Spirit of the Organs
Science and Soul Behind Energize Organs and Meridians QiGong
by Dr. Gayl Hubatch, OMD, LAc

What if you had a direct communication with your internal organs? You could empower yourself through knowing that the body does talk while building an awareness of how to interpret its messages. Wow!

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) describes an essence, a spirit or soul of each of the main yin organ systems. The heart is considered the master or monarch of all the organ systems. In the meridian system, the heart also includes the circulatory system the blood vessels.      

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The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 (CARA) required the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force develop the Draft Report on Pain Management Best Practices: Updates, Gaps, Inconsistencies, and Recommendations (Draft Report) which identified gaps or inconsistencies, and proposed updates to best practices and recommendations for pain management, including chronic and acute pain. CARA also required the public to have an opportunity to provide comments on the Draft Report during a 90 day public comment period, which occurred December 31, 2018 – April 1, 2019. 

A recent article appearing in UK's The Telegraph states that research suggests retirees may cut the risk of falls by a fifth by practicing Tai Chi and other exercise programs, research suggests.

A study involving Oxford University found that elderly people enrolled in fitness classes to improve their strength were far less likely to end up suffering potentially deadly injuries.

The research, which examined 108 trials, with 23,407 participants, found that classes which aim to improve balance and functional exercise cut the risk of falls by 23 per cent.

Do you or someone you know suffer from Fibromyalgia? This March, 2018 article, Tai Chi Beats Aerobic Exercise for Fibromyalgia, may be of interest. Please feel free to share.

Be well,
Your Friends at the Healer Within Foundation

The Health Benefits of Tai Chi

This gentle form of exercise can help maintain strength, flexibility, and balance, and could be the perfect activity for the rest of your life.

Tai chi is often described as "meditation in motion," but it might well be called "medication in motion." There is growing evidence that this mind-body practice, which originated in China as a martial art, has value in treating or preventing many health problems. And you can get started even if you aren't in top shape or the best of health.

In this low-impact, slow-motion exercise, you go without pausing through a series of motions named for animal actions — for example, "white crane spreads its wings" — or martial arts moves, such as "box both ears." As you move, you breathe deeply and naturally, focusing your attention — as in some kinds of meditation — on your bodily sensations. Tai chi differs from other types of exercise in several respects. The movements are usually circular and never forced, the muscles are relaxed rather than tensed, the joints are not fully extended or bent, and connective tissues are not stretched. Tai chi can be easily adapted for anyone, from the most fit to people confined to wheelchairs or recovering from surgery.

Harvard Medical School Reports

Some solid research shows that tai chi can benefit people with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, tension headache, and other ongoing, painful conditions. In one trial, for example, 66 people with fibromyalgia were randomized into two groups: one group took tai chi classes twice a week, the other group attended wellness education and stretching sessions twice a week. After 12 weeks, those in the tai chi group reported less pain, fewer depression symptoms, and better sleep than the control group. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Are You Self-Centered?

by Brian Trzaskos, IIQTC/Tai Chi Easy™ Senior Trainer
PT LMT CSCS CMP MI-C

Finding ways to center ourselves during the day may be the key to unlocking a more enjoyable work life. Tai Chi employs a very simple process to center the body, breath, and mind.

Begin by standing with relaxed and flexible knees. Next, imagine a long dinosaur tail extending from your sacrum and reaching twenty feet behind you; rest this heavy tail on the ground and allow it to act like a kickstand. Now visualize a string attached to the crown of your head, lifting you up towards the sky.  Allow your spine to become “a string of pearls suspended from heaven” as the classic Tai Chi texts proclaim. In sinking the pelvis and lifting the head, the body enters into a more balanced and coherent state, described by many experts as a dynamic equilibrium. In his book, Energy Medicine, Oschman notes that “Robbie (1977) reached the conclusion that soft tissues around the spine, when under appropriate tension, can actually lift each vertebrae off the one below it.”

Qigong Institute Provides Valuable Research Information

Current research articles on Qigong, Tai Chi and other mind, body, spirit practices can easily be found at the Qigong Institute's website. Their Research Page includes helpful search features to help you locate articles on the specific topics you may be searching for.

The Qigong Institute is a 501c(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the scientific understanding of the basis of Qigong through research and education. Since 1984 it has been a clearinghouse for related news and scientific facts to aid researchers, writers, Qigong practitioners and teachers, members of the Western medical community, and the members of the general public who are interested in learning more about Qigong and Tai Chi. It's goals are:

• Promoting Qigong via education, research, & clinical studies
• Improving healthcare by integrating Qigong and Western medicine
• Making information on Qigong available to medical practitioners, scientists, the public, and policy makers

2018 Fundraising Campaign

We’re striving to advance the Tai Chi Easy™ Dissemination Project
and need your support! Please donate now through the Autumn Equinox
(September 23, 2018) to help as we continue to grow!
Did you know?

• We’ve increased the number of Tai Chi Easy™ Practice Leader Trainings from five events in 2016, to 10 in 2017. More than 20 training events are anticipated for 2018! Each training event generates an average of 18 new Tai Chi Easy™ Practice Leaders, who learn self-care practices for themselves and then go on to lead others in their local communities.

• Our Tai Chi Easy™ Practice Leader Trainings have been approved for 21 CE hours through the American Holistic Nurses Association. Nurses are learning Tai Chi Easy™ and taking the practice back to their patients, co-workers and medical campuses.

• Tai Chi Easy™ Practice Leader training events are happening across the US and India, and our first European training this June in Northern Ireland!

• We are growing a nationwide network of Community Practice Groups. These community practice groups are how we make self-care practices available to all!
  
  
• A gift of $35 provides a one week stipend to support a community practice group;
  A contribution in the amount of $140 supports a community practice group for one month;
  

  A donation of $225 provides a partial scholarship for Tai Chi Easy™ Practice Leader training,
  and the scholarship recipient's pledge to establish a free or low cost community practice group!

The Tai Chi Easy™ Dissemination Project is the catalyst of our goal, “Training thousands to improve the health of millions.”

This month, our 5th Saturday Gathering will focus on the topic of Medical Qigong. In keeping with that theme, we share an article contributed by IIQTC Senior Trainer, Brian Trzaskos, PT, LMT, CSCS, CMP, MI-C. Thanks to Brian for this great information and insight!

Round Up

Eloquent Tai Chi practice is characterized by rounded patterns of movement, which promotes many health benefits of their own.  Stuart Brown is a play researcher who notes that when children or animals play they move in curvilinear patterns; and while at work or in aggressive situations move in linear or angular patterns.  He continues to report that play states are associated with physiologic processes in alignment with a parasympathetic shift.  If play states or parasympathetic processes naturally engender curvilinear movements, is it possible to mindfully perform rounded movements and in turn affect a parasympathetic shift?

Flu Season: Awakening the Healer Within

Looking at the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) weekly Influenza Summary Map shows widespread flu in most all contiguous 48 states. One contributing factor of the increased number of cases is a particularly nasty strain of influenza being circulated this year, which is rather resistant to the vaccine. News outlets continue to remind us of the severity of flu cases and the dangers to not only the children and elderly, but to all ages. Even the healthiest of folks seem to be more susceptible this year. All the more reason for us to awaken our inner healers through the practice of Qigong and Tai Chi.

Tai Chi can keep us healthy by helping us keep our stress levels in check. Stress has negative effects on the immune system and when our immune system is compromised, we are more susceptible to viruses and germs. If we are practicing Tai Chi we are strengthening our immune systems by reducing the effects of stress. With a stronger immune system, our bodies can more effectively help us fight off influenza and other viruses.

At our most recent 5th Saturday Gathering in the Cloud on December 30th, those present participated in a Gongfu Tea Ceremony. For those not familiar, this ancient Chinese tea ceremony provides so much more than a cup of thoughtfully brewed tea.

The ceremony helps to focus the mind and provides time for calm reflection in our busy lives. The hand movements used by those familiar to the tea ceremony are slow and graceful, almost like a dance...many likenesses to the practice of Tai Chi! The silence during the ceremony is magical and provides time for participants to really focus on all aspects of the tea – the appearance of the tea leaves, the aroma and color of the tea, the beauty of the pot and cups and perhaps most important, the sense of companionship among everyone present. The tea ceremony can be used as a form of meditation and is something you may wish to repeat on a regular basis as part of your relaxation regimen.

Whether you are new to tea ceremonies or have participated in many, you may find the article, Gongfu Tea Ceremony: Cultivating Calm quite interesting and helpful. The article, written by HWF President Josie Weaver, provides both a quick reference guide and detailed instructions for conducting your own Gongfu tea ceremony.