Increase muscle strength, improve flexibility, and reduce pain and stiffness. Each year, millions of people worldwide discover the incredible physical and mental benefits of tai chi. Now, with Tai Chi Illustrated, you can, too.
Internationally renowned instructor Master Pixiang Qiu and mind–body exercise expert Weimo Zhu demonstrate the most effective forms for harnessing the healing power of chi, or energy. Follow their lead and improve balance and coordination, relieve stress, and reduce pain and muscle stiffness.
Tai Chi Illustrated is a step-by-step guide complete with detailed instructions and full-color photo sequences for the basic movements and popular forms, such as Grasp Sparrow’s Tail and Part the Wild Horse’s Mane. You will connect the forms to follow the yang-style sample routines, or create your own to address your health and fitness needs.
Whether you are completely new to tai chi or have practiced for years, Tai Chi Illustrated will you be your guide to the path of better health and self-awareness.
Part I Tai Chi Basics
Chapter 1 Art and Practice of Tai Chi
Chapter 2 Basic Posture
Chapter 3 Basic Foot Movements
Chapter 4 Basic Hand Forms and Movements
Chapter 5 Basic Stances
Part II Tai Chi Forms
Chapter 6 Forms for Cardiovascular Health
Chapter 7 Forms for Stress Relief and Low-Back Health
Chapter 8 Forms for Balance
Chapter 9 Forms for Coordination
Part III Tai Chi Routines
Chapter 10 Six-Form Routine
Chapter 11 Twelve-Form Routine
Chapter 12 Basic Push Hands Routine
Master Pixiang Qiu is director of the Chinese Wushu (martial arts) Research Center of Shanghai University of Sports. A veteran tai chi instructor, Qiu was named a national master of traditional exercise by the Chinese government. The International Wushu Federation also elected him the first international referee in 1990, named him as one of China’s famous wushu professors in 1995, and rated him as a Chinese wushu ninth duan, the highest level in wushu, in 2003. He was the wushu chief judge for the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th Asian Games and the chief judge for the 2nd, 4th, and 7th World Wushu Championships. He was designated as an excellent national sports referee and has been ranked as a national top 10 wushu referee.
Professor Qiu has published multiple books in Chinese on tai chi and wushu and has lectured worldwide. He gave the keynote address on tai chi at the 2009 American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) convention and, based on his tai chi teaching and contribution to the promotion of culture exchange, was made an honorary citizen of the city of Dallas in 2009.
Weimo Zhu, PhD, is an internationally known scholar in physical activity and health research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he regularly teaches mind–body exercise classes at both the university and community levels. He has practiced Chinese mind–body exercises, including tai chi and qi gong, for more than 25 years and has been instrumental in introducing them in the United States and around the world. He has given demonstrations and lectures on Chinese mind–body exercises in the United States, China, South Korea, and the Czech Republic. He was awarded a NIH grant to study the effect of long-term mind–body exercise on cancer survivors and presented the research findings at the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) annual meetings in 2009.
“Tai Chi Illustrated is one of the first books by a ninth-duan master to be available in English. It is an unprecedented contribution to the field and a landmark achievement for Professor Qiu.”
Gene Ching-- Associate Publisher, Kung Fu Tai Chi
Tai chi can have a significant impact on health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people.
Tai Chi and Health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people. Their negative effects on health and well-being are significant and well documented. Fortunately, tai chi can be used to buffer these negative effects. For example, tai chi can help young people achieve relaxation and bring their bodies and minds into balance, and for older adults who practice together, as many do every morning in China, tai chi serves as a social network, a place and time to make new friends and provide social support.
Tai chi is part of TCM, and its significant impact on health has been well documented. Although tai chi was introduced to the United States in the 1970s, an interest in its health benefits did not start until Dr. Steven L. Wolf and his team published their balance study in 1996 (Wolf, Barnhart, Kutner, McNeely, Coogler, & Xu, 1996). Their subjects were 162 women and 38 men with an average age of 76.2 who were free of debilitating conditions such as crippling arthritis, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. The researchers divided the subjects into three groups: One group performed a simplified 10-form version of tai chi, one group received biofeedback-based training in balance on a movable platform, and one group received education about falls but no physical training. The tai chi and biofeedback groups were given 15 weeks of training, and researchers kept track of the participants' reported falls for four months.
After the intervention, the tai chi subjects reduced their falling risk by an average of 47.5 percent compared with the other groups. Since the publication of that study, interest in tai chi and its health benefits has continued to grow. Hundreds of studies have now been published and interest has extended to many other health areas, such as the impact of tai chi on physical function, quality of life, and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, many tai chi books have been published, including some with a research focus (e.g., Hong, 2008).
According to a recent review (Zhu et al., 2010) of 25 reviews, which included hundreds of studies from around the world, tai chi has been demonstrated to be a useful exercise for a variety of chronic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, a propensity toward falling, and so on. In addition, tai chi practice has been shown to be beneficial to overall health, balance and control, bone mineral density, psychological and mental status, and aerobic capacity. A few highlights are summarized here.
Overall Health
Tai chi has the potential to improve many of the physiological and psychological aspects of chronic conditions, and it is also a safe and effective intervention for promoting balance, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility in older adults. Tai chi has been shown to be effective as an aerobic exercise in reducing blood pressure, reducing the risk of falls, and increasing function in older adults.
Balance and Control
Moderate evidence supports using tai chi to improve balance and postural stability, indicating that it is a reasonable intervention for clinical use. It has also been found that tai chi improves balance in older adults, although it was not shown to be effective at reducing the rate of falls in older populations. Studies have shown that health outcomes associated with postural control could benefit from tai chi practice.
Although not all studies supported tai chi in fall prevention for older adults, a number of studies found tai chi to be effective in reducing the fear of falling, meaning that interventions aimed at improving older adults' self-efficacy regarding falls could use tai chi. Meanwhile, tai chi was found to be useful for preventing falls in relatively young, prefrail older adults. In addition, although more rigorous studies are needed to make any assertions about the use of tai chi for Parkinson's patients, there is favorable evidence in support of using tai chi to help people with Parkinson's disease.
Osteoarthritis
There is promising evidence in support of using tai chi to reduce pain associated with osteoarthritis, and there are even larger effect sizes in pain reduction from tai chi compared with other popular interventions, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Also, the review found that tai chi may be beneficial for improving the balance and physical function of people with osteoarthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Tai chi improved ankle plantar flexion in people with rheumatoid arthritis, but most other measures, such as activities of daily living and swollen joints, showed no improvements after tai chi interventions. None of the studies indicated any harmful effects of tai chi practice, and the review reported that adherence rates in the tai chi interventions were higher than in the controls, indicating that subjects may enjoy participating in tai chi over other exercises. Some studies also found that tai chi interventions could improve the pain, fatigue, mood, depression, vitality, and disability index of people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Bone Mineral Density
Tai chi has been found to be a promising intervention for maintaining bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. No significant adverse effects of practicing tai chi were reported, and research also indicates that tai chi may improve other risk factors associated with low bone mineral density. Additionally, it was found that tai chi interventions did increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women compared with a no-treatment control group.
Psychological Health
Tai chi has been found to increase well-being and self-efficacy as well as improve overall mood. Tai chi was also a safer choice of exercise for those who were deconditioned or had exercise intolerance.
Blood Pressure
Many studies have reported that a tai chi intervention could lead to lower blood pressure. In all the studies, tai chi was shown to be safe and had no adverse effects.
Cancer
Tai chi has been useful as a complement to traditional cancer treatment. Tai chi helped improve the self-esteem and health-related quality of life, function in activities of daily life, and shoulder range of motion of cancer survivors. In addition, tai chi has been shown to increase the immune response as well as psychological function of cancer survivors.
Cardiovascular Disease
Most studies for this population reported improvement with tai chi interventions, such as lower blood pressure and greater exercise capacity. In addition, no adverse effects were reported. These studies concluded that tai chi may be a beneficial adjunctive therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease.
Aerobic Capacity
Tai chi is an effective exercise to improve aerobic capacity. Statistically significant and large effect sizes (ES = 1.33) were noted in the cross-section studies, meaning that subjects experienced significant aerobic improvements from practicing tai chi. On the other hand, small effect sizes were found within the experimental studies (ES = 0.38). Studies comparing sedentary people with tai chi participants also noted larger effects when tai chi was practiced for at least a year. It has been concluded that tai chi could be used as an alternative form of aerobic exercise, and further inquiry is recommended in this area.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Maintain correct positions during tai chi practice
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction.
Head
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction. This position should be held in a natural, straight manner rather than in an exaggerated, extended position. The eyes look naturally forward in tai chi positions and head movement is coordinated with hand movements. See figure 2.1a for an illustration of head position from a front view and figure 2.1b for this position from a side view.
Common mistakes of the head position are inclining the head to the front or back too much (see figure 2.2, a and b) and tilting it to the left or right (see figure 2.2c). To correct the head when it is inclined back too far, return the head to an upright position with the chin held down. In contrast, if the head is inclined forward too much, return the head to an upright position by lifting the chin. If the head is tilted to the left or right, correct it by returning the head to the center. One easy way to avoid mistakes with the head position is to experience various head positions in front of a mirror and try to remember how it feels when the head is in the upright position. Getting feedback from other practitioners may also be helpful.
Figure 2.2 Incorrect head positions: (a) forward, (b) back, and (c) to the side.
Tai Chi Saying: Xu Ling Ding Jing
Meaning: Most Chinese sayings consist of four characters. In this saying, xu means “empty” or “lightly,”lingmeans “to lead,” ding means “top,” andjing means “strength.” Together, this saying means to imagine a string is holding your head up. In other words, you should have the feeling that there is a string coming from the top of your head that is slightly pulling so as to keep your head up and straight. This is one of the fundamental technical aspects of tai chi practice: The head is to be held upright, but not on a stiff neck. In addition, head movement is to be coordinated with the movements of other parts of the body.
Shoulders and Elbows
Shoulders should remain even with each other and should be naturally down or relaxed (see figure 2.3a). Relaxed shoulder joints and muscles are the key to keeping the shoulders in a low, naturally relaxed position. The elbows should also be held in a low, natural, and relaxed manner (see figure 2.3b). There should be a distance of about one to one and half fists between your elbow and your body so that your elbows can move comfortably (recall that tai chi evolved from boxing, and elbows that are raised too high could expose your ribs for your opponent to attack). Relaxed shoulders are a must for relaxed elbows. Also, a relaxed mind is important because people tend to shrug or tighten their shoulders when nervous or agitated.
Common mistakes of the shoulder position include holding the shoulders too tightly (see figure 2.4a) and not keeping them even (see figure 2.4b). When the shoulders are held too tightly, they are up close to the ears. To correct this, relax the shoulder joints and surrounding muscles. It is helpful to shrug or tighten the shoulders and then relax them several times to learn and remember how relaxed shoulders feel. When the shoulders are uneven, relax the front and back muscles of the shoulders. Practice in front of a mirror several times to make sure the shoulders are even. A common mistake with the elbow position is holding them too tightly to the body (see figure 2.5a) or holding them too high (see figure 2.5b). To correct these mistakes, relax the shoulders and elbows.
Tai Chi Saying: Che Jian Zhui Zhou
Meaning: Chen means “down,”jian means “shoulder,” zhui means “dropping,” and zhou means “elbow.” Together, this means to sink the shoulders and drop the elbows with a relaxed mind. Relaxed shoulders are crucial.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Circle, open-close, and up-down stances
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian.
Tai Chi Illustrated.
Circle Stance
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian. Hold this stance for 3 to 5 minutes and repeat it two to five times, with 5-minute breaks in between.
TIP Make sure your whole body feels as one. In circle stance, for example, rather than feeling your arms and legs separately, you should feel as if you were going to hug someone using your whole body.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart and keep your body weight divided equally between both legs. Your knees should be bent (slightly at first, but increase the bend as your legs get stronger). Using your arms, form a circle in front of your body. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with your eyes looking forward. Breathe naturally with the Dan Tian area relaxed.
2 Bend both knees, keeping the upper body upright in the same vertical line, and relax your shoulders (see figures for a front and side view). Keep an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body. Keep an angle of about 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms.
Common mistakes in the circle stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, and not relaxing the shoulders. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees at a comfortable angle initially; gradually increasing the bend in your knees; and breathing naturally.
Open-Close Stance
This stance is named for the variation in how the arms are held (i.e., a combination of opened and closed). During the practice, you start in the circle stance position with legs apart, knees bent, and arms in front in a circle. Open your arms slowly until they are at a 45-degree angle from the body, and then close your arms slowly, ending with your hands joined in front of the Dan Tian. Breathe in when your arms are opening and breathe out when they are closing. Breathe in a deep, slow, and relaxed manner at the same speed throughout the opening and closing phases. Repeat 8 to 12 times. The eyes can be slightly closed. Enjoy the relaxed feeling this movement provides.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart, body weight evenly distributed between both legs, and knees bent. Form a circle using both arms in front of your body, keeping an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body and an angle of 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with eyes looking forward (eyes can be closed after learning the movement). Breathe naturally.
2 Keep your body weight evenly distributed between both legs and bend your knees. Open both arms, with the upper arms parallel to the ground
and at an angle of 45 degrees to the front
of your body. Breathe in when your arms are opening.
3 With both knees still bent, keep the upper body upright and shoulders relaxed. Return your arms to the starting position, continuing to step 4. Breathe out when your arms are closing.
4 With the knees still bent and shoulders relaxed, move both arms back and down toward the Dan Tian. Stop with your left hand (if you are male) or right hand (if you are female) slightly touching the Dan Tian and the palm of your right hand (males) or left hand (females) touching the back of your left hand (males) or right hand (females). Breathe naturally and focus your mind on the Dan Tian, where you should feel warmth as your skill level improves.
Common mistakes in the open-close stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending the knees too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, not relaxing the shoulders, straightening the knees when opening the arms, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees comfortably and increasing the bend gradually; keeping the same degree of bending when your arms open and close; and breathing in while your arms open and breathing out while they close.
Up-Down Stance
This stance is named for its variation in leg movements (i.e., a combination of straight and bent legs). During the practice, you stand with legs shoulder-width apart and raise both arms slowly to the same level as your shoulders. Squat down slowly as your arms move down with the wrists slightly bent, and then return to the original starting position. You breathe in when your arms move up and breathe out when they move down. Breathe in a slow and relaxed manner. Repeat 8 to 12 times. Close your eyes slightly after becoming familiar with the stance and enjoy the relaxed feeling the movement provides.
1 With your upper body upright, stand with both legs straight, about shoulder-width apart, with body weight evenly distributed between both. Raise both arms in front of your body to shoulder level. Breathe in when your arms move up.
2 Keeping your upper body upright, slowly bend your knees while moving your arms down (see figures for a front view and side view). Breathe out when your arms move down. Hold the squat position for 10 to 15 seconds (hold longer as you get stronger), and then stand up, returning to the starting position shown in step 1.
Common mistakes in the up-down stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, bending the knees, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight evenly between both legs, keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, coordinating your arm movements, bending your knees, and breathing.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Tai chi can have a significant impact on health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people.
Tai Chi and Health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people. Their negative effects on health and well-being are significant and well documented. Fortunately, tai chi can be used to buffer these negative effects. For example, tai chi can help young people achieve relaxation and bring their bodies and minds into balance, and for older adults who practice together, as many do every morning in China, tai chi serves as a social network, a place and time to make new friends and provide social support.
Tai chi is part of TCM, and its significant impact on health has been well documented. Although tai chi was introduced to the United States in the 1970s, an interest in its health benefits did not start until Dr. Steven L. Wolf and his team published their balance study in 1996 (Wolf, Barnhart, Kutner, McNeely, Coogler, & Xu, 1996). Their subjects were 162 women and 38 men with an average age of 76.2 who were free of debilitating conditions such as crippling arthritis, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. The researchers divided the subjects into three groups: One group performed a simplified 10-form version of tai chi, one group received biofeedback-based training in balance on a movable platform, and one group received education about falls but no physical training. The tai chi and biofeedback groups were given 15 weeks of training, and researchers kept track of the participants' reported falls for four months.
After the intervention, the tai chi subjects reduced their falling risk by an average of 47.5 percent compared with the other groups. Since the publication of that study, interest in tai chi and its health benefits has continued to grow. Hundreds of studies have now been published and interest has extended to many other health areas, such as the impact of tai chi on physical function, quality of life, and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, many tai chi books have been published, including some with a research focus (e.g., Hong, 2008).
According to a recent review (Zhu et al., 2010) of 25 reviews, which included hundreds of studies from around the world, tai chi has been demonstrated to be a useful exercise for a variety of chronic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, a propensity toward falling, and so on. In addition, tai chi practice has been shown to be beneficial to overall health, balance and control, bone mineral density, psychological and mental status, and aerobic capacity. A few highlights are summarized here.
Overall Health
Tai chi has the potential to improve many of the physiological and psychological aspects of chronic conditions, and it is also a safe and effective intervention for promoting balance, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility in older adults. Tai chi has been shown to be effective as an aerobic exercise in reducing blood pressure, reducing the risk of falls, and increasing function in older adults.
Balance and Control
Moderate evidence supports using tai chi to improve balance and postural stability, indicating that it is a reasonable intervention for clinical use. It has also been found that tai chi improves balance in older adults, although it was not shown to be effective at reducing the rate of falls in older populations. Studies have shown that health outcomes associated with postural control could benefit from tai chi practice.
Although not all studies supported tai chi in fall prevention for older adults, a number of studies found tai chi to be effective in reducing the fear of falling, meaning that interventions aimed at improving older adults' self-efficacy regarding falls could use tai chi. Meanwhile, tai chi was found to be useful for preventing falls in relatively young, prefrail older adults. In addition, although more rigorous studies are needed to make any assertions about the use of tai chi for Parkinson's patients, there is favorable evidence in support of using tai chi to help people with Parkinson's disease.
Osteoarthritis
There is promising evidence in support of using tai chi to reduce pain associated with osteoarthritis, and there are even larger effect sizes in pain reduction from tai chi compared with other popular interventions, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Also, the review found that tai chi may be beneficial for improving the balance and physical function of people with osteoarthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Tai chi improved ankle plantar flexion in people with rheumatoid arthritis, but most other measures, such as activities of daily living and swollen joints, showed no improvements after tai chi interventions. None of the studies indicated any harmful effects of tai chi practice, and the review reported that adherence rates in the tai chi interventions were higher than in the controls, indicating that subjects may enjoy participating in tai chi over other exercises. Some studies also found that tai chi interventions could improve the pain, fatigue, mood, depression, vitality, and disability index of people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Bone Mineral Density
Tai chi has been found to be a promising intervention for maintaining bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. No significant adverse effects of practicing tai chi were reported, and research also indicates that tai chi may improve other risk factors associated with low bone mineral density. Additionally, it was found that tai chi interventions did increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women compared with a no-treatment control group.
Psychological Health
Tai chi has been found to increase well-being and self-efficacy as well as improve overall mood. Tai chi was also a safer choice of exercise for those who were deconditioned or had exercise intolerance.
Blood Pressure
Many studies have reported that a tai chi intervention could lead to lower blood pressure. In all the studies, tai chi was shown to be safe and had no adverse effects.
Cancer
Tai chi has been useful as a complement to traditional cancer treatment. Tai chi helped improve the self-esteem and health-related quality of life, function in activities of daily life, and shoulder range of motion of cancer survivors. In addition, tai chi has been shown to increase the immune response as well as psychological function of cancer survivors.
Cardiovascular Disease
Most studies for this population reported improvement with tai chi interventions, such as lower blood pressure and greater exercise capacity. In addition, no adverse effects were reported. These studies concluded that tai chi may be a beneficial adjunctive therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease.
Aerobic Capacity
Tai chi is an effective exercise to improve aerobic capacity. Statistically significant and large effect sizes (ES = 1.33) were noted in the cross-section studies, meaning that subjects experienced significant aerobic improvements from practicing tai chi. On the other hand, small effect sizes were found within the experimental studies (ES = 0.38). Studies comparing sedentary people with tai chi participants also noted larger effects when tai chi was practiced for at least a year. It has been concluded that tai chi could be used as an alternative form of aerobic exercise, and further inquiry is recommended in this area.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Maintain correct positions during tai chi practice
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction.
Head
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction. This position should be held in a natural, straight manner rather than in an exaggerated, extended position. The eyes look naturally forward in tai chi positions and head movement is coordinated with hand movements. See figure 2.1a for an illustration of head position from a front view and figure 2.1b for this position from a side view.
Common mistakes of the head position are inclining the head to the front or back too much (see figure 2.2, a and b) and tilting it to the left or right (see figure 2.2c). To correct the head when it is inclined back too far, return the head to an upright position with the chin held down. In contrast, if the head is inclined forward too much, return the head to an upright position by lifting the chin. If the head is tilted to the left or right, correct it by returning the head to the center. One easy way to avoid mistakes with the head position is to experience various head positions in front of a mirror and try to remember how it feels when the head is in the upright position. Getting feedback from other practitioners may also be helpful.
Figure 2.2 Incorrect head positions: (a) forward, (b) back, and (c) to the side.
Tai Chi Saying: Xu Ling Ding Jing
Meaning: Most Chinese sayings consist of four characters. In this saying, xu means “empty” or “lightly,”lingmeans “to lead,” ding means “top,” andjing means “strength.” Together, this saying means to imagine a string is holding your head up. In other words, you should have the feeling that there is a string coming from the top of your head that is slightly pulling so as to keep your head up and straight. This is one of the fundamental technical aspects of tai chi practice: The head is to be held upright, but not on a stiff neck. In addition, head movement is to be coordinated with the movements of other parts of the body.
Shoulders and Elbows
Shoulders should remain even with each other and should be naturally down or relaxed (see figure 2.3a). Relaxed shoulder joints and muscles are the key to keeping the shoulders in a low, naturally relaxed position. The elbows should also be held in a low, natural, and relaxed manner (see figure 2.3b). There should be a distance of about one to one and half fists between your elbow and your body so that your elbows can move comfortably (recall that tai chi evolved from boxing, and elbows that are raised too high could expose your ribs for your opponent to attack). Relaxed shoulders are a must for relaxed elbows. Also, a relaxed mind is important because people tend to shrug or tighten their shoulders when nervous or agitated.
Common mistakes of the shoulder position include holding the shoulders too tightly (see figure 2.4a) and not keeping them even (see figure 2.4b). When the shoulders are held too tightly, they are up close to the ears. To correct this, relax the shoulder joints and surrounding muscles. It is helpful to shrug or tighten the shoulders and then relax them several times to learn and remember how relaxed shoulders feel. When the shoulders are uneven, relax the front and back muscles of the shoulders. Practice in front of a mirror several times to make sure the shoulders are even. A common mistake with the elbow position is holding them too tightly to the body (see figure 2.5a) or holding them too high (see figure 2.5b). To correct these mistakes, relax the shoulders and elbows.
Tai Chi Saying: Che Jian Zhui Zhou
Meaning: Chen means “down,”jian means “shoulder,” zhui means “dropping,” and zhou means “elbow.” Together, this means to sink the shoulders and drop the elbows with a relaxed mind. Relaxed shoulders are crucial.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Circle, open-close, and up-down stances
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian.
Tai Chi Illustrated.
Circle Stance
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian. Hold this stance for 3 to 5 minutes and repeat it two to five times, with 5-minute breaks in between.
TIP Make sure your whole body feels as one. In circle stance, for example, rather than feeling your arms and legs separately, you should feel as if you were going to hug someone using your whole body.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart and keep your body weight divided equally between both legs. Your knees should be bent (slightly at first, but increase the bend as your legs get stronger). Using your arms, form a circle in front of your body. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with your eyes looking forward. Breathe naturally with the Dan Tian area relaxed.
2 Bend both knees, keeping the upper body upright in the same vertical line, and relax your shoulders (see figures for a front and side view). Keep an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body. Keep an angle of about 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms.
Common mistakes in the circle stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, and not relaxing the shoulders. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees at a comfortable angle initially; gradually increasing the bend in your knees; and breathing naturally.
Open-Close Stance
This stance is named for the variation in how the arms are held (i.e., a combination of opened and closed). During the practice, you start in the circle stance position with legs apart, knees bent, and arms in front in a circle. Open your arms slowly until they are at a 45-degree angle from the body, and then close your arms slowly, ending with your hands joined in front of the Dan Tian. Breathe in when your arms are opening and breathe out when they are closing. Breathe in a deep, slow, and relaxed manner at the same speed throughout the opening and closing phases. Repeat 8 to 12 times. The eyes can be slightly closed. Enjoy the relaxed feeling this movement provides.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart, body weight evenly distributed between both legs, and knees bent. Form a circle using both arms in front of your body, keeping an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body and an angle of 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with eyes looking forward (eyes can be closed after learning the movement). Breathe naturally.
2 Keep your body weight evenly distributed between both legs and bend your knees. Open both arms, with the upper arms parallel to the ground
and at an angle of 45 degrees to the front
of your body. Breathe in when your arms are opening.
3 With both knees still bent, keep the upper body upright and shoulders relaxed. Return your arms to the starting position, continuing to step 4. Breathe out when your arms are closing.
4 With the knees still bent and shoulders relaxed, move both arms back and down toward the Dan Tian. Stop with your left hand (if you are male) or right hand (if you are female) slightly touching the Dan Tian and the palm of your right hand (males) or left hand (females) touching the back of your left hand (males) or right hand (females). Breathe naturally and focus your mind on the Dan Tian, where you should feel warmth as your skill level improves.
Common mistakes in the open-close stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending the knees too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, not relaxing the shoulders, straightening the knees when opening the arms, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees comfortably and increasing the bend gradually; keeping the same degree of bending when your arms open and close; and breathing in while your arms open and breathing out while they close.
Up-Down Stance
This stance is named for its variation in leg movements (i.e., a combination of straight and bent legs). During the practice, you stand with legs shoulder-width apart and raise both arms slowly to the same level as your shoulders. Squat down slowly as your arms move down with the wrists slightly bent, and then return to the original starting position. You breathe in when your arms move up and breathe out when they move down. Breathe in a slow and relaxed manner. Repeat 8 to 12 times. Close your eyes slightly after becoming familiar with the stance and enjoy the relaxed feeling the movement provides.
1 With your upper body upright, stand with both legs straight, about shoulder-width apart, with body weight evenly distributed between both. Raise both arms in front of your body to shoulder level. Breathe in when your arms move up.
2 Keeping your upper body upright, slowly bend your knees while moving your arms down (see figures for a front view and side view). Breathe out when your arms move down. Hold the squat position for 10 to 15 seconds (hold longer as you get stronger), and then stand up, returning to the starting position shown in step 1.
Common mistakes in the up-down stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, bending the knees, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight evenly between both legs, keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, coordinating your arm movements, bending your knees, and breathing.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Tai chi can have a significant impact on health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people.
Tai Chi and Health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people. Their negative effects on health and well-being are significant and well documented. Fortunately, tai chi can be used to buffer these negative effects. For example, tai chi can help young people achieve relaxation and bring their bodies and minds into balance, and for older adults who practice together, as many do every morning in China, tai chi serves as a social network, a place and time to make new friends and provide social support.
Tai chi is part of TCM, and its significant impact on health has been well documented. Although tai chi was introduced to the United States in the 1970s, an interest in its health benefits did not start until Dr. Steven L. Wolf and his team published their balance study in 1996 (Wolf, Barnhart, Kutner, McNeely, Coogler, & Xu, 1996). Their subjects were 162 women and 38 men with an average age of 76.2 who were free of debilitating conditions such as crippling arthritis, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. The researchers divided the subjects into three groups: One group performed a simplified 10-form version of tai chi, one group received biofeedback-based training in balance on a movable platform, and one group received education about falls but no physical training. The tai chi and biofeedback groups were given 15 weeks of training, and researchers kept track of the participants' reported falls for four months.
After the intervention, the tai chi subjects reduced their falling risk by an average of 47.5 percent compared with the other groups. Since the publication of that study, interest in tai chi and its health benefits has continued to grow. Hundreds of studies have now been published and interest has extended to many other health areas, such as the impact of tai chi on physical function, quality of life, and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, many tai chi books have been published, including some with a research focus (e.g., Hong, 2008).
According to a recent review (Zhu et al., 2010) of 25 reviews, which included hundreds of studies from around the world, tai chi has been demonstrated to be a useful exercise for a variety of chronic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, a propensity toward falling, and so on. In addition, tai chi practice has been shown to be beneficial to overall health, balance and control, bone mineral density, psychological and mental status, and aerobic capacity. A few highlights are summarized here.
Overall Health
Tai chi has the potential to improve many of the physiological and psychological aspects of chronic conditions, and it is also a safe and effective intervention for promoting balance, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility in older adults. Tai chi has been shown to be effective as an aerobic exercise in reducing blood pressure, reducing the risk of falls, and increasing function in older adults.
Balance and Control
Moderate evidence supports using tai chi to improve balance and postural stability, indicating that it is a reasonable intervention for clinical use. It has also been found that tai chi improves balance in older adults, although it was not shown to be effective at reducing the rate of falls in older populations. Studies have shown that health outcomes associated with postural control could benefit from tai chi practice.
Although not all studies supported tai chi in fall prevention for older adults, a number of studies found tai chi to be effective in reducing the fear of falling, meaning that interventions aimed at improving older adults' self-efficacy regarding falls could use tai chi. Meanwhile, tai chi was found to be useful for preventing falls in relatively young, prefrail older adults. In addition, although more rigorous studies are needed to make any assertions about the use of tai chi for Parkinson's patients, there is favorable evidence in support of using tai chi to help people with Parkinson's disease.
Osteoarthritis
There is promising evidence in support of using tai chi to reduce pain associated with osteoarthritis, and there are even larger effect sizes in pain reduction from tai chi compared with other popular interventions, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Also, the review found that tai chi may be beneficial for improving the balance and physical function of people with osteoarthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Tai chi improved ankle plantar flexion in people with rheumatoid arthritis, but most other measures, such as activities of daily living and swollen joints, showed no improvements after tai chi interventions. None of the studies indicated any harmful effects of tai chi practice, and the review reported that adherence rates in the tai chi interventions were higher than in the controls, indicating that subjects may enjoy participating in tai chi over other exercises. Some studies also found that tai chi interventions could improve the pain, fatigue, mood, depression, vitality, and disability index of people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Bone Mineral Density
Tai chi has been found to be a promising intervention for maintaining bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. No significant adverse effects of practicing tai chi were reported, and research also indicates that tai chi may improve other risk factors associated with low bone mineral density. Additionally, it was found that tai chi interventions did increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women compared with a no-treatment control group.
Psychological Health
Tai chi has been found to increase well-being and self-efficacy as well as improve overall mood. Tai chi was also a safer choice of exercise for those who were deconditioned or had exercise intolerance.
Blood Pressure
Many studies have reported that a tai chi intervention could lead to lower blood pressure. In all the studies, tai chi was shown to be safe and had no adverse effects.
Cancer
Tai chi has been useful as a complement to traditional cancer treatment. Tai chi helped improve the self-esteem and health-related quality of life, function in activities of daily life, and shoulder range of motion of cancer survivors. In addition, tai chi has been shown to increase the immune response as well as psychological function of cancer survivors.
Cardiovascular Disease
Most studies for this population reported improvement with tai chi interventions, such as lower blood pressure and greater exercise capacity. In addition, no adverse effects were reported. These studies concluded that tai chi may be a beneficial adjunctive therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease.
Aerobic Capacity
Tai chi is an effective exercise to improve aerobic capacity. Statistically significant and large effect sizes (ES = 1.33) were noted in the cross-section studies, meaning that subjects experienced significant aerobic improvements from practicing tai chi. On the other hand, small effect sizes were found within the experimental studies (ES = 0.38). Studies comparing sedentary people with tai chi participants also noted larger effects when tai chi was practiced for at least a year. It has been concluded that tai chi could be used as an alternative form of aerobic exercise, and further inquiry is recommended in this area.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Maintain correct positions during tai chi practice
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction.
Head
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction. This position should be held in a natural, straight manner rather than in an exaggerated, extended position. The eyes look naturally forward in tai chi positions and head movement is coordinated with hand movements. See figure 2.1a for an illustration of head position from a front view and figure 2.1b for this position from a side view.
Common mistakes of the head position are inclining the head to the front or back too much (see figure 2.2, a and b) and tilting it to the left or right (see figure 2.2c). To correct the head when it is inclined back too far, return the head to an upright position with the chin held down. In contrast, if the head is inclined forward too much, return the head to an upright position by lifting the chin. If the head is tilted to the left or right, correct it by returning the head to the center. One easy way to avoid mistakes with the head position is to experience various head positions in front of a mirror and try to remember how it feels when the head is in the upright position. Getting feedback from other practitioners may also be helpful.
Figure 2.2 Incorrect head positions: (a) forward, (b) back, and (c) to the side.
Tai Chi Saying: Xu Ling Ding Jing
Meaning: Most Chinese sayings consist of four characters. In this saying, xu means “empty” or “lightly,”lingmeans “to lead,” ding means “top,” andjing means “strength.” Together, this saying means to imagine a string is holding your head up. In other words, you should have the feeling that there is a string coming from the top of your head that is slightly pulling so as to keep your head up and straight. This is one of the fundamental technical aspects of tai chi practice: The head is to be held upright, but not on a stiff neck. In addition, head movement is to be coordinated with the movements of other parts of the body.
Shoulders and Elbows
Shoulders should remain even with each other and should be naturally down or relaxed (see figure 2.3a). Relaxed shoulder joints and muscles are the key to keeping the shoulders in a low, naturally relaxed position. The elbows should also be held in a low, natural, and relaxed manner (see figure 2.3b). There should be a distance of about one to one and half fists between your elbow and your body so that your elbows can move comfortably (recall that tai chi evolved from boxing, and elbows that are raised too high could expose your ribs for your opponent to attack). Relaxed shoulders are a must for relaxed elbows. Also, a relaxed mind is important because people tend to shrug or tighten their shoulders when nervous or agitated.
Common mistakes of the shoulder position include holding the shoulders too tightly (see figure 2.4a) and not keeping them even (see figure 2.4b). When the shoulders are held too tightly, they are up close to the ears. To correct this, relax the shoulder joints and surrounding muscles. It is helpful to shrug or tighten the shoulders and then relax them several times to learn and remember how relaxed shoulders feel. When the shoulders are uneven, relax the front and back muscles of the shoulders. Practice in front of a mirror several times to make sure the shoulders are even. A common mistake with the elbow position is holding them too tightly to the body (see figure 2.5a) or holding them too high (see figure 2.5b). To correct these mistakes, relax the shoulders and elbows.
Tai Chi Saying: Che Jian Zhui Zhou
Meaning: Chen means “down,”jian means “shoulder,” zhui means “dropping,” and zhou means “elbow.” Together, this means to sink the shoulders and drop the elbows with a relaxed mind. Relaxed shoulders are crucial.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Circle, open-close, and up-down stances
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian.
Tai Chi Illustrated.
Circle Stance
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian. Hold this stance for 3 to 5 minutes and repeat it two to five times, with 5-minute breaks in between.
TIP Make sure your whole body feels as one. In circle stance, for example, rather than feeling your arms and legs separately, you should feel as if you were going to hug someone using your whole body.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart and keep your body weight divided equally between both legs. Your knees should be bent (slightly at first, but increase the bend as your legs get stronger). Using your arms, form a circle in front of your body. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with your eyes looking forward. Breathe naturally with the Dan Tian area relaxed.
2 Bend both knees, keeping the upper body upright in the same vertical line, and relax your shoulders (see figures for a front and side view). Keep an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body. Keep an angle of about 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms.
Common mistakes in the circle stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, and not relaxing the shoulders. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees at a comfortable angle initially; gradually increasing the bend in your knees; and breathing naturally.
Open-Close Stance
This stance is named for the variation in how the arms are held (i.e., a combination of opened and closed). During the practice, you start in the circle stance position with legs apart, knees bent, and arms in front in a circle. Open your arms slowly until they are at a 45-degree angle from the body, and then close your arms slowly, ending with your hands joined in front of the Dan Tian. Breathe in when your arms are opening and breathe out when they are closing. Breathe in a deep, slow, and relaxed manner at the same speed throughout the opening and closing phases. Repeat 8 to 12 times. The eyes can be slightly closed. Enjoy the relaxed feeling this movement provides.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart, body weight evenly distributed between both legs, and knees bent. Form a circle using both arms in front of your body, keeping an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body and an angle of 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with eyes looking forward (eyes can be closed after learning the movement). Breathe naturally.
2 Keep your body weight evenly distributed between both legs and bend your knees. Open both arms, with the upper arms parallel to the ground
and at an angle of 45 degrees to the front
of your body. Breathe in when your arms are opening.
3 With both knees still bent, keep the upper body upright and shoulders relaxed. Return your arms to the starting position, continuing to step 4. Breathe out when your arms are closing.
4 With the knees still bent and shoulders relaxed, move both arms back and down toward the Dan Tian. Stop with your left hand (if you are male) or right hand (if you are female) slightly touching the Dan Tian and the palm of your right hand (males) or left hand (females) touching the back of your left hand (males) or right hand (females). Breathe naturally and focus your mind on the Dan Tian, where you should feel warmth as your skill level improves.
Common mistakes in the open-close stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending the knees too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, not relaxing the shoulders, straightening the knees when opening the arms, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees comfortably and increasing the bend gradually; keeping the same degree of bending when your arms open and close; and breathing in while your arms open and breathing out while they close.
Up-Down Stance
This stance is named for its variation in leg movements (i.e., a combination of straight and bent legs). During the practice, you stand with legs shoulder-width apart and raise both arms slowly to the same level as your shoulders. Squat down slowly as your arms move down with the wrists slightly bent, and then return to the original starting position. You breathe in when your arms move up and breathe out when they move down. Breathe in a slow and relaxed manner. Repeat 8 to 12 times. Close your eyes slightly after becoming familiar with the stance and enjoy the relaxed feeling the movement provides.
1 With your upper body upright, stand with both legs straight, about shoulder-width apart, with body weight evenly distributed between both. Raise both arms in front of your body to shoulder level. Breathe in when your arms move up.
2 Keeping your upper body upright, slowly bend your knees while moving your arms down (see figures for a front view and side view). Breathe out when your arms move down. Hold the squat position for 10 to 15 seconds (hold longer as you get stronger), and then stand up, returning to the starting position shown in step 1.
Common mistakes in the up-down stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, bending the knees, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight evenly between both legs, keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, coordinating your arm movements, bending your knees, and breathing.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Tai chi can have a significant impact on health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people.
Tai Chi and Health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people. Their negative effects on health and well-being are significant and well documented. Fortunately, tai chi can be used to buffer these negative effects. For example, tai chi can help young people achieve relaxation and bring their bodies and minds into balance, and for older adults who practice together, as many do every morning in China, tai chi serves as a social network, a place and time to make new friends and provide social support.
Tai chi is part of TCM, and its significant impact on health has been well documented. Although tai chi was introduced to the United States in the 1970s, an interest in its health benefits did not start until Dr. Steven L. Wolf and his team published their balance study in 1996 (Wolf, Barnhart, Kutner, McNeely, Coogler, & Xu, 1996). Their subjects were 162 women and 38 men with an average age of 76.2 who were free of debilitating conditions such as crippling arthritis, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. The researchers divided the subjects into three groups: One group performed a simplified 10-form version of tai chi, one group received biofeedback-based training in balance on a movable platform, and one group received education about falls but no physical training. The tai chi and biofeedback groups were given 15 weeks of training, and researchers kept track of the participants' reported falls for four months.
After the intervention, the tai chi subjects reduced their falling risk by an average of 47.5 percent compared with the other groups. Since the publication of that study, interest in tai chi and its health benefits has continued to grow. Hundreds of studies have now been published and interest has extended to many other health areas, such as the impact of tai chi on physical function, quality of life, and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, many tai chi books have been published, including some with a research focus (e.g., Hong, 2008).
According to a recent review (Zhu et al., 2010) of 25 reviews, which included hundreds of studies from around the world, tai chi has been demonstrated to be a useful exercise for a variety of chronic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, a propensity toward falling, and so on. In addition, tai chi practice has been shown to be beneficial to overall health, balance and control, bone mineral density, psychological and mental status, and aerobic capacity. A few highlights are summarized here.
Overall Health
Tai chi has the potential to improve many of the physiological and psychological aspects of chronic conditions, and it is also a safe and effective intervention for promoting balance, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility in older adults. Tai chi has been shown to be effective as an aerobic exercise in reducing blood pressure, reducing the risk of falls, and increasing function in older adults.
Balance and Control
Moderate evidence supports using tai chi to improve balance and postural stability, indicating that it is a reasonable intervention for clinical use. It has also been found that tai chi improves balance in older adults, although it was not shown to be effective at reducing the rate of falls in older populations. Studies have shown that health outcomes associated with postural control could benefit from tai chi practice.
Although not all studies supported tai chi in fall prevention for older adults, a number of studies found tai chi to be effective in reducing the fear of falling, meaning that interventions aimed at improving older adults' self-efficacy regarding falls could use tai chi. Meanwhile, tai chi was found to be useful for preventing falls in relatively young, prefrail older adults. In addition, although more rigorous studies are needed to make any assertions about the use of tai chi for Parkinson's patients, there is favorable evidence in support of using tai chi to help people with Parkinson's disease.
Osteoarthritis
There is promising evidence in support of using tai chi to reduce pain associated with osteoarthritis, and there are even larger effect sizes in pain reduction from tai chi compared with other popular interventions, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Also, the review found that tai chi may be beneficial for improving the balance and physical function of people with osteoarthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Tai chi improved ankle plantar flexion in people with rheumatoid arthritis, but most other measures, such as activities of daily living and swollen joints, showed no improvements after tai chi interventions. None of the studies indicated any harmful effects of tai chi practice, and the review reported that adherence rates in the tai chi interventions were higher than in the controls, indicating that subjects may enjoy participating in tai chi over other exercises. Some studies also found that tai chi interventions could improve the pain, fatigue, mood, depression, vitality, and disability index of people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Bone Mineral Density
Tai chi has been found to be a promising intervention for maintaining bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. No significant adverse effects of practicing tai chi were reported, and research also indicates that tai chi may improve other risk factors associated with low bone mineral density. Additionally, it was found that tai chi interventions did increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women compared with a no-treatment control group.
Psychological Health
Tai chi has been found to increase well-being and self-efficacy as well as improve overall mood. Tai chi was also a safer choice of exercise for those who were deconditioned or had exercise intolerance.
Blood Pressure
Many studies have reported that a tai chi intervention could lead to lower blood pressure. In all the studies, tai chi was shown to be safe and had no adverse effects.
Cancer
Tai chi has been useful as a complement to traditional cancer treatment. Tai chi helped improve the self-esteem and health-related quality of life, function in activities of daily life, and shoulder range of motion of cancer survivors. In addition, tai chi has been shown to increase the immune response as well as psychological function of cancer survivors.
Cardiovascular Disease
Most studies for this population reported improvement with tai chi interventions, such as lower blood pressure and greater exercise capacity. In addition, no adverse effects were reported. These studies concluded that tai chi may be a beneficial adjunctive therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease.
Aerobic Capacity
Tai chi is an effective exercise to improve aerobic capacity. Statistically significant and large effect sizes (ES = 1.33) were noted in the cross-section studies, meaning that subjects experienced significant aerobic improvements from practicing tai chi. On the other hand, small effect sizes were found within the experimental studies (ES = 0.38). Studies comparing sedentary people with tai chi participants also noted larger effects when tai chi was practiced for at least a year. It has been concluded that tai chi could be used as an alternative form of aerobic exercise, and further inquiry is recommended in this area.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Maintain correct positions during tai chi practice
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction.
Head
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction. This position should be held in a natural, straight manner rather than in an exaggerated, extended position. The eyes look naturally forward in tai chi positions and head movement is coordinated with hand movements. See figure 2.1a for an illustration of head position from a front view and figure 2.1b for this position from a side view.
Common mistakes of the head position are inclining the head to the front or back too much (see figure 2.2, a and b) and tilting it to the left or right (see figure 2.2c). To correct the head when it is inclined back too far, return the head to an upright position with the chin held down. In contrast, if the head is inclined forward too much, return the head to an upright position by lifting the chin. If the head is tilted to the left or right, correct it by returning the head to the center. One easy way to avoid mistakes with the head position is to experience various head positions in front of a mirror and try to remember how it feels when the head is in the upright position. Getting feedback from other practitioners may also be helpful.
Figure 2.2 Incorrect head positions: (a) forward, (b) back, and (c) to the side.
Tai Chi Saying: Xu Ling Ding Jing
Meaning: Most Chinese sayings consist of four characters. In this saying, xu means “empty” or “lightly,”lingmeans “to lead,” ding means “top,” andjing means “strength.” Together, this saying means to imagine a string is holding your head up. In other words, you should have the feeling that there is a string coming from the top of your head that is slightly pulling so as to keep your head up and straight. This is one of the fundamental technical aspects of tai chi practice: The head is to be held upright, but not on a stiff neck. In addition, head movement is to be coordinated with the movements of other parts of the body.
Shoulders and Elbows
Shoulders should remain even with each other and should be naturally down or relaxed (see figure 2.3a). Relaxed shoulder joints and muscles are the key to keeping the shoulders in a low, naturally relaxed position. The elbows should also be held in a low, natural, and relaxed manner (see figure 2.3b). There should be a distance of about one to one and half fists between your elbow and your body so that your elbows can move comfortably (recall that tai chi evolved from boxing, and elbows that are raised too high could expose your ribs for your opponent to attack). Relaxed shoulders are a must for relaxed elbows. Also, a relaxed mind is important because people tend to shrug or tighten their shoulders when nervous or agitated.
Common mistakes of the shoulder position include holding the shoulders too tightly (see figure 2.4a) and not keeping them even (see figure 2.4b). When the shoulders are held too tightly, they are up close to the ears. To correct this, relax the shoulder joints and surrounding muscles. It is helpful to shrug or tighten the shoulders and then relax them several times to learn and remember how relaxed shoulders feel. When the shoulders are uneven, relax the front and back muscles of the shoulders. Practice in front of a mirror several times to make sure the shoulders are even. A common mistake with the elbow position is holding them too tightly to the body (see figure 2.5a) or holding them too high (see figure 2.5b). To correct these mistakes, relax the shoulders and elbows.
Tai Chi Saying: Che Jian Zhui Zhou
Meaning: Chen means “down,”jian means “shoulder,” zhui means “dropping,” and zhou means “elbow.” Together, this means to sink the shoulders and drop the elbows with a relaxed mind. Relaxed shoulders are crucial.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Circle, open-close, and up-down stances
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian.
Tai Chi Illustrated.
Circle Stance
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian. Hold this stance for 3 to 5 minutes and repeat it two to five times, with 5-minute breaks in between.
TIP Make sure your whole body feels as one. In circle stance, for example, rather than feeling your arms and legs separately, you should feel as if you were going to hug someone using your whole body.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart and keep your body weight divided equally between both legs. Your knees should be bent (slightly at first, but increase the bend as your legs get stronger). Using your arms, form a circle in front of your body. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with your eyes looking forward. Breathe naturally with the Dan Tian area relaxed.
2 Bend both knees, keeping the upper body upright in the same vertical line, and relax your shoulders (see figures for a front and side view). Keep an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body. Keep an angle of about 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms.
Common mistakes in the circle stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, and not relaxing the shoulders. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees at a comfortable angle initially; gradually increasing the bend in your knees; and breathing naturally.
Open-Close Stance
This stance is named for the variation in how the arms are held (i.e., a combination of opened and closed). During the practice, you start in the circle stance position with legs apart, knees bent, and arms in front in a circle. Open your arms slowly until they are at a 45-degree angle from the body, and then close your arms slowly, ending with your hands joined in front of the Dan Tian. Breathe in when your arms are opening and breathe out when they are closing. Breathe in a deep, slow, and relaxed manner at the same speed throughout the opening and closing phases. Repeat 8 to 12 times. The eyes can be slightly closed. Enjoy the relaxed feeling this movement provides.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart, body weight evenly distributed between both legs, and knees bent. Form a circle using both arms in front of your body, keeping an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body and an angle of 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with eyes looking forward (eyes can be closed after learning the movement). Breathe naturally.
2 Keep your body weight evenly distributed between both legs and bend your knees. Open both arms, with the upper arms parallel to the ground
and at an angle of 45 degrees to the front
of your body. Breathe in when your arms are opening.
3 With both knees still bent, keep the upper body upright and shoulders relaxed. Return your arms to the starting position, continuing to step 4. Breathe out when your arms are closing.
4 With the knees still bent and shoulders relaxed, move both arms back and down toward the Dan Tian. Stop with your left hand (if you are male) or right hand (if you are female) slightly touching the Dan Tian and the palm of your right hand (males) or left hand (females) touching the back of your left hand (males) or right hand (females). Breathe naturally and focus your mind on the Dan Tian, where you should feel warmth as your skill level improves.
Common mistakes in the open-close stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending the knees too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, not relaxing the shoulders, straightening the knees when opening the arms, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees comfortably and increasing the bend gradually; keeping the same degree of bending when your arms open and close; and breathing in while your arms open and breathing out while they close.
Up-Down Stance
This stance is named for its variation in leg movements (i.e., a combination of straight and bent legs). During the practice, you stand with legs shoulder-width apart and raise both arms slowly to the same level as your shoulders. Squat down slowly as your arms move down with the wrists slightly bent, and then return to the original starting position. You breathe in when your arms move up and breathe out when they move down. Breathe in a slow and relaxed manner. Repeat 8 to 12 times. Close your eyes slightly after becoming familiar with the stance and enjoy the relaxed feeling the movement provides.
1 With your upper body upright, stand with both legs straight, about shoulder-width apart, with body weight evenly distributed between both. Raise both arms in front of your body to shoulder level. Breathe in when your arms move up.
2 Keeping your upper body upright, slowly bend your knees while moving your arms down (see figures for a front view and side view). Breathe out when your arms move down. Hold the squat position for 10 to 15 seconds (hold longer as you get stronger), and then stand up, returning to the starting position shown in step 1.
Common mistakes in the up-down stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, bending the knees, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight evenly between both legs, keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, coordinating your arm movements, bending your knees, and breathing.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Tai chi can have a significant impact on health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people.
Tai Chi and Health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people. Their negative effects on health and well-being are significant and well documented. Fortunately, tai chi can be used to buffer these negative effects. For example, tai chi can help young people achieve relaxation and bring their bodies and minds into balance, and for older adults who practice together, as many do every morning in China, tai chi serves as a social network, a place and time to make new friends and provide social support.
Tai chi is part of TCM, and its significant impact on health has been well documented. Although tai chi was introduced to the United States in the 1970s, an interest in its health benefits did not start until Dr. Steven L. Wolf and his team published their balance study in 1996 (Wolf, Barnhart, Kutner, McNeely, Coogler, & Xu, 1996). Their subjects were 162 women and 38 men with an average age of 76.2 who were free of debilitating conditions such as crippling arthritis, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. The researchers divided the subjects into three groups: One group performed a simplified 10-form version of tai chi, one group received biofeedback-based training in balance on a movable platform, and one group received education about falls but no physical training. The tai chi and biofeedback groups were given 15 weeks of training, and researchers kept track of the participants' reported falls for four months.
After the intervention, the tai chi subjects reduced their falling risk by an average of 47.5 percent compared with the other groups. Since the publication of that study, interest in tai chi and its health benefits has continued to grow. Hundreds of studies have now been published and interest has extended to many other health areas, such as the impact of tai chi on physical function, quality of life, and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, many tai chi books have been published, including some with a research focus (e.g., Hong, 2008).
According to a recent review (Zhu et al., 2010) of 25 reviews, which included hundreds of studies from around the world, tai chi has been demonstrated to be a useful exercise for a variety of chronic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, a propensity toward falling, and so on. In addition, tai chi practice has been shown to be beneficial to overall health, balance and control, bone mineral density, psychological and mental status, and aerobic capacity. A few highlights are summarized here.
Overall Health
Tai chi has the potential to improve many of the physiological and psychological aspects of chronic conditions, and it is also a safe and effective intervention for promoting balance, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility in older adults. Tai chi has been shown to be effective as an aerobic exercise in reducing blood pressure, reducing the risk of falls, and increasing function in older adults.
Balance and Control
Moderate evidence supports using tai chi to improve balance and postural stability, indicating that it is a reasonable intervention for clinical use. It has also been found that tai chi improves balance in older adults, although it was not shown to be effective at reducing the rate of falls in older populations. Studies have shown that health outcomes associated with postural control could benefit from tai chi practice.
Although not all studies supported tai chi in fall prevention for older adults, a number of studies found tai chi to be effective in reducing the fear of falling, meaning that interventions aimed at improving older adults' self-efficacy regarding falls could use tai chi. Meanwhile, tai chi was found to be useful for preventing falls in relatively young, prefrail older adults. In addition, although more rigorous studies are needed to make any assertions about the use of tai chi for Parkinson's patients, there is favorable evidence in support of using tai chi to help people with Parkinson's disease.
Osteoarthritis
There is promising evidence in support of using tai chi to reduce pain associated with osteoarthritis, and there are even larger effect sizes in pain reduction from tai chi compared with other popular interventions, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Also, the review found that tai chi may be beneficial for improving the balance and physical function of people with osteoarthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Tai chi improved ankle plantar flexion in people with rheumatoid arthritis, but most other measures, such as activities of daily living and swollen joints, showed no improvements after tai chi interventions. None of the studies indicated any harmful effects of tai chi practice, and the review reported that adherence rates in the tai chi interventions were higher than in the controls, indicating that subjects may enjoy participating in tai chi over other exercises. Some studies also found that tai chi interventions could improve the pain, fatigue, mood, depression, vitality, and disability index of people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Bone Mineral Density
Tai chi has been found to be a promising intervention for maintaining bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. No significant adverse effects of practicing tai chi were reported, and research also indicates that tai chi may improve other risk factors associated with low bone mineral density. Additionally, it was found that tai chi interventions did increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women compared with a no-treatment control group.
Psychological Health
Tai chi has been found to increase well-being and self-efficacy as well as improve overall mood. Tai chi was also a safer choice of exercise for those who were deconditioned or had exercise intolerance.
Blood Pressure
Many studies have reported that a tai chi intervention could lead to lower blood pressure. In all the studies, tai chi was shown to be safe and had no adverse effects.
Cancer
Tai chi has been useful as a complement to traditional cancer treatment. Tai chi helped improve the self-esteem and health-related quality of life, function in activities of daily life, and shoulder range of motion of cancer survivors. In addition, tai chi has been shown to increase the immune response as well as psychological function of cancer survivors.
Cardiovascular Disease
Most studies for this population reported improvement with tai chi interventions, such as lower blood pressure and greater exercise capacity. In addition, no adverse effects were reported. These studies concluded that tai chi may be a beneficial adjunctive therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease.
Aerobic Capacity
Tai chi is an effective exercise to improve aerobic capacity. Statistically significant and large effect sizes (ES = 1.33) were noted in the cross-section studies, meaning that subjects experienced significant aerobic improvements from practicing tai chi. On the other hand, small effect sizes were found within the experimental studies (ES = 0.38). Studies comparing sedentary people with tai chi participants also noted larger effects when tai chi was practiced for at least a year. It has been concluded that tai chi could be used as an alternative form of aerobic exercise, and further inquiry is recommended in this area.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Maintain correct positions during tai chi practice
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction.
Head
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction. This position should be held in a natural, straight manner rather than in an exaggerated, extended position. The eyes look naturally forward in tai chi positions and head movement is coordinated with hand movements. See figure 2.1a for an illustration of head position from a front view and figure 2.1b for this position from a side view.
Common mistakes of the head position are inclining the head to the front or back too much (see figure 2.2, a and b) and tilting it to the left or right (see figure 2.2c). To correct the head when it is inclined back too far, return the head to an upright position with the chin held down. In contrast, if the head is inclined forward too much, return the head to an upright position by lifting the chin. If the head is tilted to the left or right, correct it by returning the head to the center. One easy way to avoid mistakes with the head position is to experience various head positions in front of a mirror and try to remember how it feels when the head is in the upright position. Getting feedback from other practitioners may also be helpful.
Figure 2.2 Incorrect head positions: (a) forward, (b) back, and (c) to the side.
Tai Chi Saying: Xu Ling Ding Jing
Meaning: Most Chinese sayings consist of four characters. In this saying, xu means “empty” or “lightly,”lingmeans “to lead,” ding means “top,” andjing means “strength.” Together, this saying means to imagine a string is holding your head up. In other words, you should have the feeling that there is a string coming from the top of your head that is slightly pulling so as to keep your head up and straight. This is one of the fundamental technical aspects of tai chi practice: The head is to be held upright, but not on a stiff neck. In addition, head movement is to be coordinated with the movements of other parts of the body.
Shoulders and Elbows
Shoulders should remain even with each other and should be naturally down or relaxed (see figure 2.3a). Relaxed shoulder joints and muscles are the key to keeping the shoulders in a low, naturally relaxed position. The elbows should also be held in a low, natural, and relaxed manner (see figure 2.3b). There should be a distance of about one to one and half fists between your elbow and your body so that your elbows can move comfortably (recall that tai chi evolved from boxing, and elbows that are raised too high could expose your ribs for your opponent to attack). Relaxed shoulders are a must for relaxed elbows. Also, a relaxed mind is important because people tend to shrug or tighten their shoulders when nervous or agitated.
Common mistakes of the shoulder position include holding the shoulders too tightly (see figure 2.4a) and not keeping them even (see figure 2.4b). When the shoulders are held too tightly, they are up close to the ears. To correct this, relax the shoulder joints and surrounding muscles. It is helpful to shrug or tighten the shoulders and then relax them several times to learn and remember how relaxed shoulders feel. When the shoulders are uneven, relax the front and back muscles of the shoulders. Practice in front of a mirror several times to make sure the shoulders are even. A common mistake with the elbow position is holding them too tightly to the body (see figure 2.5a) or holding them too high (see figure 2.5b). To correct these mistakes, relax the shoulders and elbows.
Tai Chi Saying: Che Jian Zhui Zhou
Meaning: Chen means “down,”jian means “shoulder,” zhui means “dropping,” and zhou means “elbow.” Together, this means to sink the shoulders and drop the elbows with a relaxed mind. Relaxed shoulders are crucial.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Circle, open-close, and up-down stances
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian.
Tai Chi Illustrated.
Circle Stance
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian. Hold this stance for 3 to 5 minutes and repeat it two to five times, with 5-minute breaks in between.
TIP Make sure your whole body feels as one. In circle stance, for example, rather than feeling your arms and legs separately, you should feel as if you were going to hug someone using your whole body.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart and keep your body weight divided equally between both legs. Your knees should be bent (slightly at first, but increase the bend as your legs get stronger). Using your arms, form a circle in front of your body. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with your eyes looking forward. Breathe naturally with the Dan Tian area relaxed.
2 Bend both knees, keeping the upper body upright in the same vertical line, and relax your shoulders (see figures for a front and side view). Keep an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body. Keep an angle of about 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms.
Common mistakes in the circle stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, and not relaxing the shoulders. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees at a comfortable angle initially; gradually increasing the bend in your knees; and breathing naturally.
Open-Close Stance
This stance is named for the variation in how the arms are held (i.e., a combination of opened and closed). During the practice, you start in the circle stance position with legs apart, knees bent, and arms in front in a circle. Open your arms slowly until they are at a 45-degree angle from the body, and then close your arms slowly, ending with your hands joined in front of the Dan Tian. Breathe in when your arms are opening and breathe out when they are closing. Breathe in a deep, slow, and relaxed manner at the same speed throughout the opening and closing phases. Repeat 8 to 12 times. The eyes can be slightly closed. Enjoy the relaxed feeling this movement provides.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart, body weight evenly distributed between both legs, and knees bent. Form a circle using both arms in front of your body, keeping an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body and an angle of 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with eyes looking forward (eyes can be closed after learning the movement). Breathe naturally.
2 Keep your body weight evenly distributed between both legs and bend your knees. Open both arms, with the upper arms parallel to the ground
and at an angle of 45 degrees to the front
of your body. Breathe in when your arms are opening.
3 With both knees still bent, keep the upper body upright and shoulders relaxed. Return your arms to the starting position, continuing to step 4. Breathe out when your arms are closing.
4 With the knees still bent and shoulders relaxed, move both arms back and down toward the Dan Tian. Stop with your left hand (if you are male) or right hand (if you are female) slightly touching the Dan Tian and the palm of your right hand (males) or left hand (females) touching the back of your left hand (males) or right hand (females). Breathe naturally and focus your mind on the Dan Tian, where you should feel warmth as your skill level improves.
Common mistakes in the open-close stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending the knees too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, not relaxing the shoulders, straightening the knees when opening the arms, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees comfortably and increasing the bend gradually; keeping the same degree of bending when your arms open and close; and breathing in while your arms open and breathing out while they close.
Up-Down Stance
This stance is named for its variation in leg movements (i.e., a combination of straight and bent legs). During the practice, you stand with legs shoulder-width apart and raise both arms slowly to the same level as your shoulders. Squat down slowly as your arms move down with the wrists slightly bent, and then return to the original starting position. You breathe in when your arms move up and breathe out when they move down. Breathe in a slow and relaxed manner. Repeat 8 to 12 times. Close your eyes slightly after becoming familiar with the stance and enjoy the relaxed feeling the movement provides.
1 With your upper body upright, stand with both legs straight, about shoulder-width apart, with body weight evenly distributed between both. Raise both arms in front of your body to shoulder level. Breathe in when your arms move up.
2 Keeping your upper body upright, slowly bend your knees while moving your arms down (see figures for a front view and side view). Breathe out when your arms move down. Hold the squat position for 10 to 15 seconds (hold longer as you get stronger), and then stand up, returning to the starting position shown in step 1.
Common mistakes in the up-down stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, bending the knees, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight evenly between both legs, keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, coordinating your arm movements, bending your knees, and breathing.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Tai chi can have a significant impact on health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people.
Tai Chi and Health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people. Their negative effects on health and well-being are significant and well documented. Fortunately, tai chi can be used to buffer these negative effects. For example, tai chi can help young people achieve relaxation and bring their bodies and minds into balance, and for older adults who practice together, as many do every morning in China, tai chi serves as a social network, a place and time to make new friends and provide social support.
Tai chi is part of TCM, and its significant impact on health has been well documented. Although tai chi was introduced to the United States in the 1970s, an interest in its health benefits did not start until Dr. Steven L. Wolf and his team published their balance study in 1996 (Wolf, Barnhart, Kutner, McNeely, Coogler, & Xu, 1996). Their subjects were 162 women and 38 men with an average age of 76.2 who were free of debilitating conditions such as crippling arthritis, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. The researchers divided the subjects into three groups: One group performed a simplified 10-form version of tai chi, one group received biofeedback-based training in balance on a movable platform, and one group received education about falls but no physical training. The tai chi and biofeedback groups were given 15 weeks of training, and researchers kept track of the participants' reported falls for four months.
After the intervention, the tai chi subjects reduced their falling risk by an average of 47.5 percent compared with the other groups. Since the publication of that study, interest in tai chi and its health benefits has continued to grow. Hundreds of studies have now been published and interest has extended to many other health areas, such as the impact of tai chi on physical function, quality of life, and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, many tai chi books have been published, including some with a research focus (e.g., Hong, 2008).
According to a recent review (Zhu et al., 2010) of 25 reviews, which included hundreds of studies from around the world, tai chi has been demonstrated to be a useful exercise for a variety of chronic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, a propensity toward falling, and so on. In addition, tai chi practice has been shown to be beneficial to overall health, balance and control, bone mineral density, psychological and mental status, and aerobic capacity. A few highlights are summarized here.
Overall Health
Tai chi has the potential to improve many of the physiological and psychological aspects of chronic conditions, and it is also a safe and effective intervention for promoting balance, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility in older adults. Tai chi has been shown to be effective as an aerobic exercise in reducing blood pressure, reducing the risk of falls, and increasing function in older adults.
Balance and Control
Moderate evidence supports using tai chi to improve balance and postural stability, indicating that it is a reasonable intervention for clinical use. It has also been found that tai chi improves balance in older adults, although it was not shown to be effective at reducing the rate of falls in older populations. Studies have shown that health outcomes associated with postural control could benefit from tai chi practice.
Although not all studies supported tai chi in fall prevention for older adults, a number of studies found tai chi to be effective in reducing the fear of falling, meaning that interventions aimed at improving older adults' self-efficacy regarding falls could use tai chi. Meanwhile, tai chi was found to be useful for preventing falls in relatively young, prefrail older adults. In addition, although more rigorous studies are needed to make any assertions about the use of tai chi for Parkinson's patients, there is favorable evidence in support of using tai chi to help people with Parkinson's disease.
Osteoarthritis
There is promising evidence in support of using tai chi to reduce pain associated with osteoarthritis, and there are even larger effect sizes in pain reduction from tai chi compared with other popular interventions, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Also, the review found that tai chi may be beneficial for improving the balance and physical function of people with osteoarthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Tai chi improved ankle plantar flexion in people with rheumatoid arthritis, but most other measures, such as activities of daily living and swollen joints, showed no improvements after tai chi interventions. None of the studies indicated any harmful effects of tai chi practice, and the review reported that adherence rates in the tai chi interventions were higher than in the controls, indicating that subjects may enjoy participating in tai chi over other exercises. Some studies also found that tai chi interventions could improve the pain, fatigue, mood, depression, vitality, and disability index of people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Bone Mineral Density
Tai chi has been found to be a promising intervention for maintaining bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. No significant adverse effects of practicing tai chi were reported, and research also indicates that tai chi may improve other risk factors associated with low bone mineral density. Additionally, it was found that tai chi interventions did increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women compared with a no-treatment control group.
Psychological Health
Tai chi has been found to increase well-being and self-efficacy as well as improve overall mood. Tai chi was also a safer choice of exercise for those who were deconditioned or had exercise intolerance.
Blood Pressure
Many studies have reported that a tai chi intervention could lead to lower blood pressure. In all the studies, tai chi was shown to be safe and had no adverse effects.
Cancer
Tai chi has been useful as a complement to traditional cancer treatment. Tai chi helped improve the self-esteem and health-related quality of life, function in activities of daily life, and shoulder range of motion of cancer survivors. In addition, tai chi has been shown to increase the immune response as well as psychological function of cancer survivors.
Cardiovascular Disease
Most studies for this population reported improvement with tai chi interventions, such as lower blood pressure and greater exercise capacity. In addition, no adverse effects were reported. These studies concluded that tai chi may be a beneficial adjunctive therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease.
Aerobic Capacity
Tai chi is an effective exercise to improve aerobic capacity. Statistically significant and large effect sizes (ES = 1.33) were noted in the cross-section studies, meaning that subjects experienced significant aerobic improvements from practicing tai chi. On the other hand, small effect sizes were found within the experimental studies (ES = 0.38). Studies comparing sedentary people with tai chi participants also noted larger effects when tai chi was practiced for at least a year. It has been concluded that tai chi could be used as an alternative form of aerobic exercise, and further inquiry is recommended in this area.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Maintain correct positions during tai chi practice
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction.
Head
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction. This position should be held in a natural, straight manner rather than in an exaggerated, extended position. The eyes look naturally forward in tai chi positions and head movement is coordinated with hand movements. See figure 2.1a for an illustration of head position from a front view and figure 2.1b for this position from a side view.
Common mistakes of the head position are inclining the head to the front or back too much (see figure 2.2, a and b) and tilting it to the left or right (see figure 2.2c). To correct the head when it is inclined back too far, return the head to an upright position with the chin held down. In contrast, if the head is inclined forward too much, return the head to an upright position by lifting the chin. If the head is tilted to the left or right, correct it by returning the head to the center. One easy way to avoid mistakes with the head position is to experience various head positions in front of a mirror and try to remember how it feels when the head is in the upright position. Getting feedback from other practitioners may also be helpful.
Figure 2.2 Incorrect head positions: (a) forward, (b) back, and (c) to the side.
Tai Chi Saying: Xu Ling Ding Jing
Meaning: Most Chinese sayings consist of four characters. In this saying, xu means “empty” or “lightly,”lingmeans “to lead,” ding means “top,” andjing means “strength.” Together, this saying means to imagine a string is holding your head up. In other words, you should have the feeling that there is a string coming from the top of your head that is slightly pulling so as to keep your head up and straight. This is one of the fundamental technical aspects of tai chi practice: The head is to be held upright, but not on a stiff neck. In addition, head movement is to be coordinated with the movements of other parts of the body.
Shoulders and Elbows
Shoulders should remain even with each other and should be naturally down or relaxed (see figure 2.3a). Relaxed shoulder joints and muscles are the key to keeping the shoulders in a low, naturally relaxed position. The elbows should also be held in a low, natural, and relaxed manner (see figure 2.3b). There should be a distance of about one to one and half fists between your elbow and your body so that your elbows can move comfortably (recall that tai chi evolved from boxing, and elbows that are raised too high could expose your ribs for your opponent to attack). Relaxed shoulders are a must for relaxed elbows. Also, a relaxed mind is important because people tend to shrug or tighten their shoulders when nervous or agitated.
Common mistakes of the shoulder position include holding the shoulders too tightly (see figure 2.4a) and not keeping them even (see figure 2.4b). When the shoulders are held too tightly, they are up close to the ears. To correct this, relax the shoulder joints and surrounding muscles. It is helpful to shrug or tighten the shoulders and then relax them several times to learn and remember how relaxed shoulders feel. When the shoulders are uneven, relax the front and back muscles of the shoulders. Practice in front of a mirror several times to make sure the shoulders are even. A common mistake with the elbow position is holding them too tightly to the body (see figure 2.5a) or holding them too high (see figure 2.5b). To correct these mistakes, relax the shoulders and elbows.
Tai Chi Saying: Che Jian Zhui Zhou
Meaning: Chen means “down,”jian means “shoulder,” zhui means “dropping,” and zhou means “elbow.” Together, this means to sink the shoulders and drop the elbows with a relaxed mind. Relaxed shoulders are crucial.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Circle, open-close, and up-down stances
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian.
Tai Chi Illustrated.
Circle Stance
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian. Hold this stance for 3 to 5 minutes and repeat it two to five times, with 5-minute breaks in between.
TIP Make sure your whole body feels as one. In circle stance, for example, rather than feeling your arms and legs separately, you should feel as if you were going to hug someone using your whole body.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart and keep your body weight divided equally between both legs. Your knees should be bent (slightly at first, but increase the bend as your legs get stronger). Using your arms, form a circle in front of your body. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with your eyes looking forward. Breathe naturally with the Dan Tian area relaxed.
2 Bend both knees, keeping the upper body upright in the same vertical line, and relax your shoulders (see figures for a front and side view). Keep an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body. Keep an angle of about 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms.
Common mistakes in the circle stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, and not relaxing the shoulders. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees at a comfortable angle initially; gradually increasing the bend in your knees; and breathing naturally.
Open-Close Stance
This stance is named for the variation in how the arms are held (i.e., a combination of opened and closed). During the practice, you start in the circle stance position with legs apart, knees bent, and arms in front in a circle. Open your arms slowly until they are at a 45-degree angle from the body, and then close your arms slowly, ending with your hands joined in front of the Dan Tian. Breathe in when your arms are opening and breathe out when they are closing. Breathe in a deep, slow, and relaxed manner at the same speed throughout the opening and closing phases. Repeat 8 to 12 times. The eyes can be slightly closed. Enjoy the relaxed feeling this movement provides.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart, body weight evenly distributed between both legs, and knees bent. Form a circle using both arms in front of your body, keeping an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body and an angle of 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with eyes looking forward (eyes can be closed after learning the movement). Breathe naturally.
2 Keep your body weight evenly distributed between both legs and bend your knees. Open both arms, with the upper arms parallel to the ground
and at an angle of 45 degrees to the front
of your body. Breathe in when your arms are opening.
3 With both knees still bent, keep the upper body upright and shoulders relaxed. Return your arms to the starting position, continuing to step 4. Breathe out when your arms are closing.
4 With the knees still bent and shoulders relaxed, move both arms back and down toward the Dan Tian. Stop with your left hand (if you are male) or right hand (if you are female) slightly touching the Dan Tian and the palm of your right hand (males) or left hand (females) touching the back of your left hand (males) or right hand (females). Breathe naturally and focus your mind on the Dan Tian, where you should feel warmth as your skill level improves.
Common mistakes in the open-close stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending the knees too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, not relaxing the shoulders, straightening the knees when opening the arms, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees comfortably and increasing the bend gradually; keeping the same degree of bending when your arms open and close; and breathing in while your arms open and breathing out while they close.
Up-Down Stance
This stance is named for its variation in leg movements (i.e., a combination of straight and bent legs). During the practice, you stand with legs shoulder-width apart and raise both arms slowly to the same level as your shoulders. Squat down slowly as your arms move down with the wrists slightly bent, and then return to the original starting position. You breathe in when your arms move up and breathe out when they move down. Breathe in a slow and relaxed manner. Repeat 8 to 12 times. Close your eyes slightly after becoming familiar with the stance and enjoy the relaxed feeling the movement provides.
1 With your upper body upright, stand with both legs straight, about shoulder-width apart, with body weight evenly distributed between both. Raise both arms in front of your body to shoulder level. Breathe in when your arms move up.
2 Keeping your upper body upright, slowly bend your knees while moving your arms down (see figures for a front view and side view). Breathe out when your arms move down. Hold the squat position for 10 to 15 seconds (hold longer as you get stronger), and then stand up, returning to the starting position shown in step 1.
Common mistakes in the up-down stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, bending the knees, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight evenly between both legs, keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, coordinating your arm movements, bending your knees, and breathing.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Tai chi can have a significant impact on health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people.
Tai Chi and Health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people. Their negative effects on health and well-being are significant and well documented. Fortunately, tai chi can be used to buffer these negative effects. For example, tai chi can help young people achieve relaxation and bring their bodies and minds into balance, and for older adults who practice together, as many do every morning in China, tai chi serves as a social network, a place and time to make new friends and provide social support.
Tai chi is part of TCM, and its significant impact on health has been well documented. Although tai chi was introduced to the United States in the 1970s, an interest in its health benefits did not start until Dr. Steven L. Wolf and his team published their balance study in 1996 (Wolf, Barnhart, Kutner, McNeely, Coogler, & Xu, 1996). Their subjects were 162 women and 38 men with an average age of 76.2 who were free of debilitating conditions such as crippling arthritis, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. The researchers divided the subjects into three groups: One group performed a simplified 10-form version of tai chi, one group received biofeedback-based training in balance on a movable platform, and one group received education about falls but no physical training. The tai chi and biofeedback groups were given 15 weeks of training, and researchers kept track of the participants' reported falls for four months.
After the intervention, the tai chi subjects reduced their falling risk by an average of 47.5 percent compared with the other groups. Since the publication of that study, interest in tai chi and its health benefits has continued to grow. Hundreds of studies have now been published and interest has extended to many other health areas, such as the impact of tai chi on physical function, quality of life, and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, many tai chi books have been published, including some with a research focus (e.g., Hong, 2008).
According to a recent review (Zhu et al., 2010) of 25 reviews, which included hundreds of studies from around the world, tai chi has been demonstrated to be a useful exercise for a variety of chronic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, a propensity toward falling, and so on. In addition, tai chi practice has been shown to be beneficial to overall health, balance and control, bone mineral density, psychological and mental status, and aerobic capacity. A few highlights are summarized here.
Overall Health
Tai chi has the potential to improve many of the physiological and psychological aspects of chronic conditions, and it is also a safe and effective intervention for promoting balance, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility in older adults. Tai chi has been shown to be effective as an aerobic exercise in reducing blood pressure, reducing the risk of falls, and increasing function in older adults.
Balance and Control
Moderate evidence supports using tai chi to improve balance and postural stability, indicating that it is a reasonable intervention for clinical use. It has also been found that tai chi improves balance in older adults, although it was not shown to be effective at reducing the rate of falls in older populations. Studies have shown that health outcomes associated with postural control could benefit from tai chi practice.
Although not all studies supported tai chi in fall prevention for older adults, a number of studies found tai chi to be effective in reducing the fear of falling, meaning that interventions aimed at improving older adults' self-efficacy regarding falls could use tai chi. Meanwhile, tai chi was found to be useful for preventing falls in relatively young, prefrail older adults. In addition, although more rigorous studies are needed to make any assertions about the use of tai chi for Parkinson's patients, there is favorable evidence in support of using tai chi to help people with Parkinson's disease.
Osteoarthritis
There is promising evidence in support of using tai chi to reduce pain associated with osteoarthritis, and there are even larger effect sizes in pain reduction from tai chi compared with other popular interventions, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Also, the review found that tai chi may be beneficial for improving the balance and physical function of people with osteoarthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Tai chi improved ankle plantar flexion in people with rheumatoid arthritis, but most other measures, such as activities of daily living and swollen joints, showed no improvements after tai chi interventions. None of the studies indicated any harmful effects of tai chi practice, and the review reported that adherence rates in the tai chi interventions were higher than in the controls, indicating that subjects may enjoy participating in tai chi over other exercises. Some studies also found that tai chi interventions could improve the pain, fatigue, mood, depression, vitality, and disability index of people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Bone Mineral Density
Tai chi has been found to be a promising intervention for maintaining bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. No significant adverse effects of practicing tai chi were reported, and research also indicates that tai chi may improve other risk factors associated with low bone mineral density. Additionally, it was found that tai chi interventions did increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women compared with a no-treatment control group.
Psychological Health
Tai chi has been found to increase well-being and self-efficacy as well as improve overall mood. Tai chi was also a safer choice of exercise for those who were deconditioned or had exercise intolerance.
Blood Pressure
Many studies have reported that a tai chi intervention could lead to lower blood pressure. In all the studies, tai chi was shown to be safe and had no adverse effects.
Cancer
Tai chi has been useful as a complement to traditional cancer treatment. Tai chi helped improve the self-esteem and health-related quality of life, function in activities of daily life, and shoulder range of motion of cancer survivors. In addition, tai chi has been shown to increase the immune response as well as psychological function of cancer survivors.
Cardiovascular Disease
Most studies for this population reported improvement with tai chi interventions, such as lower blood pressure and greater exercise capacity. In addition, no adverse effects were reported. These studies concluded that tai chi may be a beneficial adjunctive therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease.
Aerobic Capacity
Tai chi is an effective exercise to improve aerobic capacity. Statistically significant and large effect sizes (ES = 1.33) were noted in the cross-section studies, meaning that subjects experienced significant aerobic improvements from practicing tai chi. On the other hand, small effect sizes were found within the experimental studies (ES = 0.38). Studies comparing sedentary people with tai chi participants also noted larger effects when tai chi was practiced for at least a year. It has been concluded that tai chi could be used as an alternative form of aerobic exercise, and further inquiry is recommended in this area.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Maintain correct positions during tai chi practice
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction.
Head
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction. This position should be held in a natural, straight manner rather than in an exaggerated, extended position. The eyes look naturally forward in tai chi positions and head movement is coordinated with hand movements. See figure 2.1a for an illustration of head position from a front view and figure 2.1b for this position from a side view.
Common mistakes of the head position are inclining the head to the front or back too much (see figure 2.2, a and b) and tilting it to the left or right (see figure 2.2c). To correct the head when it is inclined back too far, return the head to an upright position with the chin held down. In contrast, if the head is inclined forward too much, return the head to an upright position by lifting the chin. If the head is tilted to the left or right, correct it by returning the head to the center. One easy way to avoid mistakes with the head position is to experience various head positions in front of a mirror and try to remember how it feels when the head is in the upright position. Getting feedback from other practitioners may also be helpful.
Figure 2.2 Incorrect head positions: (a) forward, (b) back, and (c) to the side.
Tai Chi Saying: Xu Ling Ding Jing
Meaning: Most Chinese sayings consist of four characters. In this saying, xu means “empty” or “lightly,”lingmeans “to lead,” ding means “top,” andjing means “strength.” Together, this saying means to imagine a string is holding your head up. In other words, you should have the feeling that there is a string coming from the top of your head that is slightly pulling so as to keep your head up and straight. This is one of the fundamental technical aspects of tai chi practice: The head is to be held upright, but not on a stiff neck. In addition, head movement is to be coordinated with the movements of other parts of the body.
Shoulders and Elbows
Shoulders should remain even with each other and should be naturally down or relaxed (see figure 2.3a). Relaxed shoulder joints and muscles are the key to keeping the shoulders in a low, naturally relaxed position. The elbows should also be held in a low, natural, and relaxed manner (see figure 2.3b). There should be a distance of about one to one and half fists between your elbow and your body so that your elbows can move comfortably (recall that tai chi evolved from boxing, and elbows that are raised too high could expose your ribs for your opponent to attack). Relaxed shoulders are a must for relaxed elbows. Also, a relaxed mind is important because people tend to shrug or tighten their shoulders when nervous or agitated.
Common mistakes of the shoulder position include holding the shoulders too tightly (see figure 2.4a) and not keeping them even (see figure 2.4b). When the shoulders are held too tightly, they are up close to the ears. To correct this, relax the shoulder joints and surrounding muscles. It is helpful to shrug or tighten the shoulders and then relax them several times to learn and remember how relaxed shoulders feel. When the shoulders are uneven, relax the front and back muscles of the shoulders. Practice in front of a mirror several times to make sure the shoulders are even. A common mistake with the elbow position is holding them too tightly to the body (see figure 2.5a) or holding them too high (see figure 2.5b). To correct these mistakes, relax the shoulders and elbows.
Tai Chi Saying: Che Jian Zhui Zhou
Meaning: Chen means “down,”jian means “shoulder,” zhui means “dropping,” and zhou means “elbow.” Together, this means to sink the shoulders and drop the elbows with a relaxed mind. Relaxed shoulders are crucial.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Circle, open-close, and up-down stances
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian.
Tai Chi Illustrated.
Circle Stance
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian. Hold this stance for 3 to 5 minutes and repeat it two to five times, with 5-minute breaks in between.
TIP Make sure your whole body feels as one. In circle stance, for example, rather than feeling your arms and legs separately, you should feel as if you were going to hug someone using your whole body.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart and keep your body weight divided equally between both legs. Your knees should be bent (slightly at first, but increase the bend as your legs get stronger). Using your arms, form a circle in front of your body. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with your eyes looking forward. Breathe naturally with the Dan Tian area relaxed.
2 Bend both knees, keeping the upper body upright in the same vertical line, and relax your shoulders (see figures for a front and side view). Keep an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body. Keep an angle of about 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms.
Common mistakes in the circle stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, and not relaxing the shoulders. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees at a comfortable angle initially; gradually increasing the bend in your knees; and breathing naturally.
Open-Close Stance
This stance is named for the variation in how the arms are held (i.e., a combination of opened and closed). During the practice, you start in the circle stance position with legs apart, knees bent, and arms in front in a circle. Open your arms slowly until they are at a 45-degree angle from the body, and then close your arms slowly, ending with your hands joined in front of the Dan Tian. Breathe in when your arms are opening and breathe out when they are closing. Breathe in a deep, slow, and relaxed manner at the same speed throughout the opening and closing phases. Repeat 8 to 12 times. The eyes can be slightly closed. Enjoy the relaxed feeling this movement provides.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart, body weight evenly distributed between both legs, and knees bent. Form a circle using both arms in front of your body, keeping an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body and an angle of 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with eyes looking forward (eyes can be closed after learning the movement). Breathe naturally.
2 Keep your body weight evenly distributed between both legs and bend your knees. Open both arms, with the upper arms parallel to the ground
and at an angle of 45 degrees to the front
of your body. Breathe in when your arms are opening.
3 With both knees still bent, keep the upper body upright and shoulders relaxed. Return your arms to the starting position, continuing to step 4. Breathe out when your arms are closing.
4 With the knees still bent and shoulders relaxed, move both arms back and down toward the Dan Tian. Stop with your left hand (if you are male) or right hand (if you are female) slightly touching the Dan Tian and the palm of your right hand (males) or left hand (females) touching the back of your left hand (males) or right hand (females). Breathe naturally and focus your mind on the Dan Tian, where you should feel warmth as your skill level improves.
Common mistakes in the open-close stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending the knees too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, not relaxing the shoulders, straightening the knees when opening the arms, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees comfortably and increasing the bend gradually; keeping the same degree of bending when your arms open and close; and breathing in while your arms open and breathing out while they close.
Up-Down Stance
This stance is named for its variation in leg movements (i.e., a combination of straight and bent legs). During the practice, you stand with legs shoulder-width apart and raise both arms slowly to the same level as your shoulders. Squat down slowly as your arms move down with the wrists slightly bent, and then return to the original starting position. You breathe in when your arms move up and breathe out when they move down. Breathe in a slow and relaxed manner. Repeat 8 to 12 times. Close your eyes slightly after becoming familiar with the stance and enjoy the relaxed feeling the movement provides.
1 With your upper body upright, stand with both legs straight, about shoulder-width apart, with body weight evenly distributed between both. Raise both arms in front of your body to shoulder level. Breathe in when your arms move up.
2 Keeping your upper body upright, slowly bend your knees while moving your arms down (see figures for a front view and side view). Breathe out when your arms move down. Hold the squat position for 10 to 15 seconds (hold longer as you get stronger), and then stand up, returning to the starting position shown in step 1.
Common mistakes in the up-down stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, bending the knees, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight evenly between both legs, keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, coordinating your arm movements, bending your knees, and breathing.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Tai chi can have a significant impact on health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people.
Tai Chi and Health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people. Their negative effects on health and well-being are significant and well documented. Fortunately, tai chi can be used to buffer these negative effects. For example, tai chi can help young people achieve relaxation and bring their bodies and minds into balance, and for older adults who practice together, as many do every morning in China, tai chi serves as a social network, a place and time to make new friends and provide social support.
Tai chi is part of TCM, and its significant impact on health has been well documented. Although tai chi was introduced to the United States in the 1970s, an interest in its health benefits did not start until Dr. Steven L. Wolf and his team published their balance study in 1996 (Wolf, Barnhart, Kutner, McNeely, Coogler, & Xu, 1996). Their subjects were 162 women and 38 men with an average age of 76.2 who were free of debilitating conditions such as crippling arthritis, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. The researchers divided the subjects into three groups: One group performed a simplified 10-form version of tai chi, one group received biofeedback-based training in balance on a movable platform, and one group received education about falls but no physical training. The tai chi and biofeedback groups were given 15 weeks of training, and researchers kept track of the participants' reported falls for four months.
After the intervention, the tai chi subjects reduced their falling risk by an average of 47.5 percent compared with the other groups. Since the publication of that study, interest in tai chi and its health benefits has continued to grow. Hundreds of studies have now been published and interest has extended to many other health areas, such as the impact of tai chi on physical function, quality of life, and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, many tai chi books have been published, including some with a research focus (e.g., Hong, 2008).
According to a recent review (Zhu et al., 2010) of 25 reviews, which included hundreds of studies from around the world, tai chi has been demonstrated to be a useful exercise for a variety of chronic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, a propensity toward falling, and so on. In addition, tai chi practice has been shown to be beneficial to overall health, balance and control, bone mineral density, psychological and mental status, and aerobic capacity. A few highlights are summarized here.
Overall Health
Tai chi has the potential to improve many of the physiological and psychological aspects of chronic conditions, and it is also a safe and effective intervention for promoting balance, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility in older adults. Tai chi has been shown to be effective as an aerobic exercise in reducing blood pressure, reducing the risk of falls, and increasing function in older adults.
Balance and Control
Moderate evidence supports using tai chi to improve balance and postural stability, indicating that it is a reasonable intervention for clinical use. It has also been found that tai chi improves balance in older adults, although it was not shown to be effective at reducing the rate of falls in older populations. Studies have shown that health outcomes associated with postural control could benefit from tai chi practice.
Although not all studies supported tai chi in fall prevention for older adults, a number of studies found tai chi to be effective in reducing the fear of falling, meaning that interventions aimed at improving older adults' self-efficacy regarding falls could use tai chi. Meanwhile, tai chi was found to be useful for preventing falls in relatively young, prefrail older adults. In addition, although more rigorous studies are needed to make any assertions about the use of tai chi for Parkinson's patients, there is favorable evidence in support of using tai chi to help people with Parkinson's disease.
Osteoarthritis
There is promising evidence in support of using tai chi to reduce pain associated with osteoarthritis, and there are even larger effect sizes in pain reduction from tai chi compared with other popular interventions, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Also, the review found that tai chi may be beneficial for improving the balance and physical function of people with osteoarthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Tai chi improved ankle plantar flexion in people with rheumatoid arthritis, but most other measures, such as activities of daily living and swollen joints, showed no improvements after tai chi interventions. None of the studies indicated any harmful effects of tai chi practice, and the review reported that adherence rates in the tai chi interventions were higher than in the controls, indicating that subjects may enjoy participating in tai chi over other exercises. Some studies also found that tai chi interventions could improve the pain, fatigue, mood, depression, vitality, and disability index of people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Bone Mineral Density
Tai chi has been found to be a promising intervention for maintaining bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. No significant adverse effects of practicing tai chi were reported, and research also indicates that tai chi may improve other risk factors associated with low bone mineral density. Additionally, it was found that tai chi interventions did increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women compared with a no-treatment control group.
Psychological Health
Tai chi has been found to increase well-being and self-efficacy as well as improve overall mood. Tai chi was also a safer choice of exercise for those who were deconditioned or had exercise intolerance.
Blood Pressure
Many studies have reported that a tai chi intervention could lead to lower blood pressure. In all the studies, tai chi was shown to be safe and had no adverse effects.
Cancer
Tai chi has been useful as a complement to traditional cancer treatment. Tai chi helped improve the self-esteem and health-related quality of life, function in activities of daily life, and shoulder range of motion of cancer survivors. In addition, tai chi has been shown to increase the immune response as well as psychological function of cancer survivors.
Cardiovascular Disease
Most studies for this population reported improvement with tai chi interventions, such as lower blood pressure and greater exercise capacity. In addition, no adverse effects were reported. These studies concluded that tai chi may be a beneficial adjunctive therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease.
Aerobic Capacity
Tai chi is an effective exercise to improve aerobic capacity. Statistically significant and large effect sizes (ES = 1.33) were noted in the cross-section studies, meaning that subjects experienced significant aerobic improvements from practicing tai chi. On the other hand, small effect sizes were found within the experimental studies (ES = 0.38). Studies comparing sedentary people with tai chi participants also noted larger effects when tai chi was practiced for at least a year. It has been concluded that tai chi could be used as an alternative form of aerobic exercise, and further inquiry is recommended in this area.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Maintain correct positions during tai chi practice
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction.
Head
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction. This position should be held in a natural, straight manner rather than in an exaggerated, extended position. The eyes look naturally forward in tai chi positions and head movement is coordinated with hand movements. See figure 2.1a for an illustration of head position from a front view and figure 2.1b for this position from a side view.
Common mistakes of the head position are inclining the head to the front or back too much (see figure 2.2, a and b) and tilting it to the left or right (see figure 2.2c). To correct the head when it is inclined back too far, return the head to an upright position with the chin held down. In contrast, if the head is inclined forward too much, return the head to an upright position by lifting the chin. If the head is tilted to the left or right, correct it by returning the head to the center. One easy way to avoid mistakes with the head position is to experience various head positions in front of a mirror and try to remember how it feels when the head is in the upright position. Getting feedback from other practitioners may also be helpful.
Figure 2.2 Incorrect head positions: (a) forward, (b) back, and (c) to the side.
Tai Chi Saying: Xu Ling Ding Jing
Meaning: Most Chinese sayings consist of four characters. In this saying, xu means “empty” or “lightly,”lingmeans “to lead,” ding means “top,” andjing means “strength.” Together, this saying means to imagine a string is holding your head up. In other words, you should have the feeling that there is a string coming from the top of your head that is slightly pulling so as to keep your head up and straight. This is one of the fundamental technical aspects of tai chi practice: The head is to be held upright, but not on a stiff neck. In addition, head movement is to be coordinated with the movements of other parts of the body.
Shoulders and Elbows
Shoulders should remain even with each other and should be naturally down or relaxed (see figure 2.3a). Relaxed shoulder joints and muscles are the key to keeping the shoulders in a low, naturally relaxed position. The elbows should also be held in a low, natural, and relaxed manner (see figure 2.3b). There should be a distance of about one to one and half fists between your elbow and your body so that your elbows can move comfortably (recall that tai chi evolved from boxing, and elbows that are raised too high could expose your ribs for your opponent to attack). Relaxed shoulders are a must for relaxed elbows. Also, a relaxed mind is important because people tend to shrug or tighten their shoulders when nervous or agitated.
Common mistakes of the shoulder position include holding the shoulders too tightly (see figure 2.4a) and not keeping them even (see figure 2.4b). When the shoulders are held too tightly, they are up close to the ears. To correct this, relax the shoulder joints and surrounding muscles. It is helpful to shrug or tighten the shoulders and then relax them several times to learn and remember how relaxed shoulders feel. When the shoulders are uneven, relax the front and back muscles of the shoulders. Practice in front of a mirror several times to make sure the shoulders are even. A common mistake with the elbow position is holding them too tightly to the body (see figure 2.5a) or holding them too high (see figure 2.5b). To correct these mistakes, relax the shoulders and elbows.
Tai Chi Saying: Che Jian Zhui Zhou
Meaning: Chen means “down,”jian means “shoulder,” zhui means “dropping,” and zhou means “elbow.” Together, this means to sink the shoulders and drop the elbows with a relaxed mind. Relaxed shoulders are crucial.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Circle, open-close, and up-down stances
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian.
Tai Chi Illustrated.
Circle Stance
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian. Hold this stance for 3 to 5 minutes and repeat it two to five times, with 5-minute breaks in between.
TIP Make sure your whole body feels as one. In circle stance, for example, rather than feeling your arms and legs separately, you should feel as if you were going to hug someone using your whole body.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart and keep your body weight divided equally between both legs. Your knees should be bent (slightly at first, but increase the bend as your legs get stronger). Using your arms, form a circle in front of your body. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with your eyes looking forward. Breathe naturally with the Dan Tian area relaxed.
2 Bend both knees, keeping the upper body upright in the same vertical line, and relax your shoulders (see figures for a front and side view). Keep an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body. Keep an angle of about 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms.
Common mistakes in the circle stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, and not relaxing the shoulders. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees at a comfortable angle initially; gradually increasing the bend in your knees; and breathing naturally.
Open-Close Stance
This stance is named for the variation in how the arms are held (i.e., a combination of opened and closed). During the practice, you start in the circle stance position with legs apart, knees bent, and arms in front in a circle. Open your arms slowly until they are at a 45-degree angle from the body, and then close your arms slowly, ending with your hands joined in front of the Dan Tian. Breathe in when your arms are opening and breathe out when they are closing. Breathe in a deep, slow, and relaxed manner at the same speed throughout the opening and closing phases. Repeat 8 to 12 times. The eyes can be slightly closed. Enjoy the relaxed feeling this movement provides.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart, body weight evenly distributed between both legs, and knees bent. Form a circle using both arms in front of your body, keeping an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body and an angle of 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with eyes looking forward (eyes can be closed after learning the movement). Breathe naturally.
2 Keep your body weight evenly distributed between both legs and bend your knees. Open both arms, with the upper arms parallel to the ground
and at an angle of 45 degrees to the front
of your body. Breathe in when your arms are opening.
3 With both knees still bent, keep the upper body upright and shoulders relaxed. Return your arms to the starting position, continuing to step 4. Breathe out when your arms are closing.
4 With the knees still bent and shoulders relaxed, move both arms back and down toward the Dan Tian. Stop with your left hand (if you are male) or right hand (if you are female) slightly touching the Dan Tian and the palm of your right hand (males) or left hand (females) touching the back of your left hand (males) or right hand (females). Breathe naturally and focus your mind on the Dan Tian, where you should feel warmth as your skill level improves.
Common mistakes in the open-close stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending the knees too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, not relaxing the shoulders, straightening the knees when opening the arms, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees comfortably and increasing the bend gradually; keeping the same degree of bending when your arms open and close; and breathing in while your arms open and breathing out while they close.
Up-Down Stance
This stance is named for its variation in leg movements (i.e., a combination of straight and bent legs). During the practice, you stand with legs shoulder-width apart and raise both arms slowly to the same level as your shoulders. Squat down slowly as your arms move down with the wrists slightly bent, and then return to the original starting position. You breathe in when your arms move up and breathe out when they move down. Breathe in a slow and relaxed manner. Repeat 8 to 12 times. Close your eyes slightly after becoming familiar with the stance and enjoy the relaxed feeling the movement provides.
1 With your upper body upright, stand with both legs straight, about shoulder-width apart, with body weight evenly distributed between both. Raise both arms in front of your body to shoulder level. Breathe in when your arms move up.
2 Keeping your upper body upright, slowly bend your knees while moving your arms down (see figures for a front view and side view). Breathe out when your arms move down. Hold the squat position for 10 to 15 seconds (hold longer as you get stronger), and then stand up, returning to the starting position shown in step 1.
Common mistakes in the up-down stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, bending the knees, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight evenly between both legs, keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, coordinating your arm movements, bending your knees, and breathing.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Tai chi can have a significant impact on health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people.
Tai Chi and Health
The industrial and information revolutions changed the world. Although they brought many advances to civilization, they also brought many social problems, including competition and its related stress and increased isolation among people. Their negative effects on health and well-being are significant and well documented. Fortunately, tai chi can be used to buffer these negative effects. For example, tai chi can help young people achieve relaxation and bring their bodies and minds into balance, and for older adults who practice together, as many do every morning in China, tai chi serves as a social network, a place and time to make new friends and provide social support.
Tai chi is part of TCM, and its significant impact on health has been well documented. Although tai chi was introduced to the United States in the 1970s, an interest in its health benefits did not start until Dr. Steven L. Wolf and his team published their balance study in 1996 (Wolf, Barnhart, Kutner, McNeely, Coogler, & Xu, 1996). Their subjects were 162 women and 38 men with an average age of 76.2 who were free of debilitating conditions such as crippling arthritis, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. The researchers divided the subjects into three groups: One group performed a simplified 10-form version of tai chi, one group received biofeedback-based training in balance on a movable platform, and one group received education about falls but no physical training. The tai chi and biofeedback groups were given 15 weeks of training, and researchers kept track of the participants' reported falls for four months.
After the intervention, the tai chi subjects reduced their falling risk by an average of 47.5 percent compared with the other groups. Since the publication of that study, interest in tai chi and its health benefits has continued to grow. Hundreds of studies have now been published and interest has extended to many other health areas, such as the impact of tai chi on physical function, quality of life, and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, many tai chi books have been published, including some with a research focus (e.g., Hong, 2008).
According to a recent review (Zhu et al., 2010) of 25 reviews, which included hundreds of studies from around the world, tai chi has been demonstrated to be a useful exercise for a variety of chronic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, a propensity toward falling, and so on. In addition, tai chi practice has been shown to be beneficial to overall health, balance and control, bone mineral density, psychological and mental status, and aerobic capacity. A few highlights are summarized here.
Overall Health
Tai chi has the potential to improve many of the physiological and psychological aspects of chronic conditions, and it is also a safe and effective intervention for promoting balance, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility in older adults. Tai chi has been shown to be effective as an aerobic exercise in reducing blood pressure, reducing the risk of falls, and increasing function in older adults.
Balance and Control
Moderate evidence supports using tai chi to improve balance and postural stability, indicating that it is a reasonable intervention for clinical use. It has also been found that tai chi improves balance in older adults, although it was not shown to be effective at reducing the rate of falls in older populations. Studies have shown that health outcomes associated with postural control could benefit from tai chi practice.
Although not all studies supported tai chi in fall prevention for older adults, a number of studies found tai chi to be effective in reducing the fear of falling, meaning that interventions aimed at improving older adults' self-efficacy regarding falls could use tai chi. Meanwhile, tai chi was found to be useful for preventing falls in relatively young, prefrail older adults. In addition, although more rigorous studies are needed to make any assertions about the use of tai chi for Parkinson's patients, there is favorable evidence in support of using tai chi to help people with Parkinson's disease.
Osteoarthritis
There is promising evidence in support of using tai chi to reduce pain associated with osteoarthritis, and there are even larger effect sizes in pain reduction from tai chi compared with other popular interventions, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Also, the review found that tai chi may be beneficial for improving the balance and physical function of people with osteoarthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Tai chi improved ankle plantar flexion in people with rheumatoid arthritis, but most other measures, such as activities of daily living and swollen joints, showed no improvements after tai chi interventions. None of the studies indicated any harmful effects of tai chi practice, and the review reported that adherence rates in the tai chi interventions were higher than in the controls, indicating that subjects may enjoy participating in tai chi over other exercises. Some studies also found that tai chi interventions could improve the pain, fatigue, mood, depression, vitality, and disability index of people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Bone Mineral Density
Tai chi has been found to be a promising intervention for maintaining bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. No significant adverse effects of practicing tai chi were reported, and research also indicates that tai chi may improve other risk factors associated with low bone mineral density. Additionally, it was found that tai chi interventions did increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women compared with a no-treatment control group.
Psychological Health
Tai chi has been found to increase well-being and self-efficacy as well as improve overall mood. Tai chi was also a safer choice of exercise for those who were deconditioned or had exercise intolerance.
Blood Pressure
Many studies have reported that a tai chi intervention could lead to lower blood pressure. In all the studies, tai chi was shown to be safe and had no adverse effects.
Cancer
Tai chi has been useful as a complement to traditional cancer treatment. Tai chi helped improve the self-esteem and health-related quality of life, function in activities of daily life, and shoulder range of motion of cancer survivors. In addition, tai chi has been shown to increase the immune response as well as psychological function of cancer survivors.
Cardiovascular Disease
Most studies for this population reported improvement with tai chi interventions, such as lower blood pressure and greater exercise capacity. In addition, no adverse effects were reported. These studies concluded that tai chi may be a beneficial adjunctive therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease.
Aerobic Capacity
Tai chi is an effective exercise to improve aerobic capacity. Statistically significant and large effect sizes (ES = 1.33) were noted in the cross-section studies, meaning that subjects experienced significant aerobic improvements from practicing tai chi. On the other hand, small effect sizes were found within the experimental studies (ES = 0.38). Studies comparing sedentary people with tai chi participants also noted larger effects when tai chi was practiced for at least a year. It has been concluded that tai chi could be used as an alternative form of aerobic exercise, and further inquiry is recommended in this area.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Maintain correct positions during tai chi practice
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction.
Head
During tai chi practice, the head should remain straight and upright with the neck straight, and the head should not incline in any direction. This position should be held in a natural, straight manner rather than in an exaggerated, extended position. The eyes look naturally forward in tai chi positions and head movement is coordinated with hand movements. See figure 2.1a for an illustration of head position from a front view and figure 2.1b for this position from a side view.
Common mistakes of the head position are inclining the head to the front or back too much (see figure 2.2, a and b) and tilting it to the left or right (see figure 2.2c). To correct the head when it is inclined back too far, return the head to an upright position with the chin held down. In contrast, if the head is inclined forward too much, return the head to an upright position by lifting the chin. If the head is tilted to the left or right, correct it by returning the head to the center. One easy way to avoid mistakes with the head position is to experience various head positions in front of a mirror and try to remember how it feels when the head is in the upright position. Getting feedback from other practitioners may also be helpful.
Figure 2.2 Incorrect head positions: (a) forward, (b) back, and (c) to the side.
Tai Chi Saying: Xu Ling Ding Jing
Meaning: Most Chinese sayings consist of four characters. In this saying, xu means “empty” or “lightly,”lingmeans “to lead,” ding means “top,” andjing means “strength.” Together, this saying means to imagine a string is holding your head up. In other words, you should have the feeling that there is a string coming from the top of your head that is slightly pulling so as to keep your head up and straight. This is one of the fundamental technical aspects of tai chi practice: The head is to be held upright, but not on a stiff neck. In addition, head movement is to be coordinated with the movements of other parts of the body.
Shoulders and Elbows
Shoulders should remain even with each other and should be naturally down or relaxed (see figure 2.3a). Relaxed shoulder joints and muscles are the key to keeping the shoulders in a low, naturally relaxed position. The elbows should also be held in a low, natural, and relaxed manner (see figure 2.3b). There should be a distance of about one to one and half fists between your elbow and your body so that your elbows can move comfortably (recall that tai chi evolved from boxing, and elbows that are raised too high could expose your ribs for your opponent to attack). Relaxed shoulders are a must for relaxed elbows. Also, a relaxed mind is important because people tend to shrug or tighten their shoulders when nervous or agitated.
Common mistakes of the shoulder position include holding the shoulders too tightly (see figure 2.4a) and not keeping them even (see figure 2.4b). When the shoulders are held too tightly, they are up close to the ears. To correct this, relax the shoulder joints and surrounding muscles. It is helpful to shrug or tighten the shoulders and then relax them several times to learn and remember how relaxed shoulders feel. When the shoulders are uneven, relax the front and back muscles of the shoulders. Practice in front of a mirror several times to make sure the shoulders are even. A common mistake with the elbow position is holding them too tightly to the body (see figure 2.5a) or holding them too high (see figure 2.5b). To correct these mistakes, relax the shoulders and elbows.
Tai Chi Saying: Che Jian Zhui Zhou
Meaning: Chen means “down,”jian means “shoulder,” zhui means “dropping,” and zhou means “elbow.” Together, this means to sink the shoulders and drop the elbows with a relaxed mind. Relaxed shoulders are crucial.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.
Circle, open-close, and up-down stances
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian.
Tai Chi Illustrated.
Circle Stance
This stance is named for the shape that the arms hold, which is a circle. In this stance, you stand with your legs apart and knees bent, and you form an open circle with your arms in front of your body, with the palms facing each other or angled slightly down toward the Dan Tian. Hold this stance for 3 to 5 minutes and repeat it two to five times, with 5-minute breaks in between.
TIP Make sure your whole body feels as one. In circle stance, for example, rather than feeling your arms and legs separately, you should feel as if you were going to hug someone using your whole body.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart and keep your body weight divided equally between both legs. Your knees should be bent (slightly at first, but increase the bend as your legs get stronger). Using your arms, form a circle in front of your body. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with your eyes looking forward. Breathe naturally with the Dan Tian area relaxed.
2 Bend both knees, keeping the upper body upright in the same vertical line, and relax your shoulders (see figures for a front and side view). Keep an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body. Keep an angle of about 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms.
Common mistakes in the circle stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, and not relaxing the shoulders. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees at a comfortable angle initially; gradually increasing the bend in your knees; and breathing naturally.
Open-Close Stance
This stance is named for the variation in how the arms are held (i.e., a combination of opened and closed). During the practice, you start in the circle stance position with legs apart, knees bent, and arms in front in a circle. Open your arms slowly until they are at a 45-degree angle from the body, and then close your arms slowly, ending with your hands joined in front of the Dan Tian. Breathe in when your arms are opening and breathe out when they are closing. Breathe in a deep, slow, and relaxed manner at the same speed throughout the opening and closing phases. Repeat 8 to 12 times. The eyes can be slightly closed. Enjoy the relaxed feeling this movement provides.
1 Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart, body weight evenly distributed between both legs, and knees bent. Form a circle using both arms in front of your body, keeping an angle of about 45 degrees between your upper arms and upper body and an angle of 5 to 10 degrees between the forearms and upper arms. Relax your upper body, keeping it upright, and relax your shoulders. Hold your chin steady, with eyes looking forward (eyes can be closed after learning the movement). Breathe naturally.
2 Keep your body weight evenly distributed between both legs and bend your knees. Open both arms, with the upper arms parallel to the ground
and at an angle of 45 degrees to the front
of your body. Breathe in when your arms are opening.
3 With both knees still bent, keep the upper body upright and shoulders relaxed. Return your arms to the starting position, continuing to step 4. Breathe out when your arms are closing.
4 With the knees still bent and shoulders relaxed, move both arms back and down toward the Dan Tian. Stop with your left hand (if you are male) or right hand (if you are female) slightly touching the Dan Tian and the palm of your right hand (males) or left hand (females) touching the back of your left hand (males) or right hand (females). Breathe naturally and focus your mind on the Dan Tian, where you should feel warmth as your skill level improves.
Common mistakes in the open-close stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, bending the knees too little or too much, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, not relaxing the shoulders, straightening the knees when opening the arms, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight equally between both legs; keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, especially the shoulders; bending your knees comfortably and increasing the bend gradually; keeping the same degree of bending when your arms open and close; and breathing in while your arms open and breathing out while they close.
Up-Down Stance
This stance is named for its variation in leg movements (i.e., a combination of straight and bent legs). During the practice, you stand with legs shoulder-width apart and raise both arms slowly to the same level as your shoulders. Squat down slowly as your arms move down with the wrists slightly bent, and then return to the original starting position. You breathe in when your arms move up and breathe out when they move down. Breathe in a slow and relaxed manner. Repeat 8 to 12 times. Close your eyes slightly after becoming familiar with the stance and enjoy the relaxed feeling the movement provides.
1 With your upper body upright, stand with both legs straight, about shoulder-width apart, with body weight evenly distributed between both. Raise both arms in front of your body to shoulder level. Breathe in when your arms move up.
2 Keeping your upper body upright, slowly bend your knees while moving your arms down (see figures for a front view and side view). Breathe out when your arms move down. Hold the squat position for 10 to 15 seconds (hold longer as you get stronger), and then stand up, returning to the starting position shown in step 1.
Common mistakes in the up-down stance include standing with the legs too close to each other, leaning the upper body forward or backward too much, holding the arms too high or too low, bending the knees, and not coordinating breathing with arm movements. Correct these mistakes by separating your legs and distributing your body weight evenly between both legs, keeping your whole body upright but relaxed, coordinating your arm movements, bending your knees, and breathing.
Read more from Tai Chi Illustrated by Pixiang Qiu and Weimo Zhu.