Meditation on Motion: The Healing Benefits of Tai Chi

Lisa Franchi July 19, 2013

Tai chi is a gentle mind-body technique that has been widely practised in China for thousands of years which has also become very popular in the West. What makes this exercise so remarkable is that it can be practised by people of almost any age.

Moving Meditation

Tai chi is a type of low-impact, weight-bearing yet relaxing exercise that traces its origins from the traditional Chinese martial arts. This exercise is practised in a variety of styles which involve deep breathing, meditation and slow and gentle movements. With this exercise, you perform a series of motions without pausing. And as you move, you breathe deeply and naturally, focusing your attention to your bodily sensations. Movements are usually circular and never forced, meaning, all the time your muscles are relaxed and are never tensed. This is why it is often called "moving meditation."

Because it focuses on gentle moves, tai chi has been very popular among people with mobility problems, as well as the elderly. It is also recommended to people confined to wheelchairs and those who are recovering from surgery.

For the past years, tai chi has been a subject of scientific scrutiny and today, vast evidences suggest that this mind-body exercise provides an array of health benefits, from improving flexibility and coordination to promoting general health and well-being.

Health Benefits of Tai Chi

According to Peter M. Wayne, director of the Tai Chi and Mind-Body Research Program at Harvard Medical School’s Osher Research Canter, a growing body of research is building a compelling case for tai chi as an adjunct therapy to standard medical treatment used for the prevention and rehabilitation of many age-related health problems. An adjunct therapy, according to the Harvard researchers, is one which is used together with the primary medical treatment, either to address the disease itself or alleviate its symptoms and improve the patient’s quality of life.

Here’s what research has to say about the benefits of practising tai chi:

Better sleep. A study conducted by Oregon Research Institute found that participants who practised tai chi had improved sleep quality and length. They also had fewer sleep disturbances than those who practised a different type of low-impact exercise. UCLA researchers also support these findings. They found that a Westernised version of tai chi has similar effects to sleep with drugs and cognitive behavioural therapy. In this study, only a third of participants who received health education sessions experienced improvement in sleep whilst two-thirds of those who performed tai chi had.

Balance and strength. Even if it’s low-impact, tai chi can be effective in improving one’s balance, strength and coordination. Experts at Oregon Research Institute found that after six months of undergoing tai chi, participants were twice less likely to have problems performing moderate to rigorous activities than those who did not practise the said exercise. An older study, conducted by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), suggests that tai chi exercises reduced the fear and risk of falls among the elderly. Another research published in the Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair journal found that stroke patients who had 12 weeks of tai chi sessions significantly improved their standing balance.

Reduced risk of osteoarthritis. Scientists at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston studied the effectiveness of tai chi in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Compared to the control group, tai chi participants had greater improvement in pain, physical function, and chair stand time.

Immunity to shingles. Shingle is a viral disease that causes a painful skin rash and blisters. In a study conducted by NIA and NCCAM, researchers found that tai chi helped participants build a stronger immunity response to the virus that cause shingles, similar to the effectiveness of a vaccine. When combined with vaccine, practising tai chi resulted to greater levels of immunity, and lead to improvement in pain, function, vitality, and mental health.

Reduced heart disease risk. National Taiwan University researchers found that tai chi significantly boosted the exercise capacity of the study participants, lowered their blood pressure, and improved their levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin, and C-reactive protein in people at a higher risk of heart disease. Another study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found no improvement in the risk of heart disease in participants who did not practise tai chi.

Overall improvement in health. Tai chi may not be a hardcore exercise but it has been proven to promote general health. A 2012 study found that the slow, controlled motion associated with tai chi could help improve the impaired balance of people with Parkinson’s disease. Tai chi is also found to help lower the risk of arthritis, hypertension, stress, and heart disease.

Longer life. In a study involving over 61,000 Chinese men, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine researchers found that those who practised tai chi were 20 percent less likely to die compared to those who didn’t.

Can you cite other benefits of tai chi? Feel free to post a comment below.