Excerpted from Psycho-Cybernetics, by Maxwell Maltz: The energy that heals a wound is the same energy that keeps all our other body organs functioning. When this energy is at an optimum, all our organs function better. We feel good, wounds heal faster, we are more resistant to disease, we recover from any sort of stress … Continue reading Maxwell Maltz on Life Energy
In Western medicine, the body's natural state is death and decay. Health is like a stick balanced precariously on its end, an unstable equilibrium the maintenance of which requires constantly inputting energy and impeding the natural progression of entropy. The role of a healer is to "prop up" the body's state of health to prevent … Continue reading The Marble And The Stick
Yoga and tai chi have several elements in common, but they also provide distinct benefits. This is how they are alike and different: Alike Both are mind-body arts that work by regulating and integrating body, breath, and mind, and are suitable for people of all ages and physical conditions. Practice is meditative, and benefits include … Continue reading How Yoga and Tai Chi Complement Each Other
There's an old joke where the patient says, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this...". Tai chi gives the same response as the doctor, who says "Well, don't do that." Tai chi engages the body's natural healing mechanisms, which depend on both sensitivity and activity. If a movement makes you feel light-headed, aggravates an injury, … Continue reading Healing With Tai Chi
How we use our bodies has a lot to do with determining how we feel. Generally, the more sick you act the more sick you will feel. When you are sick, do you allow your posture to slouch, your feet to shuffle, and your breath to become rapid and shallow? Or do you hold yourself … Continue reading Acting Sick
The general rule for tai chi practice is to work at 70% of your maximum capacity. This applies to intensity, exertion, duration, and range of motion. If you exhaust yourself your coordination will suffer, and you will also tax your body's compensatory mechanisms, which is counterproductive from the perspective of tai chi. The 70% rule … Continue reading Practicing Tai Chi When You’re Sick
...is to feel good moving. The capacity for movement is freedom to move, and freedom is pleasure. And not only is freedom pleasurable, so is the exploration itself. Pain does not equal gain. What truly builds us up feels good, and has its own innate draw. Nor is it necessary to move "correctly" to enjoy … Continue reading The Number One Reason (And Way) To Be Fit
Is tai chi for combat? Longevity? Spirituality? Mastery? Or is it more appropriate to ask, what are you using it for?
Excerpted from The Body Talks...and I Can Hear It, by Jeanie Lemaire: Within the Physical form itself also exist three facets that promote movement and our ability to grow and change. Those more concrete aspects are the skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems. Even though they are only three of the many systems our Physical forms … Continue reading Lemaire On Body Integration
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to T'ai Chi & QiGong, by Bill Douglas: If done correctly, slowly, and gently, Tai Chi enables you to become aware of any poor physical habits long before physical damage is done. In fact, you often don't become aware of problems in high-impact sports until the doctor is telling … Continue reading Douglas On Tai Chi Movements
