Life is a stressful series of events wrapped in one package. All around us are contributing factors to add stress in our lives. Even the littlest things can add a certain amount of stress. But it doesn’t matter if your life is full of stress because it is one factor that you can’t shrug away unless you are numb. The one thing you can do to kill stress is recognizing what causes it to arise inside of you then do coping mechanisms to lessen it. That’s when Tai Chi comes in.

Stress can be harmful. So before it gets worse, you must block it. Stress can have its advantages because you can learn how to cope but the moment you can’t deal with life’s stresses, you must do something about it. Because once stress enters the body, it stays there and releases certain toxins that are very dangerous to the body.

How will you know that you are stressed? First, your body will react differently. You can experience headaches, breathlessness, chest pains, sleeping problems, feels sick or dizzy, sweating so often, muscle spasms or cramps, and lack of appetite. Somehow, when this occurs, you will feel more irritable, aggressive, neglected and depressed.

The way you behave is also affected which shows through inability of showing the way you truly feel, crying frequently, has difficulty in making decisions (even the easy ones), trying to avoid situations and somehow, denying that there is a problem.

If you have experienced few of these, then you are indeed incurring a difficult level in your life and needs some help to eliminate it.

Tai Chi is very effective in relieving stress. It somehow has this magical feeling in it that contributes a certain magical and renewing feeling. It can battle out stress and further enhance a person’s well-being.

For beginners, there will be a certain level of awkwardness but as time passes, it diminishes the feeling. Alright, before giving into the feeling, you must first forget every worry once you walk into the door where will perform your Tai Chi activities. Then work your way through and recognize the benefits of what Tai Chi is doing for you.

Tai Chi can reward you with the most astonishing feeling of self-sufficiency and relaxation. It will keep your mind at ease and will make you deal with life more positively. Whoever practices Tai Chi are rewarded with improved flexibility and balance together with stable breathing, stronger lymphatic and circulatory system, it also reduces hypertension. In an overall performance, you will manage to feel an overall greatness and well-being.

Tai Chi can reduce and somehow eliminate the harmful effects of stress. The marketplace is very competitive and the retention of superior quality employees can be made possible if only Tai Chi can be incorporated. This will not only have a positive effect on the employee but for the whole company as well.

What does Tai Chi do to decrease stress flowing inside the body? It increases the vitality of every cell composing the entire element of the body. There are long term benefits like increased energy, decreased stress, uplifted spirit, enhanced relaxation and concentration, and finding inner peace.

If this therapeutic way of dealing with stress is offered in every company, then that will make the workplace a bit friendly and stress free.

What is an external system? What is an internal system? The answer lies beyond its difference.

Tai Chi is a form of exercise that incorporates between the inner and outer aspect of a human being. When one says that is affects the external system, it means that Tai Chi settles within the depths of a human’s body strength. One that exhibits efforts and movements and is equated with the aspects of his or her environment. The external system involves how the body initiates movement and react to how outside factors is expressed.

While the internal system, as opposed to the latter, means that the mind’s conscious directions and the spirit’s way of rejuvenating itself, as it performs, can affect the entire body. It affects the body’s way of interacting with its environment.

Even though these two aspects may differ with the way they interact, there is purpose. When the body’s external systems can no longer define the solution, the internal systems come in. Through Tai Chi, both systems are equal.

One unique factor that can be noted about an internal system is that once the mind develops and directs energy, it circulates within the body even if it seems almost impossible. This is one key factor to acquire energy from within without producing intense feelings, eliminating nervousness, and promoting tranquility without experiencing lethargic reactions. Unlike the external systems, which require perspiration in order to work, using the mind as a tool to is very effective in terms of body relaxation and meditation. Exercising using the mind require complete concentration and needs sustained attention.

This is where Tai Chi comes in. Combining the two most essential aspects of a person’s human form can increase a person’s resistance to possibilities of breaking down. There are several types of exercises that can relieve tension and stress. However, these exercises are only concerned with the temporary view. It can’t promise relief in an everlasting manner. Re-accumulation of stress and tension can still be possible through repetition of routines made daily intended to target a person’s emotional, mental and physical patterns.

But if Tai Chi is managed in a person’s life, it will not only teach that person how to conquer the stressors in his life but also manage to maintain the positive aura without moving a muscle. Increasing one’s awareness of Tai Chi can reorient the mind, body and emotions to stay healthy and respond to stress in a proper way without inhibiting signs of anxiety or tension.

Many of those who admire Tai Chi appreciate it in every respect. As one advances in time, he will notice that the results of Tai Chi is indispensable compared to exercises that needs further retaining. Tai Chi can be done even in the absence of equipments. All you need to be equipped with is a steady heart and a decisive mind.

In the continuous fight against the different ailments of the body, it is important that people recognize Tai Chi’s valuable contribution. Different parts of the body are developed. For example, breathing is enhanced because oxygen can freely move about through the help of Tai Chi’s principles.

Not only is the pattern improved but it is clearly visible to the one practicing the art that Tai Chi is a very effective way for the external and internal systems to communicate as one and work as one.

There was a study that was recently published that there was a way to possibly slow down the progress of Parkinson’s Disease through Tai Chi. Although, it doesn’t necessarily promise a one-of-a-kind treatment to the disease, basically because Parkinson’s disease is incurable, it is very effective and is recommended by neurologists after diagnosis.

Facts About Parkinson’s

Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, neurodegenerative disorder that is progressive. It is also called as “Shaking Palsy” or “Paralysis Agitans”. Primary signs and symptoms of the disease would include rigidity, tremors, poor balance, bradykinesia or slow movement, and difficulty in gaiting. Parkinson’s, in general, has no traced cause, in other words, unknown. Some says that it is caused by trauma or genetic factor but aside from that, there is still no known basis.

What happens in Parkinson’s is that there is a certain degeneration of the dopamine receptors inside the brain. These nerve cells, which are responsible for producing dopamine, are affected thus resulting to the minimal or probably no production of dopamine. Dopamine is the one that sends signals to the muscles for proper movement and coordination. Without enough amount of dopamine inside the body, there will be no proper coordination of the different muscles in the body thus, different symptoms occur.

Because Parkinson’s is a disease that can only be prevented, it will prevalent that, as the disease progresses, the person may experience trouble in talking, walking, and doing tasks that are simple. They may also have emotional problems like depression, anxiety, etc. Sleeping problems may also occur. These are some of the signs that the person’s situation is getting worse.

One of the widely known risk factor of Parkinson’s is old age. It begins at an age on or before the age of 60. Parkinson’s is also a disease that is more common in men but there are also few incidences in women. It is also said that Parkinson’s is hereditary.

Bad news is, since Parkinson’s is a disease that affects the neurons of the brain, and neurons are cells that don’t regenerate, there is no cure for the disease itself. Good new is, medicines can help lessen dramatic effects of the disease’s symptoms.

Tai Chi and Parkinson’s

Although Parkinson’s disease is degenerative, it is surprisingly a slow progressive event in the life of old people. And because it will take years before the disease can overcome a person’s entire system, there are several interventions that may help slow the progress of Parkinson’s. That is why, Tai Chi can be very effective in slowing it even more.

With Tai Chi’s elaborate movements in which 95{451cb9bdd6b9e2862e15979076b10dd5b792f4772bfb4b679a32dd47787626d3} in the body works in connection with every system, it can enhance a person’s well-being who is suffering from the disease. Tai Chi’s movements can reduce a patient’s gradual lose of coordination. It is said that Tai Chi is far more effective than any kind of sport or exercise that most medical experts suggest in battling Parkinson’s.

Obviously, Tai Chi can be a very good reason to regain coordination and balance. Major universities have indicated that Tai Chi is twice as effective as other balance enhancing exercises in reducing falls. Upon the early diagnosis of Parkinson’s, it is a must to be informed with the major benefits of Tai Chi.

It is effective enough to save the balance of someone before it gets wobbly or physically gets lost.

According to researches, Tai Chi, a Chinese exercise that uses both mind and body, can aid in preventing the shingles virus by increasing the body’s immunity against the VZV or varicella-zoster virus. Aside from preventing it, Tai Chi can also boost the body’s response to the vaccine for old adults. VZV is the virus that is responsible for diseases like shingles and chickenpox.

Understanding Shingles

Shingles is a kind of viral infection that causes debilitating rashes that are quite painful. It appears as blisters that can be seen at the middle of the person’s back turning to one side of his chest and overwhelming the breastbone. Parts of your body like the scalp, neck and face are also affected. Shingles can be excruciatingly painful.

One way to identify the disease is to pinpoint where it all started because shingles usually originates at one side of the body. Shingles is a sort of long term “side-effect” of chickenpox. It is because after having chickenpox, the virus within the body becomes inactive. After years, it gets to be reactivated as shingles.

Shingles is not a life-threatening situation but can be severely painful and can lead to a complication in which the skin remains painful and is very sensitive to even to the softest touch. It remains at that state until all blisters are gone. This kind of condition lasts for months or worse, years.

Shingles is the common for adults over 50 that is why it is important the old people be protected from the virus or have in them the prescribed tool to fight the virus out of their lives. For those who have not been affected with the virus, but is susceptible to, better be more cautious and maintain the immune system on a healthy level.

What the public needs to know

Although vaccination can be an effective method to prevent acquiring shingles, it can only last long. But if the vaccination for shingles is combined with Tai Chi, the results are promising. Good news is, out of 5 persons who have undergone chickenpox, only one person will get shingles sometime in their 50s. Shingles will be very dangerous for older people.

Researchers and doctors said that, although more studies should be further enhanced, it is proven that Tai Chi combined with immunization was made effective as an intervention to prevent the increase of the painful condition. The positive effects of Tai Chi helped researchers determine that the height of response by the human body is incredible.

Study has it that Tai Chi alone can increase the patient’s immunity to the virus same with the outcome of ordinary vaccine. The moment Tai Chi is combined with the vaccine itself, it produced a significant result with a high level of immunity amounting to over 40{451cb9bdd6b9e2862e15979076b10dd5b792f4772bfb4b679a32dd47787626d3}. Studies also show that compared to those that only acquired the vaccine, Tai Chi’s effects are doubled in the increase.

Aside from the increased level of immunity, Tai Chi also manifested remarkable outcome that include decrease in body pain, improved physical functioning, mental health and vitality. Groups who engaged in Tai Chi showed a decline in the symptoms of the disease’s severity.

Therefore, for those who are experiencing or knows someone who is at their golden years, it is better to advise them to engage in Tai Chi.

There are things that you ought to do before, during and after every Tai Chi session. They are called precautions. Well, this won’t be new to you because almost all exercises have certain precautions that every practitioner must observe and follow.

Below are some pointers to ponder on (for beginners and those who have medical problems):

Precaution #1

Never attempt to learn Tai Chi through instruction manuals and online videos. The book can only tell you what to do and what are the basic principles behind every move but it will not actually exhibit the right or wrong positions. Trying to imitate the Tai Chi DVDs can be quite a hag.

They will make you want to try and learn but will be very hard for you to keep on pushing the stop-rewind-play-stop-rewind-play-fast forward buttons just to catch up on their instructions. Things like this will never tell you if you have made a mistake in your performance. They will just go on and on. Besides, if you have a particular question in mind, your manuals and videos will not make the slightest effort to answer you.

It is always safe to learn from someone who is experienced enoughed to teach you, PERSONALLY, the basics. Once you have learned the difference between the right and wrong technique, that’s the right time to practice with your manual or video. Beginners should take note of this very seriously.

Precaution #2

Upon entering a Tai Chi program, you should choose the teacher who will instruct you. You have to make sure that he or she is experienced enough to entertain any of your needs or questions regarding Tai Chi. This is very important especially for those who are currently experiencing arthritis or heart problems because there are certain movements that can be straining and may contribute more to the pain.

In cases of joint pains and flares, always consult your doctor about it. Ask him what are the appropriate movements that can’t produce further pain. Tell your instructor about your condition so that he may have an idea on what would be more appropriate for your condition.

Precaution #3

You should always warm up before and then cool down and take a quick rest after. You may not think Tai Chi as a vigorous and strenuous kind of exercise but mind you, it keeps the muscles and joints working overtime.

Precaution #4

If there is a need to modify, then do it for as long as it is necessary. Because there are many Tai Chi movements that are in need of your whole to produce a perfect position. But if you have some unseen involvement that may cause your performance to become blur, then drop the original movements then modify it.

Precaution #5

If you can’t do it, don’t push it. Exerting yourself just to let everyone see is like stressing yourself in the most painful manner. Tai chi is a process in which it is meditative and not stressful so don’t push yourself to movements that aren’t possible for you to perform.

Practice. This won’t harm you. And it will only take you at least half an hour to complete an hour’s program. Tai Chi is indeed a perfect exercise for meditative purposes. But don’t mistake it with other vigorous exercises that promise weight loss or weight gain, nice abs, etc.