Why Tai Chi Chih® Joy Thru Movement?

BY PAT FLYNN, GLENVILLE, PA

Editor’s Note: This article, reprinted with permission from the January 2005 issue of the South Central Senior Community Center Newsletter, tripled enrollment in Pat’s classes.

I could tell you that T’ai Chi Chih reduces stress, increases flexibility, reduces high blood pressure, and develops coordination and balance; that Tai Chi can be considered the “great granddaddy of Low Impact Aerobics.” I could also tell you that T’ai Chi Chih can be a great cardio and respiratory workout without causing a speck of sweat and without stress or strain on the joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. I could also tell you that anyone can do T’ai Chi Chih; it’s easy and it requires no special equipment and very little space to practice.

I could also tell you about the Boston Celtic’s player, Robert Parish, who is a T’ai Chi* practitioner, or for that matter, Tiger Woods and his practice. Many sports professionals practice T’ai Chi*. They say it enhances their performance. Then again, many companies are offering T’ai Chi* because it can increase productivity, innovation, motivation, flexibility, endurance, and creativity while helping to decrease sick time. Why read about such dry statistics when I can tell you what has happened to me – with T’ai Chi Chih.

I contracted Lyme disease long before modern medicine recognized it. I gave my faith and trust to modern medicine. With innumerable misdiagnoses and treatments, I was nearly blind and crippled. So I changed my perspective. I studied alternative methods with a passion, and through diet and lifestyle changes slowly brought myself back to a reasonable facsimile of normalcy.

T’ai Chi Chih has brought me even further. I no longer wake throughout the night with pain. My joints are more supple and flexible. My husband complains of the cold and I am dumbfounded. I have always been the cold one in the family. My energy level is amazing. Prior to T’ai Chi Chih, I pushed myself to be a normal, active human being. Now, I am a normal active person. The many symptoms of Lyme disease seem to be fading away. I am looking forward to the time when all my symptoms disappear.

In the beginning, I let go and felt the chi. I had trouble with several movements due to severely damaged rotator cuffs. Initially, the pain was excruciating when I attempted to do them. I gave up trying to do them properly. That’s when the healing began. Today, I have recovered about 90% of my shoulder movement and am almost totally pain free.

The impact T’ai Chi Chih has had on my life is more encompassing than I could ever imagine. When I have faltered in my practice, I have felt the difference. My faltering is teaching me consistency of practice. I am looking forward to many more benefits from T’ai Chi Chih.

Students can often see some immediate benefits and cherish the sensations, called chi, from the movements of T’ai Chi Chih. We learn to move like children again. When watching young children, their arm and leg movements tend to originate from the torso in a relaxed, flexible, tensionless manner. As we grow older, tension and stiffness tends to creep into our movements because we tend to concentrate more on our arms, shoulders and legs. Gradually, we lose touch with our torso. Eventually, as we grow old we begin to use a shuffling gait with no movement in the torso. It is easy to understand – that with all the major organs and circulatory system in the torso stagnating from lack of motion – that health problems can abound. T’ai Chi Chih can help us to once again move as we did when we were young children – from the torso – and stimulate all those internal organs and circulatory systems. T’ai Chi Chih is not only for longevity but for robustness – even into old age.

Classes are held throughout the York county area and I invite you to come swim through heavy air with me. After all, that is the best way to describe the slow, gentle, rounded, graceful movements of T’ai Chi Chih. They call it T’ai Chi Chih, Joy Thru Movement with good reason!

*Editor’s Note: The author uses T’ai Chi intentionally because, for the time being, it is more widely known. That will not be true much longer! Justin Stone looks forward to the day when professional athletes like Tiger Woods (and perhaps the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots) practice T’ai Chi Chih daily.