Source: Morey Stettner, Investor's
Business Daily
THE CHINESE ART HAS MENTAL AND PHYSICAL
BENEFITS.
Tai chi. It's the newest exercise craze
for many busy executives. Yet it has been around for at least 2,000
years.
This slow, graceful activity began in
China where thousands of people still meet in parks to perform the
dance-like moves. Through flowing, stylized motions they focus on positive
thoughts and feeling calm.
American tai chi instructors report a
surge in interest from business people in search of stress relief.
Recent medical studies that indicate tai chi can produce physical as
well as mental benefits are adding to the momentum.
"I've seen a lot of exercise fads
like jogging and kick boxing, but tai chi's popularity is
different," said Douglas Lake, president of Comprehensive Survival
Arts, a school that teaches self-defense and martial arts in Baltimore.
"Because of its low-impact nature,
tai chi takes less of a toll on the body," he said. "An
increasing number of people are discovering it and integrating it into
their lives. It's portable, so you can even do it in your hotel
room."
Long known as a means of "moving
meditation," tai chi has only recently been embraces as a form of
physical fitness worldwide. It's been shown to lower blood pressure,
increase circulation, and tone muscles.
Most medical researchers are studying how
tai chi affects the physical condition of older participants.
Earlier this year, for instance, a Johns
Hopkins University study found that among a group of sedentary men and
women age 60 and up with high blood pressure, 12 weeks of tai chi
lowered their blood pressure as much as aerobic exercise.
Among the study's 62 participants, half
were assigned to a regime of speed walking and aerobics. The other half
learned tai chi. The groups exercised four times a week for 30 minutes
at a time. After 12 weeks, the tai chi group's average systolic blood
pressure fell by 7 milliliters of mercury, compared with 8.4 in the
aerobic group.
"You would expect blood pressure to
fall when people begin doing regular aerobic exercise," said
Deborah R. Young, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins
University, who led the study. "But we found that tai chi also
helped bring blood pressure down."
A '96 study at the Emory University
School of Medicine involving 215 people 70 and older also found that
regular tai chi sessions led to lower blood pressure. Plus, it concluded
these individuals reduced their risk of falls by almost half since tai
chi helped them improve their balance.
Business people in stressful jobs find
that tai chi offers many therapeutic benefits. The key is to learn the
moves and stock to a regime.
"Tai chi gives me a stronger focus,
better crises management skills, and it controls my asthma so that I'm
off my medications," said Elizabeth Holmes, business manager of a
food processing company in Boston.
Like many executives, Holmes takes
one-on-one tai chi sessions. Private instruction can cost $30 to $50 an
hour, Lake says. "The class setting is traditionally more popular.
But private intensive lessons are newer and catching on among executives
with tight schedules," he added.
A big part of tai chi is learning to
maintain a position such as stretching your arms in front of you while
bending your knees without fidgeting or losing your focus. Mastering
this skill can pay off in many ways.
"In my business, there's a tendency
to adopt a chaotic mind-set," said Jerel Brager, an institutional
bond salesman at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's Baltimore office.
"Tai Chi brings immediate benefits
in terms of concentration, relaxation, and physical and mental
balance," he said. "And it takes no equipment, isn't costly,
and doesn't take that much time."
Source: Morey Stettner, Investor's
Business Daily
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