Jim Fixx, author of the bestselling book, The Complete Book of Running, died from a heart attack while jogging at the age of 52.

The USA ranked 12th out of 13 countries looking at 16 health indicators. Japan was first, followed by Sweden, Canada, France, Australia, and Spain. This is while the US is second to Japan in the use of high tech diagnostic procedures.

A study by the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and Harvard University, show that mental illness, which included suicide, ranked second in its burden to impact on the productivity. Cardiovascular disease ranked first and cancer ranked third.

This suggests that the US is doing poorly in standards of both physical and mental health. And jogging by itself is certainly is not doing the whole job when it comes to health.

The problem of the state of our health is a complex one. The matter is probably is multifactorial. It?s not just exercise, it?s not just diet, it?s not just physical and it?s not just psychological.

Today I?d like to urge you consider taichi as a solution to your health problems and for the health of our planet. And the ideal end result of which is I would like you all to come to my taichi class. The essential end result is that you have more mindfulness in whatever you do with your body on a daily basis.

Hundreds of millions of people are already doing taichi and similar breathing exercises such as qigong. Every morning in China, people practice this art.

Taichi is not a complicated thing. All it involves is focusing your mind when you move. Focusing your mind on your body, body awareness, while you move.

Raising one?s arm is not just an automatic thing. The mind focuses within and sees what it takes to make the movement. As you develop more awareness, you are then able to use on those muscles or only the minimum needed to accomplish the task.

How could a simple thing like this have any benefit? Without getting into deep scientific discussion, focusing on your body, minding your move?.is like focusing on anything else in your life?.your career, your relationship, your kids, your car. Whatever you focus on thrives. In taichi we fine tune our focus on the body. We give the body full attention. It is not the same as running 5 miles because you can actually run 5 miles without focusing on the body. Of course, experienced runners are more likely to focus on their bodies?.

What are the benefits of taichi? The primary benefit is the cultivation of this mysterious thing called chi. Chi is the vital force that the acupuncturist is balancing when he sticks you with needles. The word chi for this energy is different from the chi in the term taichi. Chi, the energy, more literally, means breath. In the Taichi Classics, they talk about how when the mind pays attention, there also goes the chi, where the chi goes, so does go blood flow. If a puts attention on his palm, the chi will flow there, and also the blood will engorge the area.

You can get feeling for the chi by a simply rubbing your palms together. Try to rub the centers of both palms against each other. You should feel a strong heat. Then separate the hands and cup them like you were holding a ball. This afterglow feeling is the chi. When you become skilled at taichi, you will be able to create this feeling in your hand by just focusing your mind on your hand.

The cultivation of chi produces better circulation. This means better assimilation of nutrients and better elimination of toxins. One of my theories about cancer has to do with poor circulation of the chi.

Suppose we make an assumption that a certain food has an affinity to a certain part of the body. If you pick beef, where will beef tend to gravitate to? Blood vessels or the heart? You can make these intuitive leaps. When you practice taichi, you do your best to distribute the beef energy throughout the body without allowing it to accumulate in its favorite area. When the residue builds up in a particular area, then cancer is the result.

Taichi teaches you how to use your body more efficiently and therefor conserve energy. By learning to stand properly, you use less energy to hold your self up. We don?t realize how much extra energy we use because we don?t relax into the ground. This involves allowing our hips, knees and ankles to bend more than we?re accustomed to. Most people tend to straighten all of these joints and move around all day exerting more muscular effort than necessary. Taichi can teach you to move throughout the day in a more relaxed way and if you are engaged in any physical activity, perform them in a more relaxed way.

Taichi teaches you abdominal breathing. This is a technique used in psychotherapy to help reduce anxiety. Proper abdominal breathing fills your lungs with more oxygen than with chest breathing as you use your diaphragm muscles and get more air into the lower lobes of your lungs. You may have seen show biz people sucking up oxygen masks behind stage before they come on stage. This greater availability of oxygen helps them to relax. Use of the abdominal muscles also helps with digestion, gastric motility, and regularly?none of you have problems with that, I?m sure.

Taichi can teach you self-defense. Most of you are not natural born killers. Taichi can give you more confidence when you are out in public and give an added edge if you are caught in any unforeseen situation.

The Arthritis Foundation has recognized taichi as a range of motion exercise. Studies by my taichi brother Dr. Tingsen Xu has shown taichi to help with balance in the elderly and thereby reduce the mortality and morbidity associated with falls. Studies to underscore how taichi makes the body operate more efficiently show decreases in blood pressure, lowered oxygen consumption.

I decided to teach a free class so no one would have an excuse like, I can?t afford your class. I?m at Kapiolani Park near the archery range on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5-6 PM. For those of you who would like an adventurous excursion, come to my class at Kailua Beach Park across from Buzz?s Steakhouse on Sat from 8-9 AM. You can have a nice swim or time at the beautiful Kailua Beach or have a nice breakfast at Brent?s Deli in Kailua town.

For those of you who still unconvinced of at least visiting my class. Please use more awareness with whatever you do with your body throughout the day. While waiting for the elevator, while sitting in front of the TV, while doing the dishes?..Let yourself relax more and notice how your body feels. With more body awareness, you will love your body and your body will love you for it!

 

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