Be stronger longer! Older people thrive with Taoist Tai Chi® practice
Are you or is someone you know slowing down, losing balance, flexibility or strength? Are there times you feel lonely or wish you were more connected to something that brings you joy and vitality?
The senior years bring physical challenges: maintaining balance, strength and flexibility as well as bone mass. With Taoist Tai Chi® practice older adults become more mobile, more stable on their feet and gain increased resilience, confidence and stamina. Seniors who practise the Taoist Tai Chi® arts find a sense of lightness and well being. They make new friends and feel more connected to others and to life in general.
Seniors Flourish with Taoist Tai Chi® arts
On Oct 1st, 2017, a live video connected seniors who practise the Taoist Tai Chi® arts in many different countries including Canada, the USA, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Spain and New Zealand.
Here participants share their stories. Older persons and the Taoist Tai Chi® arts — the perfect match!
Healthy Ageing with Taoist Tai Chi® arts
Taoist Tai Chi® practice Improves Health at the Cellular Level
Through qualitative evidence and contemporary scientific research we know that Tai Chi is good for a wide range of health challenges. As well, we see that people who practice Taoist Tai Chi® arts age well. Here Dr. Andrew Kirby discusses the cellular biological mechanisms that make Taoist Tai Chi® practice so effective.
Research and News: Seniors and Tai Chi
“A growing body of carefully conducted research is building a compelling case for tai chi as an adjunct to standard medical treatment for the prevention and rehabilitation of many conditions commonly associated with age,” says Peter M. Wayne, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Tai Chi and Mind-Body Research Program at Harvard Medical School’s Osher Research Center.
Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School May 2009
http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-health-benefits-of-tai-chi
The research evidence shows excellent benefits of Tai Chi for preventing falls, for improving balance, improving cognitive capacity, good evidence for improving strength in the lower limbs, and reducing the severity of depression.
Canadian Family Physician (official journal of the College of Family Physicians of Canada), Nov 2016
https://www.cfp.ca/content/62/11/881
This article reviews the well researched benefits of Tai Chi.
Jane Brody, The New York Times, Sep 10, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/well/move/using-tai-chi-to-build-strength.html
Healthy Ageing - A Positive Outlook on Life
What older practitioners are saying about practising the Taoist Tai Chi ® arts
Ageing with vitality
“This is the best decision of my life that I joined Taoist Tai Chi® arts. I enjoy the health benefits as well as social, and emotional. I have more pain free days and am able to keep up with active grandchildren. Thank you.”
– Urmil, Orléans, Canada
“In the twenty years I have watched many people just come to life with the friendship and sense of community (belonging) over and above the physical benefits of the practice. This is, in and of itself, satisfying to my soul.”
– Margaret, Dartmouth, Canada
Making new friends
“An instant feeling of belonging.”
– Denise, Trenton, Canada
Ageing with confidence / Continuing to learn
“Becoming an instructor enabled me to grow from having no voice to being confident.”
– Wade, New Zealand
Ageing with heart / Volunteering
Taoist Tai Chi® practice has given me a terrific sense of purpose. I like to help others and I don’t want to take all the oxygen for free.
– Ginette, Lanaudier, Canada
A multiplicity of benefits
I have been a student of Taoist Tai Chi® arts for a year and this has completely transformed my life.
I joined knowing Taoist Tai Chi® practice would help my health. I was concerned about mobility issues as I am getting older and I had also just come through some pretty serious health scares which left me emotionally and physically exhausted. I spent too much time at home becoming more negative. I believed I was at the beginning of an increasingly depressing ageing process.
Within months of starting classes the torn rotator cuff began to heal. In 6 months my range of motion was back and now the pain is a distant memory. Taoist Tai Chi® arts did what years of costly physiotherapy could not do. My balance is coming back. My osteoarthritis doesn’t slow me down anymore. I have energy, afternoon naps are a thing of the past. But it gets better. A lot better.
My outlook on life has become more positive. The “peace, acceptance and love” I feel while doing Taoist Tai Chi® arts now overflows into my everyday life. The calm experienced through this “moving meditation” helps me deal with life’s little frustrations. I am once again “the glass is half full” kind of person! Taoist Tai Chi® practice has breathed life back into me. And an extra special bonus is the wonderful friends I have made. I have a healthy social life; we do lunch, coffee and get together for mahjong, etc. I feel more fulfilled and balanced and look forward to everyday. Taoist Tai Chi® arts are truly amazing. It is so very much more than just moving the body. I thank Taoist Tai Chi® practice for saving my life.
– Camille, Vernon, Canada
Caregiver Support
After my wife died Taoist Tai Chi® arts helped me cope with the grieving process. The calming yet focused “moving meditation” was an enormous help in giving me back a purpose for living.”
– Michael, St. Catharines, Canada
My Taoist Tai Chi® practice kept me going when my husband was going through significant health issues. It gave me physical and emotional support.
– Joy, Langley, Canada
How does Taoist Tai Chi® practice help?
Taoist Tai Chi® arts involve a full range of motion with deep stretching and continuous turning of the spine. They exercise the whole physiology including muscular, skeletal, and circulatory systems, as well as tendons, joints, connective tissue and organs.
This whole body approach has a profound effect on our health, increasing strength, flexibility and resilience, whatever our condition.
Taoist Tai Chi® arts are also a form of moving meditation that has a deep effect on the brain, calming and clearing the mind.
Move Confidently – Be Active – Be Social
