Tai Chi Quan and Chronic Disease
Tai Chi Quan is a very good exercise to keep healthy and fit because it is not only a moving Qigong, a moving Yoga, and an advanced meditation, but also it also can improve people’s mind (the way they think) and help people build good living habits and a healthy mentality. Tai Chi Quan is a traditional Chinese Kung Fu built on the Yin Yang theory of Tai Chi. The theories and philosophy cannot only help people live longer lives but also can have guiding functions in people’s daily lives, including studying, working, and recovery from illness.
Tai Chi Quan is a big help to people’s general health and recovery from chronic disease. It is not enough to treat chronic diseases with only medicine. Medicine can help people to recover their health, but it cannot help people keep healthy all the time because most diseases are caused by unhealthy living habits, stress, and negative thinking. People can get rid of the diseases completely, recover quickly, and live longer lives only by finding the real cause of the disease, coordinating with the doctors in constructive ways, eating a healthy diet, adjusting their thinking, and getting some appropriate exercise regularly.
However, they should also prevent another circumstance from happening. I frequently meet students who have health problems. Some students only have the symptoms of some diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, some conditions in the early stages of menopause, and so on. The first thing some of them do is to find traditional treatments, natural remedies, or some special food or exercise to help them instead of finding a doctor and coordinating with the doctor to treat the problems and find the real cause which makes them lose the best time to cure the diseases and maintain their health.
People with chronic diseases need to adjust the ways they do Tai Chi based on their own conditions. People with chronic diseases should try do Tai Chi slowly and smoothly. Also, they need to do certain moves or forms more often to meet on their health needs. For example, people who do not have flexible legs due to aging and disease problems should not do too much foot work at first. They can just stand without bending their legs when they do Tai Chi. As their legs feel stronger and better with the help of the doctors or Tai Chi, they can do more foot work. Also, if they feel they are not comfortable standing, they can just sit on the chair and practice the upper body with Tai Chi and still enjoy the benefits of this internal martial art.
If they are not sure about which way they should do Tai Chi to help with their chronic disease, they should always get suggestions from their instructors and follow the advice of the instructors and do the requirements of Tai Chi correctly. Like I always say, if people do the forms correctly, they can enjoy the benefits of Tai Chi, and eventually they can recover from chronic diseases and stay healthy all the time.
Tai Chi Quan is a traditional Chinese art. It not only helps people build bodies but also has very good functions to help people recover from their chronic diseases and eventually improve their health. This is why Tai Chi is used by doctors of Chinese medicine. Nowadays, many recovery facilities and hospitals in China use a Tai Chi Quan exercise program to help patients there to recover from their chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, and so on. Also, more and more American doctors are suggesting their patients do Tai Chi for the same reason.
May every Tai Chi fan have a happy, healthy, and long life!
Arthur Du
2012.09