Health Take it slow There’s only one way to do tai chi, and that’s slowly. A typical session has people cycling through a series of poses with evocative names, such as “parting the wild horse’s mane,” while breathing naturally and focusing attention on bodily sensations. The unhurried pace and fluidity of the movements make tai chi a suitable discipline for just about anyone, fromOlympic athletes to people in wheelchairs. Daniel Pikelin of Toronto, 66, has been practising tai chi for half of his life and now teaches it. In his experience, the effects of a tai chi session unfold in layers. “First, you relax the gut and the abdomen,” he explains. “Then the diaphragm starts moving more freely, which affects the surrounding organs.”The next layer is “intention and imagination. You breathe deeply and focus your mind, which clears it of all the mental debris we usually carry around.” Pikelin spends about 20 minutes on each set andmay do one to three sets a day, occasionally adding a 5- to 10-minute “quickie” before a business meeting. Whether long or short, the sets “leave me both calmer andmore energetic,” he says, adding that “tai chi is particularly suited to older people because the slow pace requires patience, which we tend to acquire with age.” Support from science But don’t let the slow, meditative movements fool you: tai chi is exercise. When practised, it can deliver the benefits of resistance training plus brisk walking. As explained by Dr. Gloria Yeh, an assistant professor at HarvardMedical School: “Although you aren’t working with weights or resistance bands, the unsupported arm exercise involved in tai chi strengthens your upper body.” The exercises also tone the upper and lower extremities and the core muscles of the back and abdomen. Proprioception – the sense of where different parts of your body exist in space – declines with Tai chi may be just the activity you’ve been looking for by Gabrielle Bauer NO PAIN, BIG GAIN Ever wonder about those groups of people holding flamingo poses in the park, squinting at the rising sun?They’re practising tai chi – and they are not just doing it for the view: a growing body of research suggests that tai chi exercises can improve a host of physical and mental health problems. Best of all, the practice requires no special equipment and you can do it anywhere. Which makes it just about perfect for snowbirds. Sometimes described as “meditation in motion,” tai chi arose in China as a martial art, but has evolved into a health-enhancing discipline that combines motion with mindfulness. While classical Chinese philosophy holds that tai chi can unblock qi − an energy force thought to flow through the body − you don’t need to buy into the theory to reap tai chi’s benefits. 32 | www.snowbirds.org
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