Burn Calories, Dump Stress, Boost Immune Function - Without Sweating?

Time Magazine wrote, ". . . Tai Chi is the perfect exercise . . ." While serving as the Tai Chi Expert at DrWeil.com, I learned that best selling author and acclaimed naturopathic physician, Andrew Weil, suggested that poor breathing habits are at the root of many of our health problems. This was exciting news to me, confirming what I'd spent a lifetime learning in my Qigong (Chi Kung) and Tai Chi education. Yet, Dr. Weil's insights helped me describe to people just why Tai Chi is the perfect exercise.



Qigong, pronounced chee-kung, literally means "breathing exercise." The more popular exercise of Tai Chi is a form of Qigong. Modern medical research is now revealing that Tai Chi & Qigong are powerful health sciences, as well as effective aerobic exercises.



Studies have shown that Tai Chi can lower high blood pressure, and profoundly boost aspects of the immune system, while improving balance and coordination far better than any other known exercise. Tai Chi can reduce or eliminate chronic pain or limited mobility, while lessening the incidence of anxiety, depression, or overall mood disturbance. Tai Chi is the lowest impact exercise there is, and has even been used by those with arthritis, yet as gentle as it is it burns about 280 calories per hour, and provides roughly the same cardiovascular benefits of moderate impact aerobics.



Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? But, it is true, and this is only scratching the surface of what Tai Chi offers our busy lives. Not only can Tai Chi do all these amazing things, but it is so multi-dimensional that it provides these healing results to all the systems of our mind, body, and spirit in a regimen that only takes less than 30 minutes a day, and can be done in office attire at work in an empty boardroom or stock room. Anywhere where you can have some time alone with a little space to be uninterrupted, making Tai Chi the exercise of the future.



A major fitness manufacturing association recently released a study that found Tai Chi was at the top of the growth charts for health & fitness exercises. For those who’ve learned to enjoy Tai Chi and Qigong’s gentle workouts, this is no surprise, as they’ve seen their outlook improve, and an increased sense of well-being in their lives. Many notice improved sleep, reduced allergy symptoms and lessened asthma symptoms over the years as they practice Tai Chi & Qigong as well.



How does Tai Chi do all of this? Tai Chi is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM. TCM has evolved over thousands of years of medical research in China, and evolved a system to understand how the Qi, or life energy, moves through the mind and body to support all the health systems, mental, emotional, physical, and spritual. When energy is blocked, mainly by unmanaged stress, our health diminishes. What’s fascinating is that modern Western medicine is now beginning to validate the insights of TCM. Kaiser Permanente’s twenty-year study finding that 70 to 85% of their patient’s illnesses sending them to their doctors were caused by stress, absolutely validate TCM’s understanding of our health.



Tai Chi’s gentle movements, breathing techniques, and visualization techniques combine to massage the accumulated stress loads out of our 50 trillion cells in our body. The result is to cultivate a newness of being each time we “play” Tai Chi. The Chinese don’t speak of “work-outs,” but rather “play” Tai Chi. If you can play yourself into a whole new life, a healthy, and happy, and hopeful one . . . why wait?





Recognizing Acute Stress

For those who are familiar with stress, there is a distinct difference between regular stress and acute stress. While regular stress is a part of daily life in the hectic world of today, acute stress is an altogether different animal.

While stress is certainly a problem, considering that it can cause a weakening of the immune system, problems with memory, an inability to concentrate, and coronary disease, acute stress is something else. In fact, acute stress can actually cause a complete mental and physical breakdown.

Acute stress is caused by the most severe circumstances. It is often the result of threatened or actual death, serious injury, or some form of physical violation, such as rape. The person suffering from acute stress usually feels some sort of revulsion or horror at the sight of the event, or from the experience of the event. Then, after acute stress, the person is at serious risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder. Furthermore, the experience of acute stress can have lasting, even permanent effects upon the person who suffered the acute stress and they may not be able to fully adjust to life after the event.

Acute stress is, at its core, a form of psychological trauma, not unlike physical trauma. The person is in such a form of mental distress that the brain is almost incapable of coping with the stress and shuts down. The person who suffers from acute stress feels a sense of numbness and they are unable to connect to the world outside. They cannot adjust to the reality that surrounds them and they are, in many ways, stuck in the moment when they suffered the acute stress.

The problem with acute stress is that it creates a sort of loop tape in the person's mind, in which they continually replay the event over and over again without being able to stop it. The event is so completely consuming and yet so terrible that the person who lived through it continues to think about it until they are almost incapable of moving beyond it.

Unfortunately, the results of acute stress are not merely limited to inward issues. If left unchecked, acute stress can result in anxiety, inability to concentrate, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even nervous breakdown. Thus, acute stress is no minor issue. In fact, it must be dealt with quickly in order to prevent serious repercussions upon the mind.

If the symptoms of acute stress, such as detachment, anxiety, or a general desire to avoid anything that may remind the person of the event that caused the acute stress, it is generally considered that the acute stress has transitioned into post-traumatic stress disorder. Thus, anyone who has suffered acute stress should seek some sort of treatment so that this does not happen.

The first form of treatment that comes to most peoples' minds is psychotherapy. The sessions with a psychiatrist or psychologist are at least familiar to people and they are very useful for treating acute stress. However, many people shy away from psychotherapy simply because of the stigma attached to it.

Another method of therapy for acute stress is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is designed to help people deal with their problems or fears through a combination of treatments all working toward the same goal. The cognitive portion of CBT treats the mind and helps it think differently about its memories. Then, the behavioral portion helps the person by exposing them to things that will force them to confront their fears or their problems. The behavioral method is already well known as a treatment for phobias and the cognitive treatment is familiar from psychotherapy. However, by combining these methods into one holistic treatment, CBT can bring about some very good results.

Another method for combating acute stress and its aftermath is through medication. Depending on the symptoms, a doctor might prescribe an antidepressant, an anti-anxiety drug, or perhaps some other form of medication. However, people must be very careful with these mood-altering medications, since they do tend to alter the way they think. Thus, people taking medications like these must monitor themselves and see how they react to their effects.

Overall, acute stress is manageable and it is treatable. And it should be treated, as it can lead to depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even a complete mental breakdown.

Though people may think that they are handling it fine, acute stress is a form of mental trauma that is essentially comparable to physical trauma; the more severe the trauma, the more severe the results on the person. Thus, anyone who has suffered from some traumatic experience that doesn't seem to want to go away should seek treatment as soon as possible. Though people can't change what happened to them, they can do something to prevent the memories of it from taking over their lives.