What is Tai Chi?

What is Tai Chi?

What is Tai Chi? The core belief behind Tai Chi is that of balance and harmony, of restoring optimal flow to the energy centers of the body through the mindful application of movement. We've become isolated from this natural energy from the vitality that our ancestors took for granted. We're no longer balanced, and we're certainly not in touch with the life-force and spirit that sustains us. Instead, we feel drained, stressed and fatigued by everything from commuting to work to dealing with the ATM. 

Supposedly our society is much more advanced and sophisticated than what came before. We're living longer and healthier lives due to modern medicine, but it's also possible we've lost something in the process. Our dependence on machines and science has perhaps offset our strong connection to self. In other words, we may have a healthier body and a stronger education. Still, we've sacrificed our spiritual identity, something embraced by many cultures as being necessary for a full life. 

Fortunately, practitioners of ancient health enhancing arts have ensured the preservation of disciplines that are both spiritually and physically balancing. It's not through luck or perseverance, though practitioners are highly dedicated, that such healing practices have been preserved, but through the realization that there are countless benefits to be gained from teaching the body ways of moving or breathing, combining the awareness of both. 

Novices to these ancient disciplines must embrace the idea that the practices described here aren't temporary measures to be tried now and then when feeling a little sickly or sore. They're lifestyle changes to be integrated into the daily schedule of a person, disciplines that enable elevated shifts in the quality of life and enduring states of improved health. 

A novice has the opportunity to open new doorways, ones capable of transforming thinking. Take all of the disconnected energy, the disassociated feelings of spiritual ambiguity, and begin anew with Tai Chi, with acupuncture for anxiety and meditation for transcendent relaxation. These practices are designed to complement medical science not to replace it. Even the most cynical physicians have grudgingly acknowledged how beneficial Tai Chi and similar martial arts are in balancing health. 

Many of us watch Chinese elders practicing the slow and beautiful martial art, but what is Tai Chi? We see its benefits while watching the elderly. They're standing in parks early in the morning, and we're all but ready to dismiss the whole thing, except something, is compelling about the movement. It's like invisible signs are being described in the air, and the group is completely focused on drawing these moves with their entire selves. They finish with a display of joint flexibility, one that contradicts their advanced years. The poise and gait they demonstrate is something that would be expected from a much younger man or woman.

It's demonstrations of fluidity and flexibility like this that makes us realize just how amazing Tai Chi is. So when we ask what is Tai Chi, the answer is an interpretation of movement, a martial art where the body slowly learns poise and movement, describing a choreography of forms, a meditation of movement designed to release energy. Mind, spirit, breathing, and body commune in a focused, meditative state, breathing energy into the body. 

Tai Chi cultivates a link between body and spirit. Meditation brings clarity, and acupuncture for depression eases feelings of hopelessness. These practices are built on balancing and harmonizing energy, restoring our connection to the flow of power within ourselves. The movements of Tai Chi practiced day after day, enhance vitality and strength, reducing stress in both the mind and the muscles. The muscular tension common to anxiety becomes a foreign product, a past memory gone from the shoulders, neck, and back.

The understanding of Tai Chi opens other doorways of knowledge. We make new connections, investigate other avenues of spiritual restoration such as acupuncture for anxiety. Not surprisingly, anxiety is a close companion of depression, but the benefits of acupuncture include the release of powerful endorphin's capable of banishing the stifling chains of anxiety and depression. 

The philosophy of acupuncture needle placement works on the same principles as Tai Chi, looking for and clearing any imbalance or blockage in energy flow. Imagine the treatment, needles being expertly placed according to a practice that's over 2,000 years old, and the treatment is tailored for certain meridians, energy centers, where acupuncture for depression can work on mitigating mood changes, balancing the mind as effectively as the spirit.

Choose Tai Chi and acupuncture as part of a lifestyle devoted to self-improvement. Acupuncture for anxiety adds calmness to the mind, clearing stress-induced symptoms and causing a profound centering effect. The same energy clearing and focusing benefits come from Tai Chi, but with the bonus of increased flexibility and strengthened muscles through mindful exercise.

About the Author

Marc Bystoc L.Ac. is a leading Manhattan Acupuncturist and holistc healer. Learn more about how acupuncture can help overcome severe and chronic illness by visiting his website.