When a person starts practicing tai chi, the thing that he will first experience is its power or at least the promise of its power. There is nothing particularly esoteric or mystical about the power of tai chi. It is simply about following its principles and witnessing what will rise within you. Practicing a form (a series of movements) is never exactly similar, but it’s always beneficial.
Despite being known as a gentle meditation exercise, Tai Chi is actually a form of martial art. Tai chi in
English, means “the supreme ultimate” and “Tai chi chuan,” means the “supreme ultimate fist.” This ancient art is both powerful and effective when performed as a martial art. When learning Tai Chi, the principal focus is to use the power of your mind combined with the power and energy of your body to unleash a force (in wherever direction you want).
Enhanced wellbeing, balance, posture, blood flow, and coordination and just some of the wonderful benefits of Tai Chi. Your nervous system becomes calmer and so will you simply because tai chi is practiced with a relaxed focus and is performed slowly. The meditation aspect of tai chi can give you a clearer mental perspective, and in our present frenetic and fast world, this can be a huge benefit. The stress calming qualities are actually one of the major reasons individuals practice Tai Chi since it provides them with a sense of spiritual, emotional, and physical health and a calm mind.
Tai Chi began thousands of years ago, and it gradually evolved and developed into what we now perform today. The gradual process of change that has occurred to tai chi over the centuries is reflected in the manner it is performed i.e. with no hurry to finish its engrossing and intricate movements and at a meditative pace. Its flow and smoothness help practitioners relax – it can be a reinvigorating form of relaxation. People are buzzing with Chi at the end of a Tai Chi class since the practice enables your chi or energy to circulate better and blockages and tension just seem to disappear. It all sounds very beautiful and blissful, which it is, although you do need to put a little effort in to gain the benefits.
It’s hard to imagine something that elegant and graceful is also used for self defense, but then again there is an old Chinese proverb that goes ‘the best fighters never fight’ (implying that there is no need for conflict if you have no external or internal enemies). Taoism is the philosophy behind Tai Chi which is very useful and includes the belief that a conflict will only get worse if you fight force with force. Taoism espouses flexibility and yielding in order to conquer any situation. This can defuse a situation leaving room for dialogue and negotiation. When you take to heart take something like this in your daily life, you then have acquired a definite advantage. Yielding leads to listening and you gain more information when you listen making it easier to see where someone is coming from. Applying such a strategy in the workplace would bring less stress for everyone!
The effect tai chi has on our joints, lymphatic system, and brain is part of its physiological aspect. Modern neurological studies have demonstrated that practicing tai chi stimulates the brain to function more efficiently. This is due in part to the brain getting more oxygenated blood (as tai chi’s breathing technique enhances lung elasticity and capacity) and also in part, due to the calming, meditative effect of tai chi, changing the frequency of the brain from beta (waking normal active waves) to alpha (receptive between awake and sleep and waves which are associated with better capacity to remember and learn).
Partly responsible for blood detoxification, the lymphatic system is activated by the mild muscle work of tai chi. Tai Chi massage’s relaxed and soft movements of the lymph nodes improve the function of the lymph nodes and boost the immune system. The joints of your body are usually the areas where pain and aches first develop and so keeping the joints active and healthy is essential at any age. Because the body’s weight-bearing joints are properly aligned, when you practicing Tai Chi, they are never greatly impacted upon nor abused. The joints’ function and health is protected while the flow of blood in and around the joints is bolstered.
On the whole, Tai Chi can provide us with a unique way to alleviate stress and to learn valuable and new skills.
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