TaiChi for wellness: a video of The First Seven Movements of Grasping the SwallowsTail

TaiChi for Your Health and Wellness

Tai Chi Nouvel An Chinois Chinese newyear Year of the Pig of Fire

Tai Chi Nouvel An Chinois COCHON d'Or 07
Uploaded by Futurshow

Happy Chinese new year my friends...
Delight! Now it's the Year of the Pig of Fire...
-Take a few moments and breath in this wonderful performance and take heart

It's Natural for You to Have Chi Flow

Understanding six factors that block the flow of Qi.

Your body has channels. You have twelve main channels. Each of your channels works 2 hours a day and then passes to your next channel.

See a cycle moving…flowing .

Nature

Your channels send energy to every part of the body and keep the your body in a good shape. When energy runs well and smoothly in the body, we feel so well.

When energy is blocked in the channels, we feel badly or we say: “I’m feeling sick” . Now here comes the question, “What generally blocks your energy flow?”

1. Emotion

2. Nutrition

3. Changes in the season or weather

4. Environment

5. Wrong medication

6. Injury

Tai Chi and You...Retain Walking Stability through Tai Chi

All of us were born, as very young children, with our body, mind and emotions functioning together without strain. At birth, our baby joints are open – there are spaces between each bone at the joints. These spaces permit passage through the birth canal. However, as soon as we begin to accumulate tensions, our naturally straight, flexible and balanced bodies when we were young children, goes through a process of deterioration. Deterioration happens through tightening of the joints, stiffening of the body and losing mobility. In Chinese, this deterioration means that our “chi” or the flow of blood and energy in our bodies become blocked. Gradually, this blockage develops into diseases – ultimately resulting to death…tsk…tsk…



However, before you say, “but that’s the way of life” … think again. Instead of seeing ourselves waste away, losing the stability to walk properly and losing the strength of our bones to support us, we could really declare, “never say die!” and we could really sustain our strengths for walking stability through natural methods.

How? The answer lies on the Ancient Chinese view of health. They practice a system of exercise based on the principles of yin and yang or simply by having the body be in harmony with the laws of nature called T’ai Chi Chuan. Through the gentle, flowing movements of the T’ai Chi, the body and joints relax and loosen, thereby stimulating circulation, building stability in the legs and developing an awareness of internal strength. Older people practicing T’ai Chi achieve more grace in walking, surer balance and greater confidence in moving, as if the process of aging can be reversed.

In fact, it is said that those who practice T’ai Chi, young or old, sick or well have restored flexibility of their joints, relaxed muscles and their bodies gain true alignment with gravity. They develop the flexibility of a child, the strength of a lumberjack and the wisdom of a sage.

Professor Cheng Man ch’ing, the late and well known Grand Master of T’ai Chi Chuan have recognized that the benefits of T’ai Chi should be spread throughout. As such, he worked on distilling the essence of T’ai Chi Chuan. He came up with “The Eight Ways of T’ai Chi Chuan”. Each of the movement in the eight ways work on three major problems faced by the aging or the sick: loss of equilibrium, stiffness of the joints and weakness of muscles and fear of falling and injury. The eight ways work on maintaining stability of the legs, since the adage that the individual has health as long as he or she has legs is an important element of truth. Once the use of legs is lost, health may fail dramatically, too.

You could enroll in a nearby health center or schools offering “The Eight Ways of T’ai Chi Chuan”. Once you rediscover the power of your legs and eventually overcome its frailties, you might also come to stop investing lots of money on walking aids and other such devices. -30-




About the author:
Kay Zetkin discovered the pleasure of writing through her daily journals as a teen-ager. Writing in it helped sort out her thoughts, relieve her feelings and record what she observes of the world.

For her, writing is an effective tool to express your viewpoints... To write is already to choose, thus, writing should be done along with a critical mind and a caring soul. She hopes to become more professional, skilled and mature in her craft.

Aside from writing Kay likes to spend her time reading. Reading lets her travel to far-off imagined places and situations. She also learns a lot from books, especially from the socio-political and historical ones.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.walkingaidsplus.com/





Written by: Kay Zetkin

Why You Should Learn Tai Chi

Why You Should Learn Tai Chi
Tai Chi combines movement, meditation and breathing, to enhance the flow of vital energy in the body, to increase both physical and mental well-being.

Tai Chi is one of the most broadly applicable systems of self-care in the world and is suitable for both young and old alike.

In China, it is estimated that 300 million people alone practice Tai Chi.

Tai Chi however is not just practised in China, in the 20th century it spread throughout the world and as we enter the 21st century, it is more popular than ever.

Tai Chi - The Form
There are several styles of movement and approaches to Tai Chi, some of them historic and some developed in recent years.

Each has its own individual charteristics and carries the name of the clan or family who developed it i.e. Yang, Chen, Wu, Sun etc.

All the principles of Tai Chi are put into practice in a non stop sequence of moves called the form.

Each Tai Chi style has its own distinctive way of presenting the form in terms of: The postures included, the order in which they appear, the way they are performed and finally, how long the form actually takes to complete.

Although the different styles of Tai Chi present the form in different ways, the purpose and the philosophy behind them is the same.

Tai Chi & Health
When Tai Chi is practised, the movement creates streams of energy to flow through the body.

In the philosophy of Tai Chi, it is said Chi (life energy) follows the mind, each posture and movement creates a different energy flow that, has a benifital overall affect on overall well-being.

Tai Chi stimulates circulation, aligns the skeleton and joints correctly, stimulates the organs of the body and helps digestion.

It increases muscle tone, strength, improves balance and co ordination and improves breathing.

Tai Chi does not just provide physical benefits; by raising energy levels, it also affects the mind and the spirit.

Tai Chi focuses thought, so that mind and body energy works together as one. When practising Tai Chi, people find that they are not just physically fitter but, happier, more alert, have greater mental focus and are more creative.

It is this harnessing of mental and physical energy that makes Tai Chi not just a form of exercise; it makes it a life enhancing experience.

Learning Tai Chi
Tai Chi is an exercise for people of all ages and all levels of fitness.

The movements of Tai Chi are non-strenuous, relaxed, slow moving, soft, and flowing.

It has often been described as moving meditation, as it relieves stress and improves concentration.

It is the gentleness and slowness of Tai Chi that makes it so applicable to everyone as a form of exercise.

When you watch Tai Chi being performed, it looks effortless but this comes from a considerable amount of practice.

When taking up Tai Chi it is best to pick an experienced teacher, who can guide motivate and encourage you. Simply, go with someone you are comfortable with.

The style of Tai Chi you pick Chen, Yang, Wu, Sun or any other form, is down to personal preference; the benefits described however apply to all styles.

About the Author

Re Vitalise offer a warm welcome to both novice and experienced Tai Chi pupils. In addition to offering regular tuition there are several weekend breaks available.



Written by: Stephen Todd

Peace of Mind and a Comfortable Body

Peace of Mind and a Comfortable Body

by dtrue

Peace of mind and a comfortable body. The Dalai Lama says in his book, “The Art of Happiness”, that we are all born to pursue happiness. He provides a pretty simple formula: identify and encourage the states of mind that make us happy; identify and discourage states of mind that make us unhappy.

Meditation is the tool that, through daily practice, strengthens the mind to be able to create new habits that replace the old ones.

Studies back this theory up. People who have just had a seemingly random but actually contrived positive event occur in their lives, like finding some money or receiving praise, are more likely to assist a stranger who asks for help. People who have just had something negative happen to them are much less likely to help. I think in your own life you can probably see examples. When you’re having a bad day, everything seems worse. Then, after a good night’s sleep, the next day, those problems are so grave. When you’re having a good day, even the big problems have less impact.

Ancient peoples around the earth talk of treating other people, animals, plants and even the Earth itself as family. Understanding we’re interconnected. Understanding we’re one. Understanding we’re interdependent and part of and from the same Earth. Cultures too remote and widespread to have shared this knowledge.

The Dalai Lama talks about when we’re feeling compassionate about our fellow man, we get back to our true selves: gentle and kind. He believes violence, greed and aggression are superficial characteristics that arise in response to various kinds of conditioning.

I hope we’re able to get back to our basic human natures as a species. Our greed, anger, hatred is pretty powerful: we’ve caused the largest mass extinction the planet has seen since the end of the dinosaurs, 30 countries could soon have nuclear weapons and we seem to have lost sight of happiness for the sake of pleasure. We tend to do what feels good instead of what’s right.

Happiness vs. pleasure is an interesting distinction. I want or crave that extra piece of cake or that extra beer. But, will it simply please me or will it make me happy? Will the guilt or repercussions actually decrease my happiness? Derail me from what I was born to do — find happiness.

New data from many different sources is indicating we’re facing a full-scale planetary emergency. Hard data. See the dinosaur article above for an example. Sure, we’re facing a crisis. But, as Al Gore recently pointed out, that the term “crisis” in Chinese is represented by two characters. “The first means danger…the second means opportunity.”

-Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see.” Lead by example.

Schedule in a daily workout. 10 minutes. 15 minutes. 45 minutes. Start small. Set a goal you can achieve. Spend some time building yourself. Workout every day for a week, two weeks, thirty days. See if you’re not a kinder and gentler you. See if your kind actions don’t spread to others, who then, according to the study above, make them more likely to spread kindness.

Do it for yourself.

Do it for your family.

Do it for your community.

Do it for all of us.

Peace of mind and a comfortable body.

-David True

TaiChi for YOUR life... Patience

Patience

Tai chi self defence skills take longer to learn than those in other arts because the emphasis is different. It is not enough to defend yourself. You must also simultaneously improve your health.

Karate, kickboxing, ju jitsu and wing chun all teach self defence more quickly than tai chi does, but those arts are not famous for their long-term health benefits.

If you want improved health, a soft, loose, relaxed body and the ability to defend yourself without aggression or tension, be prepared to commit some time to this endeavour.

Combining looseness, relaxation, composure and pragmatic self defence is quite an endeavour, but very worthwhile.

posted by Dynamic Balancing Tai Chi