Why JinLi Wushu-Tai Chi Actively Supports Victorian Seniors Week

Every year, JinLi Wushu-Tai Chi actively supports Victorian Seniors week to ensure as many senior Australians are exposed to the health benefits of Tai Chi and Qigong as possible.

Tai Chi and Qigong have been practiced in China for centuries but it is only in the last 25 years or so that the West is finally recognising the incredible health-giving properties of these practices. Here is a short list of the scientifically acknowledged benefits:
1. Reduces blood pressure
2. Relieves the physical effects of stress
3. Promotes deep breathing
4. Improves sleep function
5. Relieves pain associated with muscle atrophy and joint stiffness
6. Reduces bone loss in menopausal women
7. Improves lower body and leg strength
8. Helps with arthritis pain
9. Fights depression and anxiety
10. Accumulates energy by releasing endorphins
11. Enhances mental capacity and concentration
12. Improves balance and stability by strengthening ankles and knees
13. Promotes faster recovery from strokes and heart attacks
14. Improves conditions of Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and Parkinson’s

A comprehensive review of the health benefits of Qigong and Tai Chi was undertaken by Roger Jahnke OMD, Linda Larkey PhD, Carol Rogers, Jennifer Etnier PhD, and Fang Lin (available at the US National Library of Medicine) stating “A compelling body of research emerges when Tai Chi studies and the growing body of Qigong studies are combined. The evidence suggests that a wide range of health benefits accrue in response to these meditative movement forms, some consistently so, and some with limitations in the findings thus far. This review has identified numerous outcomes with varying levels of evidence for the efficacy for Qigong and Tai Chi, including bone health, cardiopulmonary fitness and related biomarkers, physical function, falls prevention and balance, general quality of life and patient reported outcomes, immunity, and psychological factors such as anxiety, depression and self-efficacy. A substantial number RCTs have demonstrated consistent, positive results especially when the studies are designed with limited activity for controls. When both Tai Chi and Qigong are investigated together, as two approaches to a single category of practice, meditative movement, the magnitude of the body of research is quite impressive.”

This review was published in 2010. Since that time, Western scientific interest has grown dramatically with dozens and dozens of research projects being undertaken every year. Harvard Medical School has even set up a specific program within the Osher Research Center devoted to Tai Chi and Mind-Body Research, so we are just scratching the surface of knowing the full extent of Tai Chi and Qigong’s amazing health benefits. In the meantime, anecdotal evidence suggests the results are likely to be immeasurable.

So there has never been a better time to start embracing Tai Chi and Qigong as a gentle, non-invasive, inexpensive way of staying healthy well into old age. If you are curious, please come to any of JinLi’s classes and find out for yourself why practitioners are living longer, healthier and happier lives.