Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Monday, March 14, 2011

Tai Chi hits medical mainstream

I read the great news yesterday that doctors at one of our local hospital are offering Tai Chi to their patients for coping with chronic pain. This is good news. But don't be deceived by the term "medical Tai Chi".  Just because a doctor with some Tai Chi training is teaching a high quality of Tai Chi, doesn't mean that all other kinds are useless 'only exercise' done by people in the park.  That's a very broad and unfounded assumption. 
The truth is; that done properly, following all the principles of good Tai Chi:
proper alignment, breathing, mental focus, muscle relaxation, any Tai Chi has the potential to be so called 'medical Tai Chi".  In other words, if you do your moves properly - you will get the health benefits.
This is also the reason why I do not recommend Tai Chi DVD's - it is limited in the expert guidance a live teacher can impart.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Belief is a powerful drug

In his groundbreaking book, The Biology of Belief, Dr. Lipton states, "The notion that only physical molecules can impact cell physiology is outmoded.
"…genes are merely blueprints. They offer the building blocks to make a body, but how those genes are used to make that body is not controlled by the genes—it's actually controlled by our perception of the environment, or how we respond to the environment."
This could explain 'miracle healers' who harness people's strong belief that they can cure diseases.  Given the right physical and energetic conditions, a strong belief can create the environment to promote health. This also explains how some severely ill people who practice visualization can have 'miracle remissions' and return to health.

The effect of our genes or lack of is less of a concern due to the ability of the body to effect something called capacitance, meaning that the genetic network can actually overlap and interact in such a way that even if a gene drops out, it’s function can be covered by other genes in the system."

Change your belief, change your life, change your physiology~
Thanks to Master Chunyi Lin's great article on Attitude