Building Resilience

Recently, I was asked to speak at a holistic nursing conference. My topic was “Building Resilience with T’ai Chi Chih.” Resilience is one of those things I never realized I had until I needed it to deal with medical, family and personal issues. In every situation, my TCC practice helped, but I had never really thought about how it did so.

After considerable introspection and gathering of information, I focused on three aspects: managing stress in healthy ways, easing anxiety and depression, and maintaining balance. In my talk to the nurses, I described TCC, demonstrated some movements, had them join me for a few, and explained the benefits using terms that related to the traditional medicine with which the nurses were familiar.

It’s difficult to be resilient when we’re constantly stressed. Chronic stress can do tremendous damage, causing physical, mental and emotional imbalances that manifest as illness. When the body is in a stress response, its natural healing ability is disabled.

Since it’s not the stress events themselves that are the problem, but rather how we perceive and then react to them, I showed the nurses how to take a “time-out” with TCC, and let the gentle TCC movements relax the body and mind, triggering the relaxation response and diminishing stress hormones. Thus, TCC helps to rebalance the body’s systems and return the immune system to its innate repair and maintenance functions so it can handle whatever it encounters. As the mind quiets, we’re better able to let go of the things that cause us stress, and we begin to feel an inner serenity.

Anxiety and depression also affect how we respond to various situations. I told the nurses about two studies that compared the effectiveness of TCC to health education – in one study as an augment to traditional treatments for depression, and in the other study to alleviate sleep problems which often accompany depression. The first study noted that it would be very beneficial for a psychiatrist to add TCC practice to a patient’s treatment plan, instead of adding another drug.1 The second study concluded that TCC can be considered a useful nonpharmacological approach to sleep quality in older adults with moderate complaints.2

I further explained how the gentle moving meditation of TCC calms us and helps us let go of the past and fears of the future. As our spirits lift, we begin to feel more energized and less fatigued. Taking an active part in our own healing is empowering, helping us to feel more in control. Regular practice of the meditative movements brings increased self-awareness and self-acceptance, building an inner strength and self-confidence that helps us to act in accord with our own instincts and intuition, our voice of inner knowing. TCC’s practice of mindfulness helps us learn to live in the present with understanding, gratitude and optimism.

Overall resilience is helped by feeling grounded and centered. It’s difficult to be resilient if we feel off-balance or unsteady on our feet. Structural resilience, such as automatically making subtle adjustments to our posture, helps us to stay upright and maintain balance. The slow TCC movements improve muscle strength, posture, balance, flexibility, stability and coordination. A relaxed, aligned spine brings a sense of confidence. Softening the knees allows us to sink into our center, into a place of balance and deeper awareness of who we are. Pressure sensors in the soles of the feet tell the hips, knees and ankles how to move in order to maintain or recover balance. Concentration on the soles of the feet brings increased awareness of our feet on the ground. Thus, TCC helps our roots grow stronger, keeping us grounded and confident that we can stand up to whatever comes our way.

I concluded my talk by telling the nurses a little of my own story, giving them concrete examples of some of the many ways that TCC has helped me to be more resilient in difficult times. I believe my TCC practice has helped me to be more in sync with the universe, more open to its possibilities, better able to make decisions, better able to relax and let things unfold as they are meant to. It has taught me to find my center, rest in the stillness and trust in the wisdom of the universe. I have learned to listen to my body, trust my instincts and take charge of my own healing.

My goal in speaking at this conference was to spread awareness in the medical community about the many benefits of TCC to medical professionals, to their patients and to other caregivers. The nurses all expressed their enjoyment of the talk and doing the movements, and I have already received other positive feedback. I trust that my efforts will continue to bear fruit, even though I may never know what forms that might take.

“Complementary Use of Tai Chi Chih Augments Escitalopram Treatment of Geriatric Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial”; Helen Lavretsky, M.D., et al; American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2011 October; 19(10): 839-850.

“Improving Sleep Quality in Older Adults with Moderate Sleep Complaints: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Tai Chi Chih”; Michael R. Irwin, MD, et al, UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology; SLEEP, Vol 31, No. 7, 2008.