TAI CHI. (Taijiquan, Taiji, Tai Chi Chuan) (say "Tai chee chwan") IS DEEP BALANCE. Andy Holmes. Certified Instructor

Transcription

1 TAI CHI (Taijiquan, Taiji, Tai Chi Chuan) (say "Tai chee chwan") IS DEEP BALANCE By Andy Holmes Certified Instructor Balanced Conditioning Tai Chi Chuan BCTCC, LLC

2 When we strive to meet our measure of balance we feel more complete and satisfied with life. This usually sounds good to everyone, but we all have different meanings for the word balance, so here is a poem about some key values we have competing for balance: For some it is sleeping and eating right Others spend less out on the town each night Maybe less work and more family time or a distant place away from the daily grind Schooling kids or smartening yourself is a way, and then there s working out your body to build up health What you choose, study it with a Taiji revelation: It s the journey not the destination The origin of balance is physical. People have various definitions for balance, but it always has something to do with the body. The concept of balance has to be approached from a body perspective, otherwise none of the activities we value can be achieved. Time we spend doing anything, job, family, and hobbies, is always on the clock. Whatever it is we want to do requires that we have the time. The clock that ticks is our heart, and our breathing supports balance by stretching out time and giving us more life. When we understand that the candle is always burning, we can find a great purpose in seeking body balance.

3 To describe it in a purely physical sense, balance is more than the equal distribution of body weight. It is about overall shape management, handling your mass with ease, and maintaining a stable center of gravity. Just like wheels of a car need to be in balance, so does our two-legged frame need a sense of central equilibrium. We are dependent on our bodies to operate and if physical balance is reduced it adds stress on other areas of life. If the car wheels are not aligned, frame over-weighted on one side, or the suspension is not working, it will face greater wear and tear and chance of accidents increase. The human body is our vehicle for traveling on earth, and Tai Chi practice gives us an opportunity to chart a long and enjoyable course if we can create the time to practice. Tai chi builds us a stronger suspension system as the joints develop additional stabilization from springiness in ligaments. It is about how we position ourselves over the two legs and align our body mass in an upright position. Over time we can develop our personal car, tuning the engine, upgrading our transmission, and strengthening the drive train. Enjoying the ride of our life is easier when our physical vehicle operates in a deep balance. Moving at slow speeds and building central equilibrium balances on many levels. Slow deliberate placement of the feet and gradual shifting through the legs helps rebuild our body structure. Tai chi forms put us in the present moment for longer periods of time, and help blend senses of body, mind, and spirit. This takes into account the multidimensional aspects of human functioning, and that s Deep Balance. So in addition to strengthening the lower body and loosening the upper trunk, smooth continuous movements create favorable conditions in the body for increasing our health in terms of holistic fitness. Tai chi movement can put us in a Flow-State a mental and emotional event that transcends physical peak performance often referred to as the Zone. The meditative aspects of slow form work are achieved while in this flow state.

4 What is Tai Chi? Tai Chi forms originate from chi kung (energy medicine), and teach us to regulate body posture, breathing, and mental focus. Practitioners cultivate greater health by following correct form movements over a period of time long enough to change old patterns of movement. Initially one has to identify challenging physical conditions and alter adapted sequences that have contributed to tension and stress. Form work is like taking the first trail on a route which ultimately will lead towards a final destination. Practicing Tai Chi forms helps us learn how to relax while we transition through changing two-legged stances. This process of finding balance on multiple levels with movement takes us along this extensive course to deep balance. Aside from muscles, what we also have are connective tissue, like tendons which join muscles to bones, ligaments attaching bones to other bones, and fascia which wrap around muscles to hold them in place. The role of fascia cannot be over-emphasiz1ed. It is the organ system of stability, has 10X more sensory nerve endings than muscle, and provides support and protection of our body. This elastic connective tissue wraps around our vital organs, lymph nodes, vocal cords, and is compressed and extended during movement. It has a crystalline lattice structure, and is referred to as the Myofascial, or Extra Cellular Matrix (ECM): Layers and sheets of biologic fabric that hold the body together. It s the environment our cells live in, and so it links us down to a microscopic level, each cell with the rest, functioning as a vast electrical communication system spanning the entire body. An ancient tai chi principle is; when one part moves, all parts of the body move. It turns out we are synergistically involved in the actions of our peripheries at all times. Weighted stances create the integrated

5 movement part of this interconnected water-filled web, with its sponge-like properties. But if we are really so fluid, how can we hold all this heavy mass? Our physical body, the powerful vehicle it is, operates as a structure which is in synergy between balanced tension and compression components. Fascia is always under tension as long as gravity is present. This passive pre-tension is called human resting myofascial tone. This pre-tension may also give us the ability to maintain posture with less fatigue and fascial strain as compared with constant muscle activation and energy expenditure. When we move through circular shapes while maintaining contact with the earth through our legs we are activating large quantities of this matrix. Training the myofascial lines with whole-body exercises has unique benefits. It dissipates force throughout the entire system, minimizing excessive isolated joint tension while giving our joints freedom to move in all three planes of motion and improving total-body awareness and coordination. The only way to fully stabilize and constrain any structure is by triangulating surfaces or cavities in compression and/or tension in all three dimensions. Roundness, created from tai chi shapes by adjusting our posture from seemingly linear bi-pod beings to more open expanded shapes, is consistent with broad based shapes that have excellent balance. Tai Chi practitioners are versed shape-shifters that utilize geometry by slowly positioning their bodies and changing to different circular moves. The combination of gentle arm and leg movements, spiral and wave-like energetic flow, and diaphragmatic breathing, benefits our structure and taps into the rotary aspect of tri-planar biomechanics, ultimately cultivating Deep Balance. Since most injuries are fascial, not muscular, it makes sense to train for prevention by building elasticity and resilience in body shape. The fascial net encourages us to train systemically, rather than segmentally, approaching our physical health holistically by engaging in whole-body movements. Internal force (from muscle) and external force

6 (gravity and ground reaction) are transmitted and dispersed within the body primarily via the fascial network (so long as the force is not too great). Fascia helps prevent or minimize localized stress in a particular muscle, joint or bone, and it helps harness momentum created from the operating forces mainly through its viscoelastic properties. This protects the integrity of the body while minimizing the amount of fuel used during movement. All daily movements are subject to the laws of gravity. Exercise based on tai chi develops the body by exercising these tissues which help maintain balance across greater ranges and longer periods of time. Stabilization of our center is a result from sinking through the legs and merging with gravity. The body can be likened to a sack of electrically conductive material. Each cell is like a small simple battery. The cells all combine together to form a concentrated energetic shape. The human energy field has an electromagnetic quality, and Tai chi movements generate bioelectrical signals that positively charge our battery for health and well being. Regular practice of Tai chi forms generates healthy connective tissues, increases the ability to move more freely, and builds a greater flow of this bio-electric current that the Chinese refer to as Chi. When the muscles are mostly relaxed, the fascia is able to transport the electrical impulses more efficiently. The term Efficiency refers to quality of someone s movement how well they move or how good their technique/form is. Someone who moves efficiently in any given activity will experience less fatigue, and will get injured less often or not at all. Not only does our ECM distribute strain and hold compensations, it expands and contracts it in long connected shapes, contributing to the flow of chi and recharging our human battery.

7 Expressing balance outside results in overall greater structure and function over time as postures become the basis for a habitual movement pattern and structural compensation of the body builds to a greater level. How we stand after a few moments and how we move in tai chi over time is a reflection of our body conditions. The tendons, in particular, will develop greater health through the relaxed movement ot Tai Chi, and a stronger rubbery quality allows them to store power when twisted. This power is used to maintain balance and quickly adjust to changing conditions. With the right kind of exercise, flexible tendons can maintain their springiness and prevent the stiffness that s so common with old age. BALANCED CONDITIONING The goal Andy Holmes has in teaching Tai Chi is to promote body awareness through the management of how and when we move. Effective training methods are based on an understanding that our muscles and bones float in a fascial net which mediates our structure and relationship to time, gravity and pressure. This connective tissue regulates biomechanics of tension and compression throughout the body, and is the organ system of shape and form. Tai chi is a process of movement and creation of different powerful body forms, making it the perfect exercise to build and maintain healthy fascia. The circular extensions and various shapes created during tai chi movement follow along fascial lines and provides for a direct link between the form of our physical exterior and function of the inner anatomy. Key points of doing tai chi properly lift through head sink through legs move from the center study patience building make circular movements adjust in the direction of change be process oriented rather than performance driven accept a feeling of plateau because change may be difficult to sense.

8 We can make sustainable shapes by following the key points and simple laws of personal development Law of Outcome: Whatever you do produces an outcome, regardless of how you value that outcome. Law of Adaptation: Whatever you do over a period of time creates a change in the body to find homeostasis, regardless of how you value that adaptation. Law of Progress: Whatever you do continually increase volume, intensity, density, and complexity, and it becomes more repeatable, regardless of how you value the progress. A few Research notes SURVEYS, including one by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine have shown that almost 3 million people use tai chi in the United States, where a fledgling body of scientific research now exists: the center has supported studies on the effect of tai chi on cardiovascular disease, fall prevention, bone health, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis of the knee, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic heart failure, cancer survivors, depression in older people, and symptoms of fibromyalgia. 1. Why is Tai Chi good for Seniors??? The practice has been found to improve muscle strength and cardiopulmonary function in older subjects, and this recent study by Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Eur J Prev Cardiolog. states: Tai Chi practitioners showed significantly better hemodynamic parameters than the controls as indexed by larger and small artery compliance. They also demonstrated greater eccentric muscle strength in both knee extensors and flexors. Conclusion: The finding of better muscle strength without jeopardizing arterial compliance suggests Tai Chi could be a suitable exercise for older persons to improve both cardiovascular function and muscle strength. (2012) 2. Another study on the immune response to varicella-zoster virus (which causes shingles) suggested that tai chi may enhance the immune system and improve overall well-being in older adults. (2007)

9 3. In Poland, the Department of Theory of Physical Education and Anthropometrics assessed the effect of 18-week Tai Chi training on body balance in a dynamic trial among elderly men with dizziness. They found: Tai-Chi exercises, with a frequency of twice a week for 45 minutes, is beneficial for dynamic balance, which is important for the reduction of fall risk factors among elderly men with dizziness. (2012) 4. An article on the psychological effects of Tai Chi Chuan, TCC Arch Gerontol Geriatr Mar, discusses how classifying and analyzing psychological variables involved in the practice of TCC is just now developing homogeneous framework within which to develop research in the field based on a model proposed by Spirduso et al. (2005) 5. The researchers at Harvard Medical School found participants in a tai chi group had significant improvements in quality of life, mood, and researchers concluded that tai chi shows promise as a complement to standard medical care for people with chronic heart failure. Further research will to better understand how tai chi benefits people with cardiovascular disease will look at certain elements, including deep breathing and aerobic exercise, as contributors to symptom management. 6. Then there is the recent Parkinson s disease study that proved yet again that postural stability is promoted by regular Tai Chi practice: Tai chi training appears to reduce balance impairments in patients with mild-to-moderate Parkinson's disease, with additional benefits of improved functional capacity and reduced falls. (Funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT February 9 (2012) 7. In another article, A Randomized Trial of Tai Chi for Fibromyalgia N Engl J Med 2010; 363: December 2, 2010, the doctors involved concluded: Despite our effort to minimize the influence of participants' beliefs and expectations with respect to tai chi, nonspecific effects may have had an influence on the positive results. It would be worthwhile to further explore complexities of this mind body intervention. We hope our promising results can promote larger and longer-term studies of tai chi to better inform clinical decisions and clarify the mechanisms of successful mind body medicine.

10 I think these studies have just scratched the surface of Tai Chi benefits available to a wider range of age classes and psycological conditions. Younger population groups without acute physical ailments have not been idntified as a study group, yet this segment of society can benefit greatly from stress reduction and confidence increased from regular Tai Chi practice slowset@gmail.com All human movement is natural movement there is no such thing as an unnatural movement. All movements are defined by their effectiveness in accomplishing a purpose and efficiency of how well that purpose is accomplished. Our nature determines what we can and cannot do, not how well we can perform a skill. We are not born into movement perfection. Rather we are born with the ability to develop and refine individual skills that are within the scope of our nature. All movements and exercises are unique skills, and one skill does not transfer over to another. Everything is an act of conditioning and everyone is subjected to that law.