Happy World Tai Chi and Qigong Day!

World Tai Chi and Qigong Day was first launched in 1999 in Kansas City, Missouri, where the Kansas City Tai Chi Club held a public demonstration and class with over 300 attendees. With coverage from CNN Headline News, the event quickly gained national, and then international attention. The event has been proclaimed or recognized by the Governors of 25 U.S. states, the Senates of California, New York, and Puerto Rico, the United Nations World Health Organization, and by countries as diverse as Brazil and Croatia.

World Tai Chi and Qigong Day is held every April 30th in hundreds of cities in over 80 countries around the world, and has led to programs being developed to present Tai Chi from places as varied as schools (from preschools to high schools to universities), prisons (such as the infamous Folsom Prison, where Tai Chi was found to drastically reduce recidivism rates in prisoners) to large corporations. WTCQD was created with the following purposes as the guiding intents:

1. To educate the world about the profound health & healing benefits of Tai Chi & Qigong for individuals, communities, and nations.
2. To thank Chinese culture for creating and sharing these profoundly valuable gifts with the world.
3. To bring people together across racial, economic, religious, and geo-political boundaries; to join together for the purpose of health and healing, providing an example to the world.
4. To give a powerful example of how the power of the Internet can be used to foster global health & healing.

"One World, One Breath" is the motto of the organizers of the event, and it's a powerful one! What a beautiful concept - using Tai Chi and Qigong to not only heal ourselves, but to bring people together and create healing around the world.

So: what are you doing to celebrate World Tai Chi and Qigong Day?

 ​Are you, or someone you know, dealing with Parkinson's disease? If so, Tai Chi may provide needed help.

In an article for Harvard Medical School's Harvard Health Publications blog, Dr. Peter Wayne (author of the excellent "The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi: 12 Weeks to a Healthy Body, Strong Heart, and Sharp Mind" and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School) discusses the effectiveness of Tai Chi as a safe, side-effect free treatment for Parkinson's symptoms (such as tremors, loss of balance, freezing of movement, sleeping problems, and more).

Referring to a study in the famed New England Journal of Medicine by a team at the Oregon Research Institute, he noted that researchers had found that study participants who did Tai Chi twice a week were significantly stronger and had better balance, fewer falls, and slower rates of decline in motor control than participants who did either strength training or stretching!

He also noted that other studies have shown that Tai Chi improves overall quality of life not only for people with Parkinson's disease, but for their support partners as well. Not only that, but it is safe, with very little risk of practitioners (even those with Parkinson's) getting hurt because of their training.

Dr. Wayne goes on to talk a bit more about Parkinson's, noting how the brain disorder affects more than one million Americans, and impacts muscle control, leading to symptoms like trembling, loss of facial expression, and even changes to thinking skills and memory. He notes that, since the New England Journal of Medicine study, Tai Chi classes just for people with Parkinson's disease have been appearing, but this is far from an indictment: he, along with several colleagues at the Harvard Medical School, the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, along with Tai Chi experts, have developed a 12-week Tai Chi Program for Parkinson's patients of their very own.

This team have also begun a new study that will be used to guide future studies into the health benefits of Tai Chi, especially for those recently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He believes that more hospitals and treatment centers will develop and host Tai Chi programs of their own as more scientific evidence mounts regarding the benefits this practice holds for those with Parkinson's disease, as well as others.

​We have found these results to support our own work with Tai Chi students dealing with Parkinson's and other degenerative ailments, and have seen some amazing recoveries from regular practice of this gentle healing art.

The National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health has compiled the results of 20 scientific studies into the health benefits of Tai Chi and Qigong - and the list is pretty amazing. For example, practicing Tai Chi can help:

• ​Improve balance and stability in older people, as well as those with Parkinson's
• Help people cope with fibromyalgia pain
• Help with back pain
• Reduce pain from osteoarthritis in the knees
• Help improve mood and overall quality of life for people with cancer and heart failure

​In fact, the NCCIH is currently funding further research into Tai Chi and its effects on:

• ​Fibromyalgia​
• Knee osteoarthritis
• Anxiety and sleep quality in young adults​

While they have gathered fewer studies on the benefits of Qigong, what they have seen indicates that it helps with:

• ​Reducing chronic neck pain
• Fibromyalgia pain
• Improving overall quality of life

​These studies have also pointed to the psychological benefits to be found in practicing these arts, mainly via anxiety reduction.

​It's great to see not only the scientific community continuing to research the benefits of these amazing healing arts, but to also see that research supported and shared by the Federal government.

​Now, WE know that there are many more benefits to be gained from practicing Qigong and Tai Chi...and you have probably experienced some of them yourself! We'd love to hear about your experiences - please share them on Facebook and the comments below.