a member of the Canadian Taijiquan Federation  e-mail: stevehiggins@rogers.com

Health Maintenance and Therapy

"Parts of this article were originally published in "Healing Arts Digest", issue #6."

Taiji sometimes seems to have an identity crisis. "New-Agers" see it as a beautiful, effortless exercise for relieving stress; meditation practitioners know it as a sophisticated, esoteric energy-meditation; traditional Chinese martial artists know it as the "crown jewel" of Kung Fu! To make things even more confusing, martial-arts tournaments now often feature Taiji competitions, complete with trophies and medals for first, second and third place - a kind of activity which seems very far removed from the misty Chinese mountain ranges where the legendary monk, Chan San Feng, is supposed to have perfected Taiji sometime in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century!

But what is undeniable is that Taiji, wherever it is practiced, has acquired an unsurpassed reputation as a health therapy. The list of conditions said to benefit from it make it sound like a panacea: hypertension, arthritis, osteoporosis, auto-immune disorders, hormonal and endocrine upsets and deficiencies, heart disease.... The list goes on and on.

Some anecdotal accounts: 1. A frail middle-aged Chinese businessman is informed that he suffers from heart disease (including a severely enlarged heart) and may have less than a year to live. He takes up the practice of Taiji. Now 80 years of age, he conducts his own Taiji school and astonishes his students with his vitality and vigour. 2. An elderly lady takes up the practice of Taiji in her church basement. After a year she finds that she is sleeping better, her digestion has improved and her balance and co-ordination are enhanced to the point that the falls and trips to which she had been prone are no longer a hazard. 3. A student practices Taiji in order to restore ankle flexibility subsequent to having had a ruptured Achilles tendon surgically repaired. Three years later he re-experiences the exact pain and sensation of the original injury and fears that he has torn it once again; then the pain disappears - along with the lumps of scar-tissue left from the original surgery. 4. A regular class of Senior-citizens in Toronto's Chinatown slowly moves through a series of Taiji exercises, such as "Dan Yu's" (deep knee-bends). They are quite unremarkable except for one thing - a year previously every one of them had suffered to some extent from paralysis due to a variety of illnesses such as Parkinson's disease and stroke. Several of them had been wheelchair-confined!

Most Taijiquan research has been reported in Chinese and Japanese and has as yet not been rendered into English. However, as more of it becomes available in translation, it seems clear that Taiji's reputation as a healthful therapy is being justified by scientifically controlled field studies. These studies are now occasionally being duplicated in the North American context.

The results of two studies involving control groups, recently published ('96) in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, confirm that "... the practice of T'ai Chi Chuan produces measurable benefits in reducing frailty and falls in older persons and helps in maintaining balance and strength." According to the most favourable of these studies, conducted in Atlanta by senior Taiji Instructor Dr. Tingsen Xu, the study group (which had an average age of over 70 years) experienced a 47.5% reduction in the risk of multiple falls, exhibited a surprising (and unanticipated) increase in upper-body strength and showed lowered systolic blood pressure after a twelve-minute walk. These results were superior to those enjoyed by a second control group who were simply enrolled in a program of light exercise.

These findings were generally confirmed by another study which took place the same year in New England and by a team of Geriatric specialists from the Cooper Institute of Aerobics Research in Dallas, Texas.

Further studies have confirmed the effects of Taiji on moderating blood pressure and also suggest that practitioners experience enhanced awareness and mental acuity. This confirms Chinese studies which indicate that Taiji can, in some instances, reverse the symptoms of senility. Other researchers have confirmed the effects on balance and co-ordination and also endorse the use of Taiji as a suitable weight-bearing exercise for rheumatoid arthritis patients. The art is highly recommended by The Canadian Osteoporosis Society to its membership.

In order to better understand whence these benefits arise, one can examine Taiji from two perspectives: the "exoteric" or obvious which can be easily understood in terms of Western medical knowledge, and the "esoteric" or hidden which is better comprehended within the context of traditional Chinese medicine.

Consider first, the mature of the Taiji exercise: the practitioner calms his or her breathing and settles into the hip-joints; the arms are gracefully raised in front and lowered, then the body's weight is slowly shifted from one foot to the other as a measured pantomime of combat is commenced. The exercise is low-impact and as the emphasis is placed upon relaxation there is no undue stress placed upon the connective tissue or joints which, in fact, are loosened due to the slow, relaxed, turning movements of the limbs and spine. Nevertheless, depending upon how deeply the practitioner is "sitting" into the postures, the sequence can provide mildly aerobic benefits. (In fact, in some of the more martial and gymnastic forms of Taiji, the muscular and aerobic conditioning can rival that of any other sport or physical activity!).

"Why on Earth am I doing this?" The answer is - freedom. Freedom from stiffness, pain, stress, tension, chronic illness, fatigue, poor self-image and physical insecurity. But freedom exacts a price and the price, in terms of the demands of the art, are discipline and hours of hard work. One must remember that nothing worth having comes easily.

In the course of the sequence, the student's balance is trained, as is the memory and ability to concentrate. This concentration actually constitutes a meditative state of awareness which in time becomes a conditioned reflex associated with the opening movements of the form; stress is left behind.

The "inner" level of Taiji involves an understanding of Qi (alternatively spelled "Chi"), one of the central concepts of Chinese medicine. Qi (pronounced "Chee") is the essential subtle energy of the body. Where there is no Qi, there can be no life. It is detectable, measurable and quantifiable. It moves through the body along channels called "meridians" and is stored in reservoirs called "vessels". Much of Chinese medicine consists of adjusting and balancing the movement and levels of Qi within the human body so as to correct the chronic blockages and weaknesses which are at the root of poor health.

The "acupuncture points" are those points on the body where the movement of Qi can be modified through such techniques as acupuncture, acupressure, massage and moxibustion. Taiji's deliberate shifting of weight from foot to foot stimulates the "Bubbling Well" acupuncture point on the soles of the feet; the alternation of weight from side to side through the succession of postures pumps an easy and rhythmic flow of Qi throughout the body; gradually the internal organs and connective tissues are toned and fortified by the elimination of blockages to this energy movement. The entire system is, in the end, better balanced and grounded.

Often people are referred to Taiji as a form of relaxation; they picture it as a relatively easy and effortless way to health. But as Yang Cheng Fu, a great teacher of the earlier part of this century, stated, "The purpose of Taijiquan (T'ai Chi) is not relaxation; the purpose of Taijiquan is to co-ordinate the Inner with the Outer." In fact, Taiji takes a great deal of patience, concentration, dedication and work. The learning process starts slow and stays slow. The student confronts the problems of slack muscles, poor balance and easy distraction. The effort to memorize a physical sequence of movements can be surprisingly frustrating and, sooner or later, every student wonders, "Why on Earth am I doing this?"

The answer is - freedom. Freedom from stiffness, pain, stress, tension, chronic illness, fatigue, poor self-image and physical insecurity. But freedom exacts a price and the price, in terms of the demands of the art, are discipline and hours of hard work. One must remember that nothing worth having comes easily.

As the pace of our society quickens, we seem to have less time for ourselves and fewer moments for quiet and self-contemplation. Wherever we look, we are assailed by images and promises of instantaneous self-gratification: "Buy this and you too can be attractive and successful." "Take this pill to be healed!" "Take this 10-week course and you too can be spiritually enlightened!"