From Tai Chi to Acupuncture, VA Embracing New Kind of Health Care

 

The Department of Veterans Affairs is embracing a new kind of health care. For some veterans, acupuncture and tai chi are even replacing painkillers...MORE...

Why Tai Chi is Good for Your Heart

 

February is Heart Disease Awareness month. According to the American Heart Association, practicing tai chi is great for your heart. 

Tai Chi combines physical exercise, stress reduction, emotional regulation, improved breathing efficiency and social support. Here are a few more reasons why Tai Chi is good for your heart from The American Heart Association:

Tai Chi is a safe, adaptable form of low impact aerobic exercise. 

Tai Chi can get your heart rate up from 50 percent to 74 percent of maximum, depending on the type and intensity of Tai Chi and your age.

Tai Chi can reduce stress and improve psychological well-being. It can help you manage and reduce stress and improve your mood.

Tai Chi improves breathing efficiency and lowers blood pressure. The slow, deep meditative breathing associated with Tai Chi has also been clinically shown to reduce blood pressure, dilate blood vessels, improve circulation, calm the nervous system and improve mood by boosting mental focus and decreasing negative thoughts. The emphasis on breathing from the diaphragm can lessen the heart’s work load.

Tai Chi leads to social support. As a Tai Chi student, you interact with your instructor and other students. You may also feel you are broadly connected to a larger community of those who practice Tai Chi regularly. Research suggests that this form of social support and a sense of connection can have a positive effect on your health, including prevention of and rehabilitation from heart attacks, stroke and other heart problems.

 

From: “How Practicing Tai Chi Can Improve Your Heart Health”, Heart Insight, American Heart Association, August 2014.

Tai Chi: Medication in Motion

When Peter M. Wayne, medical editor of Introduction to Tai Chi from Harvard Medical School, began conducting scientific studies on the health benefits of tai chi, he began noticing that tai chi works in a variety of ways, not just one. Whereas most drugs have a single active ingredient, he observed that tai chi was more like a multidrug combination that uses different components to produce a variety of effects...MORE... 

The Tai Chi Transformation

 

What is REAL Tai Chi?

Every so often I get asked if Dr. Paul Lam's Tai Chi for Health is REAL tai chi.

I am going to let Dr. Lam answer that.

SHAPE Magazine Explains Why You Should Do Tai Chi

 

Tai Chi has been around for centuries, but it seems to be having a moment. Pinterest included it in its top 100 trends for 2018, noting a 189 percent increase in searches.

Research suggests that Tai Chi provides amazing mind and body benefits. And if you pack your week with intense training sessions, all the more reason to add Tai Chi into the mix. It improves your body awareness, which is why many dancers and athletes use Tai Chi for cross training, says Peter Wayne, Ph.D., associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Still not sold? Read on for more reasons why Tai Chi is well worth your time...MORE...

 

The Power of Your Breath

This is Your Brain on Tai Chi

Tai Chi for Combat Veterans' Mental Health

Can the practice of tai chi help combat veterans lead a more peaceful life? Yes, it can. MORE...

 

Harvard Health Recommends Tai Chi for Pain Management

Sometimes pain has a purpose — it can alert us that we've sprained an ankle, for example. But for many people, pain can linger for weeks or even months, causing needless suffering and interfering with quality of life.

If your pain has overstayed its welcome, you should know that you have more treatment options today than ever before. Harvard Health has listed eight techniques to control and reduce your pain that don't require an invasive procedure — or even taking a pill. And, of course, tai chi is one of them! Find out why.