Forfending illness with T’ai Chi Chih: Victor Berg on TV

T’ai Chi Chih is finding its way into the media, slowly but surely. Often the mainstream media is loathe to report anything unless something happens (“Chief of Police Caught in Vice Ring”), or, at the very least, that a story contain what is called a hook (“Originator of T’ai Chi Chih Receives Nobel Peace Prize”) before they will go on to talk about T’ai Chi Chih itself. Be that as it may, avid enthusiasts of T’ai Chi Chih have persisted and had the door opened unto them. Victor Berg is one of them. The following is a transcript of Victor’s appearance on the City of Albuquerque’s “Mind, Body, Spirit” series on the City’s Fitness and Wellness series, a half-hour segment on public-access TV Channel 16. The host is Dr. Julia Bain of the City’s Risk Management Division. Employee Health is a section in the City of Albuquerque’s Risk Management Division, providing services to over 5,000 city employees. Its mission is to promote a sense of community and increase wellness among city employees and their families by providing education and counseling about physical and mental health.

Hello and welcome to “Mind Body and Spirit.” I’m Dr. Julia Bain, and today we are going to talk about T’ai Chi Chih. I’m going to begin by doing some word vocabulary with everybody, which I do every time I do a show. I got this great calendar for my birthday and it gives a new definition every day. So the word for today is “forfend—to ward off, prevent, to protect, preserve—forfend.” And since we’re going to be talking about T’ai Chi Chih, Victor Berg, my guest tonight, is going to be throwing it into the dialogue. Victor, welcome to the show!!

Victor: Thank you and thank you for having me.

Julia: And you are a certified T’ai Chi Chih instructor, is that correct?

Victor: Yes, since 1990.

Julia: Well, I am thrilled that you could join us today so that you could talk to me and the Albuquerque community—well, New Mexico at large I suppose—about T’ai Chi Chih. Let’s start off by defining it. What is it?

Victor: The word “tai chi” means knowledge of energy. T’ai Chi Chih means knowledge of the supreme ultimate.

Julia: Most people might be more familiar with Tai Chi.

Victor: Yes, T’ai Chi Chih is a series of 20 movements, and its purpose is to circulate and balance the life force that is within all of us. The universe is energy, and that energy flows through the body through what are known as meridian channels. So the purpose of T’ai Chi Chih is to circulate and balance the chi. By doing so, there are great health benefits, great mental benefits, balance and well-being. It’s also called T’ai Chi Chih Joy Thru Movement. There is a joyous state of mind that comes from doing it.

Julia: Is that Chinese? What language is that?

Victor: It is Chinese, but it was developed by an American, Justin Stone, who lives here in Albuquerque. Justin Stone is 87 years old. He’s in wonderful physical shape that he attributes to T’ai Chi Chih. For example, he recently had an MRI for something and they said that he had the bones of a 30-year-old. He attributes that to T’ai Chi Chih.

Julia: He’s living proof.

Victor: Yes, absolutely. T’ai Chi Chih is different. When people think of tai chi, what they think of generally is Tai Chi Chuan. Tai Chi Chuan is the slow movement you might see people doing in the park. It’s 108 movements connected. You have to learn all 108 movements in one long movement. It takes many years to learn and practice it. Not many people have the discipline to take it that far. That’s why Justin, who was teaching Tai Chi Chuan, realized that maybe one out of every 10 people were going to take it long enough to get the benefits.

Julia: It would take a lot of devotion.

Victor: Exactly. Justin created T’ai Chi Chih—20 movements, easy, can be done in street clothes. It doesn’t require physical strength; it doesn’t require physical balance. Many of our teachers and students started T’ai Chi Chih in wheel chairs. By doing T’ai Chi Chih, by circulating and balancing the life force, their ailments one by one started going away. One teacher who started at age 79 in a wheel chair, at 89 years old she jogged past me in the rain.

Julia: Victor, that’s QUITE a testimonial.

Victor: There is a recent UCLA study done on T’ai Chi Chih by a Dr. Irwin. They showed that T’ai Chi Chih boosted the immune system by 20 percent. Of the people who participated in the study, the average participant age was over 70.

Julia: So it is user-friendly because you don’t have to be an athlete, or athletic, or in any kind of shape at all to benefit from it?

Victor: Exactly. We’ve got people who have come to it with great pain and their pain has been steadily alleviated. Blood pressure has been lowered. As a matter of fact, Justin has his own story about blood pressure whereby his blood pressure for some reason shot up high. He had medicine that brought it down, but it made parts of his body go numb, which is somewhat scary, and so he got rid of the pills and did T’ai Chi Chih three times a day and his blood pressure came down to 110—really low—through consistent practice of T’ai Chi Chih. One of our teacher’s cholesterol level dropped 120 points. She stopped doing T’ai Chi Chih and it went back up. She did it again and it went back down. So it has numerous and varied health benefits. Now, the reason why is, when the intrinsic energy—when the chi is circulated and balanced— what happens is that the body does not allow illness in.

Julia: Prevention!!!

Victor: Yes, exactly, prevention.

Julia: So, how can we use “forfend”?

Victor: It will “forfend” illness.

Julia: Perfect! [Both laughing].

Victor: So, in other words, the purpose of T’ai Chi Chih isn’t to heal. The purpose of T’ai Chi Chih is to circulate and balance the intrinsic energy, the life force.

Julia: Okay, but don’t stop taking your blood pressure medication…

Victor: No, let me be very clear. When you are sick, go see a doctor. When you are ill, take the medicine. But, T’ai Chi Chih practice helps. And it has come at the right place at the right time. There’s not a better time for T’ai Chi Chih because health care right now is absolutely overwhelmed.

Julia: We’re in a crisis.

Victor: Medicare and Medicaid are struggling to keep up with costs. Health care costs are out of control. If you don’t work for an employer that provides health care insurance, boy, I hope you don’t get ill. The best way to bring health care back into line is to keep people healthy. So T’ai Chi Chih is coming along at the right place at the right time.

Julia: And having people be pro-active and feel like they’re the captain of their own ship, where they can do things like T’ai Chi Chih, to bring themselves into balance, to…forfend…chronic illness from getting worse, or having acute situations pop up because you’re in balance in more ways than one. You know, it not only affects your body; it affects your mind, too, no?

Victor: The mind has an effect on the body. Studies have shown that if you are tense, or if you are under a tremendous amount of stress, that can create physical problems that can raise your blood pressure and even create heart issues. Well, the corollary to that is that the body has an effect on the mind. When the chi is flowing, there will be a sense of well-being in the mind because the body’s well-being will have an effect back on the mind. Thus it’s called T’ai Chi Chih Joy Thru Movement.

Julia: I like that. It’s almost like a poem, you know?

Victor: It’s true, when you do a lot of T’ai Chi Chih, and the chi is really flowing, there is a joyous state, and that is something I can testify to. Now of course if you don’t practice regularly, then everything is pretty much useless. In order to get the benefits, you do have to do it. The wonderful thing is that it is very simple, very easy.

Julia: How long does it take? And do you do it every day?

Victor: It depends. Fifteen or 20 minutes, going up to 45 minutes when you have a full practice. Students just starting out may do maybe 10-15 minutes a day; it doesn’t take much. I taught a class earlier today. It was the first time they did it, and a lot of people were feeling heat coming off their body and feeling a trembling in their hands—these are all signs that something is happening, that the chi, the intrinsic energy, is starting to get stimulated, starting to move. This is not out there in left field, this idea of chi. The problem right now is that medical science doesn’t have the equipment to measure energy. While we know that the universe is energy, we don’t have the equipment to measure it. Well, that being said, acupuncture is being embraced by the medical community because it works. It’s based on the exact same principals as T’ai Chi Chih, that the energy is flowing through channels. They are able to figure out where it’s blocked and able by using needles to apply pressure to certain areas to alleviate the blockage.

Julia: I know T’ai Chi Chih has only been around for 30 years, but Tai Chi has been around for thousands of years.

Victor: 900 C.E. thereabouts.

Julia: Thank you for correcting me.

Victor: Unfortunately, over that 1100-year period it has evolved into a martial art. In other words, somebody added a move here, a move there, and the focus of Tai Chi Chuan has changed to the point where now it is not about health or healing; it is about martial arts—unless you get a rare teacher who really understands what it’s about.

Julia: So all the people doing it in the parks?

Victor: They may get great benefits if they’ve been doing it long enough. If they’ve applied themselves and they’ve practiced, they can get great benefits from Tai Chi Chuan. It is a wonderful discipline. The reason why T’ai Chi Chih was created is that it’s more direct. It’s simple, it’s easier, and it can get to wider audience.

Julia: And non-violent.

Victor: Yes, there’s no martial art about it. If you try to stop somebody coming at you doing this [arms doing Around the Platter], it isn’t going to happen [laughing]. So, prevention in this case, or.. forfending… is to walk away.

Julia: Hey, Victor, is this a good time to segue and for you to hop up and maybe show us some moves?

Victor: Sure, sure.

Julia: Okay, since we’re talking the movement, I’d like to see some and I’m sure everybody else would to.

Victor: [standing up, doing Around the Platter]. What it’s about, look here, T’ai Chi Chih is done from the waist down. The whole name of the game here is relaxation of the upper body. The upper body has to be absolutely soft. This is hard for people, because when you see people, they’re rigid—they’re rigid in the wrists, they’re rigid in the waist, they’re the Walking Rigid.

Julia: We’re all TENSE!!! Everybody is TENSE!!!

Victor: This is a very tense world we live in right now, so.. to continue, the name of the game is you have to get the upper body absolutely soft, and that means the lower body has to do all the work. You can do it in your street clothes, or clothes that I’m wearing [referring to his clothes, for today an oversized suit], easy to do, doesn’t require a lot of physical fitness. If you’re elderly and you have trouble with your knees or anything like that, you don’t have to go as low. You can stay here [straightening up a little], stay up a little higher, take a shorter step.

Julia: So you’re going around like in an oval shape?

Victor: Yes, T’ai Chi Chih is absolutely circular. Circularity is the secret of the universe. I mean, the planets are circular; the whole idea of a turbine that creates electricity is a form that is circular. Circularity is the key to T’ai Chi Chih, so every movement in T’ai Chi Chih is circular. You notice the forward and back isn’t; this is what is generating the energy. The upper body is what is distributing the energy, and that’s why the wrists are soft, the upper body is soft. You might see me bouncing a little bit. That’s not intentional; that’s the energy moving through the body. The hands right here [attention to trembling of the fingers] are being stimulated by the flow of chi through the body. I am not doing this; this is a side effect that happens to many teachers and students.

Julia: Your fingers are moving involuntarily?

Victor: Involuntarily, yes.

Julia: When you do this you’re not going to break a sweat?

Victor: You could, but it’s not because of the physical exertion. It’s usually some sort of internal weakness and the movement of the chi starts pushing toxins or whatever out of the body, and that can cause a sweat.

Julia: So, Victor, part of the specialness of this whole activity lies in the circular movements, right?

Victor: Right, and it’s also the softness. The key element of it is that it is being done below the waist. What most people do is they come in with tension and they’re thinking tension, and they think “arm exercise,” and so they do it like this [demonstrates vigorous arm movement, no body movement], which is all arm exercise. You’re not going to get the benefits doing that. It has to be done from below the waist; that’s this moving back and forth while the upper body is just so soft and so relaxed. That’s the key element of T’ai Chi Chih. The relaxed body is what allows the chi to flow. The lower legs are generating the energy; the upper body is distributing. [Doing Around the Platter Variation] They are sending anesthesiologists to China because the Chinese have learned that they can shut off feeling to any part of the body through manipulation of the meridian channels that flow through the ear. So by putting a needle in, they can do any sort of operation without anesthesia.

Julia: Well, what do you know!

Victor: My daughter actually had a cavity fixed without any Novocain.

Julia: Brave girl!

Victor: They used acupressure right there.

Julia: Really?

Victor: Yeah. So, this isn’t that far-fetched. Even though the studies can’t prove the existence of chi, the effects of it are starting to be noticed and starting to be embraced, whether it’s acupuncture or dental work with no Novocain.

Julia: Okay, Victor, show us a movement that would be the challenging.

Victor: Here’s the wonderful thing about T’ai Chi Chih. If you understand the lower leg movement, back is straight up and down, that’s 90 percent of T’ai Chi Chih. Believe it or not, these simple little movements can have a profound impact on people’s lives. There are so many people who have come to T’ai Chi Chih and said, “T’ai Chi Chih has changed my life.” These simple little movements, all of sudden they’re feeling heat; their hands are moving, and there’s a sense of well-being.

Julia: And one of them is 89 years old and running through the rain.

Victor: Yes, exactly. Illnesses are falling away. It’s just absolutely come at the right place at the right time, especially where health care is concerned. Let me show you then one of the more advanced movements. This is called Passing Clouds [demonstrates] —not too difficult. This is about as advanced as it gets.

Julia: What a beautiful move!

Victor: This movement is the one movement that looks close to a Tai Chi Chuan movement. T’ai Chi Chih is an entirely unique set of movements. Some people think it’s a shortened form of Tai Chi Chuan; it’s not. It’s entirely new, created by Justin. This is the one movement that looks similar because they have a movement called Wave Hands in Clouds. [Continuing the movement] This is about as complicated as it gets.

Julia: I’m relaxed just watching you.

Victor: It’s wonderful. The biggest challenge is that people are so unaccustomed to being relaxed, they’re like, I don’t know what to do with myself, hey, I’m getting relaxed here.

Julia: Like, I’m getting nervous, I’m so relaxed [laughing].

Victor: They want to go to sleep because that’s the only time they’re accustomed to being relaxed is when they’re ready to go to sleep. They don’t know what else to associate it with. So for the first time, they are actually achieving a sense of relaxation that they haven’t had. [Starts doing Push Pull.]

Julia: It’s so calming. Good, Victor.

Victor: So at the very end, we do a pose. Its purpose is to help bring the energy back together. That’s it.

Julia: Yay! [Applauding]. Namaste! So, how has it changed YOUR life, having T’ai Chi Chih such an important part of your life, practicing daily?

Victor: Daily practice is recommended without a shadow of a doubt, and any multiple times a day. As Justin said, he brought his blood pressure down 70 points by doing it three times a day. How has it changed my life? I feel it all the time; I feel it when I’m not doing the movements. It’s a marvelous feeling to have the chi flowing, to feel this wonderful thing happening.

Julia: Even when you’re not doing the movements?

Victor: Right.

Julia: So if you did your T’ai Chi Chih movements at 9:00 in the morning, then at 8:00 tonight, you’re still going to feel warm and calm and good?

Victor: It depends. It depends on the individual mind. When I’m quiet and pay attention, yes, I will feel the flow; I’ll feel the vibration in the whole body. I feel it specifically in the feet. The vibration starts in the feet and moves all the way up. So in a sense it’s really magical. It’s neat. Justin says this, too, and I believe that in 10 or 20 years, the American Medical Association will become aware of the role of energy in the body and it’s going to revolutionize medicine. Right now, they look at just at physical and chemical standpoints, which is fine. I’m not saying not to take medicine, but medicine can be as deadly or damaging as the illness they are trying to treat. You read about all these gazillions of side effects to medicine, it’s kind of scary. There are no side effects to T’ai Chi Chih, none, other than when people’s lives start changing, which happens a lot, and the body and mind reacts.

Julia: You know you see those commercials on TV promoting some sort of medicine. They then say, “Taking this medicine may cause seizures, headaches, diarrhea, constipation, listlessness…” I mean they just go on and on, and you think yourself, why would I EVER take this medicine!

Victor: Well, I suppose sometimes you don’t have any other recourse. If you’ve got some problem like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, you might truly have no other recourse. I think T’ai Chi Chih will be embraced by the medical community also, by health care providers, because they are having trouble keeping costs down. Everybody is having trouble keeping costs down. It’s going to be really tough to get this monster under control. One of the best ways to do it is to get people healthy on their own.

Julia: Yes, everybody wants to feel good, feel well, and have energy.

Victor: We have countless letters and testimonials from teachers and students about asthma, pain, blood pressure, cancer, migraine headaches. One of our teachers had suffered from migraine headaches forever. When he’d see the aura indicating the onset of a migraine, he would start doing T’ai Chi Chih, and the migraine went away. He said, “Now I am free.” Western medicine doesn’t really have a cure for migraine headaches. They can control the pain; that’s about as much as they can do. From a Chinese perspective, this isn’t magical; this is when the body is functioning correctly, and when the energy is flowing correctly through the body, there is no room for illness. In other words, the side effect of circulating and balancing the chi is healing.

Julia: I love it! What is most important thing, Victor, that you want the audience to know when they’re done watching this TV program and they say, “Wow, T’ai Chi Chih! I want to know more about that”? Why don’t you talk about the T’ai Chi Chih Center and tell us your phone number? If people really would like to get into this, I think we should give them every opportunity to contact you, learn more about it, and find out how to take lessons and classes; maybe you could even mention a good book. I do have a brochure here. [Camera on T’ai Chi Chih Center’s brochure]

Victor: Well, the best way to learn T’ai Chi Chih is from a teacher. The reason why is that most people, unless they are strong athletes, aren’t going to have the body awareness to know when they are making a mistake.

Julia: So you need the feedback.

Victor: You need the teacher to be there to say, “You’re leaning,” “Oh, I am?” Even many teachers doing practice around Justin don’t realize they are leaning and they’ve been doing it for five or 10 years. “I’m leaning? I didn’t realize that.” So it’s a matter of body awareness. So I’d say for 99 percent of the people who want to learn T’ai Chi Chih need to learn it from a teacher. The good news is Albuquerque has a high number of teachers.

Julia: How many do we have?

Victor: Hundreds.

Julia: Hundreds?? Hundreds?? Is it because Justin is here?

Victor: Yes, because Justin is here. And also Carmen Brocklehurst, who is Justin’s longest student, who has been teaching people here for years and years. The Center is a space where T’ai Chi Chih teachers hold their classes. It’s non-profit. That phone number is.

Julia: What is your phone number?

Victor: My phone number is.

Julia: We’re going to say that again in a minute, so you out there [looking at the camera] have time to go get your pen and your pencil and your paper.

Victor: The circulation and balancing of the chi, Tai Chi Chuan does do eventually, and it’s the same thing yoga is working with, but with yoga you have to have a pretty good amount of physical fitness. All of these things are working on the same principal, which is energy. They are growing in prominence because people are looking for something.

Julia: One think I really appreciated about my yoga class, Victor, was the spiritual component, about how peaceful and connected I felt. Just spiritually I felt, well, in very good shape.

Victor: When the body starts getting balanced, there is a sense of well-being that happens mentally. You could call that spiritual. It very much is. Some Hindu beliefs say that the whole purpose of life is to be happy, to have joy. If you’re happy, if you’re not having joy, you’re wasting your time. So…

Julia: Well, I have to agree with that. Isn’t that kind of the point? Given the fact that life is hard for everyone—we all have traumas, we all have problems. Joyfulness is the goal.

Victor: But how do you get there? That’s the secret. Everybody wants joy and peace, but are you going to find peace in the mall? Are you going to find peace in your new car in the traffic? Peace at work with the uncertainty of the economy and everything else? Where are you going to find peace?

Julia: You have to make time for it, and self-create it. Victor, any final thoughts before we say, “Until next time.”

Victor: I would just encourage people to go out and find a T’ai Chi Chih teacher.

Julia: And your phone number again?

Victor.

Julia: Okay, everybody got that? Victor, you’re doing a very good thing. I feel better just having spent 30 minutes with you.

Victor: Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Julia: And maybe you’ll come back sometime and tell us how things are moving along with all your classes.

Victor: Sure, I’d love that.

Julia: It’s been a blast! Thanks, Victor, take care of yourself.

Victor: Okay, you, too.

Julia: This is Dr. Julia Bain. Tai Chi Chih. It sounds fascinating to me. Personally, I’m going to give it a try. Until next time, be happy and be well.

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