Tai Chi is a highly effective therapy for many injuries or chronic conditions, whether mental, emotional, or physical. The following chapters will discuss different maladies and how Tai Chi treats them. Tai Chi bolsters the immune system, as well, and can actually eliminate problems long before they become an actual physical illness.
An Ultimate Beauty Treatment
Forget about covering up problems with makeup or surgery. Beautify from the inside out instead! Many cells are replaced daily, and almost the entire body is completely replaced every five to seven years. You are literally born anew on some level each and every day of your life. How those cells are reproduced is determined by how the life energy, or Qi, flows through your body. Therefore, you can have a terrific impact on how you age, look, and feel by promoting your Qi flow.
Tai Chi’s Cleansing of the Nervous System Releases Power
Have you ever sat back and noticed how small children never run down? Like the Energizer rabbit, on fast forward, they leap and spring, dance and chat, and chat and chat. Have you ever thought to yourself, “God, I wish I had that energy”? Well, you do have access to that energy (and without doing espresso shooters).
As human beings, we begin to block our access to that energy as we “mature” by holding onto past grudges, by shouldering responsibilities that are unrealistic, or just because of silly worries. Then we don’t know how to let them go, and we get used to having less and less energy. We can think on a mental level that we want to “stop worrying” or “let go of tension,” but that doesn’t really work. We need life tools that help us let go of these blocks on deep levels in our mind, heart, and body, so that we can open to your flow of life energy.
Tai Chi and QiGong will give you access to simple exercises, which feel good and can open a valve to that limitless energy you thought you had lost forever. The Chinese discovered long ago that these blocks, or our stress, are simply the mind and nervous system squeezing onto grudges, worries, or even desires. Just as our muscles can tighten when tense, our mind and heart can grip tension too, and we have to be taught how to let go of their squeezing grip on life issues. So the goal of these ancient exercises is to wash our nervous system clean, so our mind can be fresh and vibrant like a newborn baby’s, while still remembering the important stuff, like stopping at red lights and dressing before going to work.
Seriously, as we let go of most of the meaningless, irritating debris bouncing around in our mind, we have more space and energy for really important ideas to surface. Important memories like the bill we forgot to pay, or realizations like we forgot to tell someone how much you care about them. Tai Chi’s slow, soothing movements provide that calm open space, even in the very center of the rat race.
A Fountain of Youth
America is not into the “aging” thing. What Americans spend on cosmetic surgery attests to that. Tai Chi will help you get over that prejudice, while also slowing the aging process in many ways. The Chinese believe as we practice Tai Chi it returns us to a state of “child-likeness” (but not childishness), where we see the world with fresh eyes. This allows us the freedom to reinvent ourselves easily and constantly, just as children do, enabling us to flow with the changes of life. We can once again be flexible and exuberant, while still benefiting from the wisdom of experience (like being able to hit our mouth with the spoon, well, most of the time). So Tai Chi has the ability to renew us, and through that renewal enhance our strength, health, and creativity.
Tai Chi is based on the principle that the world doesn’t need to be held up by our worrying mind and tense body. In fact, we are much more helpful to the world (and far more enjoyable to be around) if we can let go of as much stress as possible. Realizing this principle is the first big step to letting Tai Chi reopen you to your own personal rejuvenating “fountain of energy”!