Exercise/Breathing

Benefits Of Tai Chi and Breathing
As I mention constantly, exercise is absolutely critical in maintaining your health and building immunity for illness and diseases. While a low impact cardiovascular workout is an important addition to our weekly routine, the practice of breathing is more important and often ignored. This can be achieved by just walking 30-40 minutes a day.

I am not saying anything new. Go back to twelfth century China and see how the development of Tai Chi was understood as an essential practice for healthy living.

Despite being novices, the Tai Chi students also showed significant improvements in measures of physical performance, mental health and sense of energy. It is quite possible that other forms of exercises could be equally valuable, however, past studies in the elderly have demonstrated Tai Chi to be superior to aerobics or walking.

An article in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society stated that sixteen weeks of Tai Chi classes provided less risk for developing shingles (aka ,Herpes Zoster virus). Both the Tai Chi students and the controls received a shot of vaccine but those who practiced this ancient Chinese exercise built stronger immunity.  In another study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, scientists from the University of South Florida and Fudan University in Shanghai found Tai Chi increased brain size and improved memory.

It has been twenty years since Herb Benson, MD published The Relaxation Response. Clinical studies continue to inform us that relaxation (such as stimulation of your parasympathetic nervous system–not the fight-or-flight sympathetic response) is a vital antidote for our stress-filled lives.

Century old anecdotes may lead to modern antidotes.