Stress, Tai Chi, & Qigong

A brief ‘whinge’

Maybe it’s only because I’m older now (or having an off day), but life appears to be more stressful these days, particularly in a city.

Pollution, noise, the constant advertising which vies for attention with vibrant colours and incessant movement, the pressure to

engage in the economics of the society (buy, buy, buy), the

permanently ‘in contact’ life we lead, and even the lack of real darkness, make me realise that these continuous stresses are one (although not all) of the reasons that Tai Chi and Qigong have so strong an appeal to me.

The ‘Quiet Place’

When doing Tai Chi or Qigong, I can return to myself; it’s like finding the quiet place, where the outside world ceases its demands, and the focus turns inward.

All those movements are designed to help you find the middle place; every time one part of you moves in one direction, another part of you counterbalances in one way or another; so your centre is never lost. You’re playing an internal balancing game. One of the best bits is that you know when you’ve got it right – movement just feels easy, light, balanced, settled, natural (a particularly appropriate word in this context), calm and peaceful. You feel whole.

Your own solar system

Add this to the rhythm of the movements, as though the body is breathing not only through the physical construction of the Form (in this case the expansion and contraction of the individual movements), but also in the way that those same movements are performed (Open/Close, the use of the 8 Energies, 5 Directions, etc.), and the system is perfect.

You are balancing your own solar system.

Cut down on your cortisol

Both Tai Chi and Qigong help the lymphatic system function more efficiently; they quite literally ‘pump’ it. The lymphatic tissue both transports nutrients through the body, and helps to wash the rubbish out; in the same way that the veins and arteries move the blood around the body, the lymphatic system moves the body’s water around.

When we are stressed, the balancing game between the ‘stress hormone’ – cortisol, (there’s an increase in production), and the lymphatic system, notches up a gear, and if we are stressed for long periods of time (chronic), the lymphatic system can stop doing its job. As a result of this, our stress levels increase (Catch-22), and we start to collect the rubbish (toxins) in the body, which stresses us even further (another Catch-22), and as the lymphatic system works in close collaboration with the immune system (yet another balancing act), your immunity is compromised, and of course the body has to get ill in order to give itself a break from the stress.

Neat!

Initially, Qigong might be easier

Of course, the ability to de-stress using Tai Chi assumes, at least initially, that you’re not

trying to remember the next move, which is where Qigong steps in.

If you’re doing some of the more mobile, repetitive Qigongs, you can sometimes reach that ‘quiet place’ more easily, because the next move is merely a repetition of the previous move, and because of this, you can adopt a more meditative approach more quickly. If you’re doing Standing Qigong (Zhan Zhuang), there’s no external movement, all the balancing takes place inside you. You could argue that this is stressful in a different way in that it can be physically demanding, and also because your mind won’t stop hopping around, but this does very much depend upon the individual. In this respect, qigong is a great way to start learning Tai Chi; it’s certainly easier from a ‘learning movement’ point of view, and yet will teach you the fundamentals of Tai Chi.

James Drewe teaches Tai Chi and Qigong in both London and in Kent and online.

Details of weekly classes both live and online can be found on the website, and there are classes for 2-person Tai Chi on one Saturday a month.