If you've studied tai chi for any amount of time, you've probably heard someone joke that you can now defend yourself--very slowly. Although self-defense is one goal of tai chi, it is useful as a general tool for improvement in many areas of your life. According to the Mayo Clinic, preliminary studies show that tai chi can help increase balance, flexibility and strength, relieve chronic pain, and improve overall well-being. Many students report feeling invigorated after even one session. Right from the beginning, you can use tai chi to enhance fitness and perform everyday tasks more efficiently.
Use Tai Chi to Build Flexibility and Strength
Step 1
Join a tai chi class. Many cities offer classes through community centers or the YMCA.
Step 2
Sink into the floor with all your body weight, relaxing completely as you practice. Allowing your weight to drop will lower your center of gravity, enhance your balance and gradually strengthen your leg muscles.
Step 3
Focus your mind on each movement. Release any mental or emotional burdens from your day. Giving your mind one thing to contemplate at a time is a key to using tai chi for stress relief.
Step 4
Concentrate on moving the body as a single unit, pushing from the feet, out through the hands. All movement initiates from the feet in tai chi, while the rest of the body completely relaxes and the joints settle into each other.
Step 5
Allow your body to complete its full range of motion with each movement. Over time and with practice, doing tai chi will gradually expand your range of motion.
Use Tai Chi for Everyday Tasks
Step 1
Choose a task that requires some physical strength and flexibility, like picking up bags of groceries or pushing a lawn mower.
Step 2
Begin the task. As you perform it, become aware of your feet. Push them into the ground to straighten your knees and complete each movement, trying to relax the rest of your body completely.
Step 3
Focus on your shoulders. Drop them so they are resting in their joints, not lifting up toward your ears. If you lift them, you are separating your arms from the rest of your body, which requires you to use arm muscles independently and puts extra strain on your shoulders.
Step 4
Concentrate on moving the entire body as a single unit. Relax your core, allowing the natural structure of your body and the strength of your legs to do the work for you.
Step 5
Focus your mind on the task at hand, allowing all other thoughts to slip away. Enjoy the moment, knowing that you are accomplishing a necessary task.
Tips and Warnings
- Be patient with yourself as you learn tai chi. The key to getting health benefits from the beginning is to relax and enjoy the process of doing the movements to the best of your ability, even if you know it's not perfect. No honest advanced practitioner would say they do tai chi perfectly. Learning tai chi is an endless process of refinement. Wen Zee, Chinese herbal medicine expert and tai chi chuan teacher, and Andrew Weil, alternative health pioneer, write in their book "Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan" that the slow movements of tai chi allow you to savour the experience and gradually feel the sensations of energy movement, much like eating slowly allows you to enjoy the taste of your food. (Reference 2 pg 47)
- Performing tai chi moves incorrectly can result in injury. A good teacher can help you avoid injury and show you how to work with your body to maximize the health benefits of tai chi. Tai chi is not a replacement for medical care.
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