[Aikido] O/T Find your chi with tai chi

Mon Apr 14 14:30:26 GMT 2008

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Find your chi with tai chi 

1st April 2008, 7:00 WST

People have used tai chi to strengthen the body and mind since the Ming dynasty. These days the only thing that’s changed is the number of afflictions the ancient martial art can treat. Depending on the style taught, tai chi uses between 24 and 124 basic movements to achieve coordination and balance through a “meditation in movement”. 

The health benefits of tai chi have been well documented and include improvements in arthritis, migraines, bone degeneration, longevity, respiration, coronary care, digestion, stress, depression and weight loss. 

But experts warn the art must be practised correctly or not at all. Kit Po Wong, who has taught tai chi for nearly 40 years and runs the Academy of Chinese Martial Arts in Perth, agrees the preciseness of technique is crucial to boosting health and wellbeing. 

Dr Wong, 62, said movements should always be gentle, making the muscle exercise more natural. “It’s not like basketball where the movements are jerky and you perspire heavily, it’s a dispersion of energy,” he said. 

“When doing tai chi properly you should only sweat very lightly and the heart rate and blood temperature should always stay the same.” Dr Wong said the most important rules for effective tai chi were gentle movement and good posture with an erect head, upright body and extended chest. 

“Basically, abdominal breathing can be developed and provide the opportunity for internal organs to be massaged,” he said. “Two sessions of 30 minutes every day are ideal, but it’s not something that should be done with strict times, you need to be relaxed.” 

University of WA tai chi instructor Alex Hew also believes tai chi needed to be practised daily for health, peace of mind, intrinsic energy and equilibrium. “The older I get the better my chi (energy) is stimulated and the spirit of vitality retained,” he said. 

A session done correctly should leave people feeling exhausted but exhilarated, said Mr Hew, who conducts regular seven-week courses for the UWA Sports Association. A recent study at the Tufts-New England Medical Centre in the United States found that long-term tai chi had positive effects on the promotion of balance control, flexibility and cardiovascular fitness and reduced the risk of falls among the elderly. 

The research also showed that tai chi had benefits for people with existing conditions, such as heart disease and high blood pressure. 

Another study from the University of California found that tai chi calmed the nervous system, reduced tension headaches, improved emotional balance and exercised the body without strain. 

Mr Wong said there was nothing miraculous about tai chi’s therapeutic properties. “Gradually your breath becomes very smooth, you calm yourself down and it’s as though there is no air around you. This is a very important technique to replace negative thoughts.” 

Jenni Storey

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