracefully. The idea is to move from pose to pose with soft, fluid gestures.’

Tai Chi can help you become more coordinated because the postures in the sets are designed to animate the energy centers in your body. Many people who practice them experience better reflexes, improved posture and less muscle tension and strain.

Be Calm Yet Energetic

Don’t make the mistake in thinking that Tai Chi is a martial art, although it probably will make you more sharper in some ways. It is mostly a meditation that helps harmonize the mind and body connection.  Once this happens you are able to generate and store more energy. In Chinese this energy is referred to as “chi”.

One of the aims of Tai Chi is to increase Chi and foster the popular circulation of it in your life. Not only are your health and vitality enhanced but your mind becomes more focused, less negative and able to manifest good things.

However the benefits spiritually and mentally are what seem to blow most people’s mind when they become addicted to this ancient discipline. The benefits include a calmer and more tranquil mind and also a better connection to the higher self.  You are also less vulnerable to stress, especially those caused by emotional distractions and will be able to work, study and sleep deeper and longer.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.