The Healing Power of Tai Chi
“Begin practicing softness and the relationship between your body and breath in a way that is simple enough and everyday enough that it doesn’t become separate from the rest of life.”
I recently interviewed Michael Taylor, co-founder of Strala, about the power of movement as medicine on The Healing Catalyst podcast. Michael has practiced Eastern movement and healing techniques including tai chi, qigong, and shiatsu, for more than three decades.
As a long-time yoga practitioner myself, I’ve experienced the power of intentional movement to heal my body, mind, and soul. I admire other healing traditions and am always eager to learn how they align and differ from Ayurveda. Which is why I was so happy to learn more about Tai Chi–a Chinese martial art–from Michael Taylor.
Creating softness.
In our conversation, I was really struck by a concept Michael calls ‘softness’. He described softness as being open and receptive to making adjustments. In Tai Chi, this literally translates to not holding tension or locking up muscles that would prevent movement. And figuratively, softness is also a flexible mindset that allows you to be bendable or unfixed in your approach or way of thinking.
For Michael, softness is a prerequisite to awareness because you need that open mindset to receive the messages that awareness brings.
Awareness is a tool for healing.
The practice of Tai Chi is meant to bring the inner and outer selves into harmony with each other. In Tai Chi, the life force energy is called qi and the practice of Tai Chi helps life force energy move through the body. Similar to yoga, the breath, body, and mind come together to increase our awareness and come into harmony.
When that awareness is paired with movement, it allows us to observe where something isn’t working. When you’re aware, you’ll receive the body’s message that something is hurting or out of balance. So you transform or adjust the movement rather than push through and suffer.
Applying Tai Chi to relationships.
As with yoga, the concepts of softness, awareness, and creating harmony impact more than our relationship with our bodies.
If you’re braced for impact when you encounter another person, they will sense that about you and it influences your entire relationship with them. But when you hold yourself flexible and open, you create space for them to influence you as you influence them.
And when you have this kind of awareness and openness with others, you’re also open to your internal signals and messages. You might notice more quickly when something isn’t working in a relationship and be able to make adjustments
Movement as medicine.
I was so inspired by my conversation with Michael Taylor and this blog post is just a snapshot. I hope you’ll listen to the episode to learn more about:
The differences between the various martial & healing arts
The four-step process of using Tai Chi in our everyday
Tai chi’s role in health and longevity
This post is part of a series on movement as medicine. Listen to part two of this interview with Tara Stiles to learn about how to practice yoga in a Tai Chi way.
Be well,
Avanti Kumar-Singh, MD
P.S. Looking for more movement as medicine? Try the other posts in this series: