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How many people
exercise?
The honest answer is not many. Despite seeing
runners on the street,
cyclists and plenty of on-line exercise pictures, hardly anyone exercises...
How come? Laziness. Also, it isn't a
lifestyle habit.
Perception
Exercise is
typically seen as being arduous. Exertive. People
are sweating, straining, suffering. "No pain, no gain"...
right? No wonder people find reasons/excuses
not to exercise.
How
we move conveys energy and
youth – not how buff we are.
(Anne Elliott)
The tortoise
and the hare
Aesop's fable 'The Tortoise and the Hare' features a race between the
speedy hare and the slow, plodding tortoise. The hare has the obvious
advantage
and can easily outrun the tortoise.
Yet in the fable, the tortoise wins...
The hare
When it comes to exercise most people think like the hare. They see
exercise as being about hardship. Harder, faster, bigger. There is a
competitive, accumulative attitude.
The problem with this approach is that
it can lead to injury, pain and eventually quitting. How many runners wear knee braces?
e.g. The Great North Run is often marred by people collapsing from
exhaustion, having a heart attack or actually
dying. Isn't this a little absurd?
The tortoise
Performing everyday activities
such as walking, household chores or gardening all exercise the body. If
you build an IKEA unit your body temperature will be warmer by the end of it.
You probably won't have a heart attack.
The tortoise approach is non-competitive. It is balanced.
It is about doing something for yourself. Not to show off
or be noticed. Low effort,
patience and moderation
are prized.
Energy
If you ran as hard as you could for a 100 meters you may be
breathing hard at the end of it. If you had a bad
knee it might be hurting. If you walked the same distance you would not be out
of breath.
What if you walked uphill?
Conventional exercise can be tiring. It can
leave you feeling wiped out. Over time as your
condition improves, your body may find it more agreeable. By contrast, milder
exercise energises you.
Is your exercise healthy?
The tortoise doesn't get worn out because the exercise is moderate.
There are no extremes. Instead of charging headlong
towards a goal, the individual can address other
factors.
Muscular tension,
alignment, good body use, balance,
mindfulness and
emotional awareness should be taken into account when exercising.
They matter a great deal.
If you exercise with poor use of the skeleton,
frozen joints and misalignment... there will be
a price to pay. Imagine driving your car with a flat tyre? Playing a guitar
with missing strings?
Ignoring a problem is unlikely to result in it going away...
Sitting
One of the biggest problems facing modern society is the fact that people
sit too much. Sitting on your backside is not good for your
health.
Get off
your backside!
Dr Michael Greger (author of How Not To
Die) recommends 90 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise every day.
Moderate-intensity exercise
There are a number of alternative exercise methods that are
moderate-intensity. Many of them have the
advantage of being hundreds, if not thousands of
years old.
Some have been subjected to extensive medical research over many decades.
Qigong and
tai chi stand out as two forms of exercise
that most people can do.
Tai chi is ideal
The three doctors who wrote The Okinawa Program maintain that
tai chi -
with its ancient origins and incredible health
benefits - is the ideal form of
exercise for modern
people.
The mild nature of tai chi means that you can easily get
up and do a small amount of exercise on a regular basis.
It will improve circulation, increase
strength and mobility and make you more
healthy.
Tai chi is often described as
"meditation in motion," but it might well be called "medication in motion."
There is growing evidence that this mind-body practice, which originated in
China as a martial art, has value in treating or preventing many health
problems. And you can get started even if you aren't in top shape or the
best of health.
Tai chi differs from other types of exercise in several respects. The
movements are usually circular and never forced, the muscles are relaxed
rather than tensed, the joints are not fully extended or bent, and
connective tissues are not stretched. Tai chi addresses the key components
of
fitness — muscle strength, flexibility, balance, and, to a lesser degree,
aerobic conditioning.
(Harvard Medical School’s Harvard Health Publication, May 2009)
Isn't tai chi just for old people?
Is being healthy just for
old people?
Although many people seek to use tai chi as a means of curing illness, this
is not where its strength lies.
Tai chi is best employed whilst healthy, not
sick.
When a healthy person does tai chi they are more apt to remain healthy.
It takes far less effort to prevent something than to
cure it...
Tai chi was never designed for the aged
or the sick.
Tai chi for health is a
simplified,
slow motion,
non-martial
exercise adapted from tai chi.
Tai chi is an
advanced fighting method once taught
to the
Manchu Emperor's elite
palace
guards.
Tai chi is a
martial art. It involves
combat. Not many tai chi
classes teach an authentic tai chi syllabus these days...
Better
late than never?
A lot of people seek to
exercise later
in life.
This is good.
But not as good as exercising
throughout your
life.
The later you leave it, the harder it will be, and the more limited the results.
Standing qigong
The ancient Chinese exercise of qigong
is either performed standing completely still or moving in an easy, comfortable
manner. There are no exertive stretches. No pain.
At first the standing postures will be difficult because your body isn't
familiar with them and your muscles, tendons and ligaments are not appropriately
engaged. You are likely to be tense.
What happens if the qigong exercise feels like hardship?
Lower your arms and try again another day.
This way, your strength, stamina and endurance are
gradually increased.
Moving
qigong
Moving qigong is easier than standing qigong. The challenge here is
coordination. People like to think of themselves
as being well coordinated but are often far from it.
Every movement is performed in a relaxed manner. No muscle tension.
No straining. No forcing. It
may even feel like you aren't really doing anything.
Tai chi
Tai chi is not exertive. It should not hurt the
back, shoulders or
the knees.
There is very little risk of injury. Tai chi works both
mind and body:
The 'motor skills'
acquired from tai chi practice will affect every
aspect of your life, making
day-to-day movement more comfortable,
balanced,
ergonomic and natural.
Rather than an isolated activity performed at the
gym, tai chi is something that you take home with you and use in your
everyday life. It has a practical,
functional value.
Isn't tai chi just slow motion
exercise?
No.
Some of the training methods are slow,
and some are not.
As the student gains greater skill, their
movements become fluid and
dynamic.
They move at whatever speed the
situation demands.
You decide
The advantage with milder exercise is that the individual gets
to decide how difficult they want it to be. People who want a gentle
improvement just do a little practice.
Those with greater ambitions tailor
their training accordingly. This is why we
offer:
Students
may train at whatever level they are
capable of doing. Our program is entirely self-differentiating.
The principles, tactics and skills of tai chi are radically
different from those of the much greater number of
external martial arts styles.
Although all martial arts styles are designed to be effective in combat, the
internal martial arts styles and tai chi in particular, emphasis
efficiency as much as effectiveness.
Efficiency is measured by the ability to achieve success by using the
absolute minimum amount of effort necessary.
(Zhang Yun)
Coordination
One of the main features of tai chi is coordination. Human
beings need to be coordinated. We use our bodies all the time.
Your body should respond instantly to the dictates of the
mind.
Most adults consider themselves to be
coordinated... Oh, really? We like to test
this out.
Baoding balls are
an easy way to see how flexible your hands are. To do it correctly, the
balls need to be quite heavy and the largest that will fit into your hand.
Try 50 rotations per hand without touching the balls together. It should
take about 30 seconds to perform with one hand.
Coordination #2
Method #2 for testing coordination is 'form'. The
Long Yang form movements are actually quite
simple. But very few people
start tai chi classes with the wherewithal to perform the movements
correctly.
Usually their body is not doing what their mind thinks it is doing. The
student thinks that they are doing well until they look in the mirror (or you
take a photograph).
Coordination is a skill. It requires training. Discovering the 'biomechanics'
behind the tai chi movements is fascinating. You learn more about the human
body, and in doing so, about yourself.
Realistic, everyday functionality
Tai chi is not about winning the marathon or looking cool.
It is about not needing to visit the
doctor. Being able to squat with ease. Not having a bad
back or knees that
hurt.
It is about having nimble, light,
graceful, agile feet.
Strength that doesn't require you to be
'pumped up' or even to
tense your muscles. Tai chi is about
feeling good. Every
day. Rejuvenated.
The training sharpens the mind, improves
awareness,
memory, attention
span and dexterity.
Worth reading
•
Biomechanics
•
Exercise
•
Physical education
• Use it or lose it
Page created
18 April 2012
Last updated
16 June 2023
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