“Tai Chi” sounds like some tricky and tough Chinese sport doesn’t it? Well, it’s rather a tender one!
Being a centuries old, body and mind practice, and a form of martial art, Tai Chi involves certain postures and gentle movements with relaxation, mental focus, and breathing. The postures and movements that are practiced are mostly what we do while carrying out daily activities like walking, standing, or sitting, etc.
Casually translated as “Supreme Ultimate Boxing”, from its soft movements, you’d mostly assume that “Tai Chi” also called “Tai Chi Chuan” is everything except lethal, but think again, because this very famous Chinese internal martial arts discipline, mostly focuses on deep breathing and relaxation with gradual, repetitive movements as compared to muscle contractions in ‘hard’ martial arts methods such as Taekwondo, Kung Fu, Karate, etc. Although these are general movements, they can still be lethal!
Try the Tai Chi Balance
Studies suggest that this practice may improve the stability and balance in elderly people and reduce the risk of falling down. There is also evidence that this method may improve balance problems for people suffering from moderate or mild Parkinson’s disease. What more? It helps in managing pain in diseases like osteoarthritis and other issues like fatigue, depression, pain, etc. although it is not proven if Tai Chi is effective in reducing pain which is associated with rheumatoid arthritis.
Here’s Some more Tai Chi Benefit
(Image credits: scienceblogs )
The practice of Tai Chi may enhance the quality of life for people with heart failure or cancer and lift their mood along with other psychological benefits, like reducing anxiety or dealing with depression. Taking charge of your health and caring about yourself is the utmost important aspect or step towards being healthy. Even though this practice doesn’t appear to be aggressive, it definitely offers powerful techniques that help in self-defense and is often called a ‘healing’ martial art that, if practiced regularly, has a huge number of advantages as we’ve learnt from Jet Li in “Tai Chi Master” and Keanu Reeves in “Man of Tai Chi”.
Being very similar to yoga, Tai Chi will probably encourage a distinct spiritual growth in you, even if it isn’t something you had intended to achieve when you had started the practice. It is however, basically the inward focus and cultivation of mindfulness that helps to establish and maintain a connection with the earth, especially when it is practiced amidst nature.
Plan a Trip to the Tai Chi Land
If you are extremely enthusiastic and interested in learning the art of authentic Tai Chi in its origin, it is highly recommend that you plan a holiday to China, the Tai Chi retreat! Whether you’re just a beginner or in the stage of advanced practice of this art, a training camp can definitely guide you to the fullest of your Tai Chi practice!
