Vital Energy

Buena Park–Beyond the door of Duke Cheng’s Studio in a Buena Park mini-mall, there is no sound save the synchronized sliding and lifting of slipper-covered feet on a padded floor. Shh. Shh. Shh.

Hands and arms trace seamless curves in the air like synchronized kites flirting with a playful breeze. Occasionally, hands slap the soles in a motion so swift, the eye barely catches it.

The once-mysterious movements of t’ai chi and chi kung are becoming familiar wellness routines for a number of people in the United States. It’s not known how many people practice t’ai chi and chi kung, but Cheng and other practitioners say the demand for instruction has more than doubled in the past seven years.

What we often see as t’ai chi is a slow sequence of 81 steps in which the hands and feet move in fluid, sweeping motions. The order of these coordinated movements must be memorized. Concentration is necessary, to maintain balance while moving. Breathing must be even. Practitioners say that focusing on how the body moves and paying attention to the breathing lead to a feeling of relaxation.

T’ai chi, or taijiquan, is a way of finding yourself and your own special path in life, wrote Robert Parry in “Teach yourself T’ai Chi.” Literally translated, “chi” means “vital energy” and “tai” means “great.”

There are about five major schools of t’ai chi named after particular Chinese families dating back many generations, according to Cheng, who has been teaching for more than 30 years.

Chi kung, or qi gong (pronounced chee-goong), a cousin of t’ai chi, means “cultivating energy.” It also involves coordinating slow, fluid arm, hand, leg and torso movements. The quiet motions are combined with breathing techniques that create a feeling of energy flowing through the body. The discipline goes further, so that a person learns to internally nurture and channel that energy to control particular aspects of the body. Advanced practitioners are known to use energy to regulate blood pressure and digestive processes and help remedy disorders.

The National Institutes of Health has reported the benefits of t’ai chi. Two groups of scientists working on a frailty-reduction program sponsored by the National Institute on Aging found that t’ai chi can help elderly people maintain strength and balance. In the first study, researchers at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta found that older people [taking part in a 15-week t’ai chi program] reduced their risk of falling by 47 percent. In a second study, by the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, participants maintained their gains from other balance and strength training over six months.

Studies in China have concluded that expert practitioners of chi kung can emit energy to control breathing, induce relaxation and lower blood pressure, among other benefits. Chinese scientists claimed that chi kung can help people cope with diabetes, chronic digestive disorders and asthma. But most people in the United States practice t’ai chi and chi kung for a simple reason: to feel better.

“I was looking for some exercise, but I wanted something more meaningful,” said David Budman, 50, of Anaheim. “The workout at the gym didn’t seem to be fulfilling.”

Budman and others say t’ai chi and chi kung have helped them cope with chronic illness or injuries. “I have asthma,” Budman said. “Chi kung has improved my breathing a lot.”

Most days, Jules Edelman, 55, of Newport Beach wakes at 4:30 a.m. and at 6, he invigorates himself with a 45-minute t’ai chi session in the living room. “I have a better sense of balance, strength all over and feeling of well-being,” said a serene-looking Edelman. “I’m a diabetic, and it has made it much easier for me to live with diabetes. Exercise, diet and insulin are part of my life.”

T’ai chi is attracting younger people too. Lory Autenrieth, 28, of Fullerton added a weekly dose of t’ai chi and chi kung a year and a half ago to her repertoire of shaolin and kung fu. “Before I couldn’t do a Chinese squat because of a childhood injury in my left knee,” she said. She grinned, then crouched and squatted, balancing her weight on her feet as the back of her thighs rested on her calves, her buttocks a few inches from the floor.

Interest in these disciplines has exploded this decade, said Steve Rhodes, editor of Qi: The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health and Fitness, based in Anaheim Hills. Much of t’ai chi and chi kung has been demystified, he said. There’s a glut of information–from history to how-to’s–that is now readily available. . . .

The body’s “chi” can be measured as a low-frequency sound, said Richard Lee, a mechanical engineer by training and an entrepreneur in San Clemente. Lee distributes and markets the Infratonic Qi Gong Machine for therapeutic use in pain management, massage and circulation improvement. Lee said the $700 machine produces and transmits to the body the same type of waves that the body generates during chi kung.

Although well-documented in China, the power of chi kung and the effectiveness of the machine have yet to be studied and reviewed by the U.S. medical community.

Despite the benefits, t’ai chi and chi kung can harm a person who does the movements incorrectly. Improper positioning of the feet and ankles can hurt the knees, said Shantika Lamanno, a spokeswoman for the Chi Kung/Qi Gong Association of America.

People should be cautious with emitting chi, she said. It can hurt the person using it or harm others, she said.

But t’ai chi poses no harm if taught correctly by an expert, practitioners say.

It takes a short time to learn, Rhodes said, but a lifetime to master. Finding a good master is essential, he said, and is mostly accomplished by word of mouth.