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Tai Chi

Tai Chi, pronounced "tie chee," is a gentle exercise program that is a part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Derived from the martial arts, Tai Chi is composed of slow, deliberate movements, meditation, and deep breathing, which enhance physical health and emotional well being.

As are many practices from the East, Tai Chi is based on spiritual and philosophical ideas that advocate a need for balance in the body, mind and spirit. Central to Tai Chi is the idea that qi (pronounced "chee"), or life energy, flows throughout the body. Qi must be able to move freely for good health. The principle of yin / yang is important, too. Yin and yang are opposite and complementary forces in the universe, such as light and dark. Tai Chi is meant to harmonize these pairs of opposites. Finally, Tai Chi imitates motion found in nature, such as the movements of animals, thereby uniting human beings with the natural world.

Tai Chi Components

Tai Chi has three major components — movement, meditation and deep breathing.

• Movement — All the major muscle groups and joints are needed for the slow, gentle movements in Tai Chi. Tai Chi improves balance, agility, strength, flexibility, stamina, muscle tone and coordination. This low-impact, weight-bearing exercise strengthens bones and can slow bone loss, thus preventing the development of osteoporosis.
• Meditation — Research shows that meditation soothes the mind, enhances concentration, reduces anxiety and lowers blood pressure and heart rate.
• Deep breathing — Exhaling stale air and toxins from the lungs while inhaling a plentitude of fresh air increases lung capacity, stretches the muscles involved in breathing and releases tension. It also enhances blood circulation to the brain, which boosts mental alertness. At the same time, the entire body is supplied with fresh oxygen and nutrients.

Tai Chi Benefits

Tai Chi improves overall fitness, coordination, and agility. People who practice Tai Chi on a regular basis tend to have good posture, flexibility, and range of motion, are more mentally alert, and sleep more soundly at night.

Tai Chi is both a preventive and a complementary therapy for a wide range of conditions. Specifically, it is beneficial for chronic pain, gout, heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, osteoporosis, headaches, and sleep disorders. Tai Chi is also beneficial for the immune system and the central nervous system, which makes it especially good for people with a chronic illness, anxiety, depression or any stress-related conditions. The deep breathing of Tai Chi regulates the respiratory system, helping to treat respiratory ailments such as asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema. It also stimulates the abdomen, which aids digestion and helps relieve constipation and gastrointestinal conditions. Many studies indicate that elderly people who practice Tai Chi are much less prone to falls, a serious health risk to people in that age group.

Zen Yoga

Zen Yoga is a century old-tradition of Eastern Indian and Asian practices of static postures, stretching, breathing and meditating.

Da Mo' an Indian Buddhist monk saw in his travels to China in 527, A.D. that people did not have a balanced culture. He instilled in China "zen yoga" practices, to bring an evolution of consciousness and wisdom to the mind and body. Zen Yoga traveled from India to Korea, China, Japan and, finally to California.

Today, the teachings of "Zen Yoga" has been incorporated in cultures throughout India, Asia, and is flowering in the minds and bodies of western civilizations.

What is Included in Zen Yoga?

Zen Yoga concept includes spas, traditional and alternative medicine, behavioral therapy, spirituality, fitness, nutrition and beauty. Zen Yoga works especially well with customers who demand a holistic approach to wellness. People want more out of life than just fitness, medical healing or spa treatments. They want a wellness approach that covers all grounds of health, healing and longevity.

Zen Yoga is based on harmonizing mind and body through the balance of the five elements:

• Mental Clarity — Reduce stress through mental focus and meditation.
• Physical Wellness — The practice of static postures, stretching, spa and herbal therapies and breathing.
• Emotional Serenity — Unlocking the secrets to accepting the now versus the future or past.
• Inner Peace — By stopping the mind you remove inner-conflict.
• Greater Vitality — Circulation is achieved through deep breathing, physical movement and herbology.

Why Practice Zen Yoga?

There are many benefits to living the Zen Yoga lifestyle. Daily practice of Zen Yoga reduces stress by calming the mind, improves physical health, increases mental clarity, vitality and promotes inner peace. The Zen Yoga philosophy works to heal the mind and body from the inside out. It is about being in the moment and being in touch with the here and now.

Why is Zen Yoga Important?

Three are three main reasons a holistic approach to wellness is achieved through Zen Yoga:

1. Stress related diseases is the number one cause of death in Western civilization. An increasingly sedentary lifestyle in modern culture is prompting more Americans to seek mind / body physical health. Zen Yoga combines physical movement with mind awareness to create a complete mind / body wellness program.
2. Life expectancy is growing. People are living today than ever before. Western science has been successful with increasing the length of life, but not the quality. By applying the Zen Yoga Lifestyles, you can enhance the quality of that life.
3. There is growing evidence that focusing holistically on wellness can reduce health-care costs by emphasizing prevention over treatment. More Americans are taking wellness into their own hands. Rather than focusing on physical fitness, Americans are seeking a complete health, healing and wellness approach for longevity.

Chi-Gong

Chi-Gong — "Energy-Cultivation" — is a Zen Living component involving the coordination of different breathing patterns with various physical postures and motions of the body.

Chi-Gong is mostly taught for health maintenance purposes, but there are also some who teach it as a therapeutic intervention. Various forms of traditional Chi-Gong are also widely taught in conjunction with the other Zen Living Components such as Zen Yoga, Tai Chi, Kung Fu and Meditation.

Why Practice Chi-Gong?

Regular students of Chi-Gong breathing state that they feel "energized" after going through the breathing exercises and they were able to complete daily activities more easily. Other benefits include increased lung capacity by greater oxygenation of blood, improved circulation, and better digestion.

Many people see that regular practice of Chi-Gong results in fewer colds, more energy and greater endurance. Chi-Gong students who originally had been severe, activity-restricted asthmatics respond that after practicing qigong breathing, they became very active and also noticed a marked decrease in the use of their asthma medications.

Chi-Gong Breathing Exercises

The basic practices of Chi-Gong breathing are simple. To start, imagine your lungs are two balloons inside your chest. Then follow these basic steps:

Step 1. Exhale completely then close your eyes and breathe in slowly through the nose. Focus on maximizing the expansion of the lungs.

Step 2. When your lungs feel full, stop. Open your mouth and take one last breath in, topping off your lungs.

Step 3. Hold your breath in for a moment and then exhale completely, forcing out as much air as possible by contracting the muscles of the ribcage and stomach. Repeat this three times and notice any changes in feeling within your body.

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