Newsletter #50 - October 2005

In this issue:
-- From Me to You by Dr Lam
-- Tai Chi for Children by the children
-- What Is Tai Chi by Ralph Dehner
-- Breathing and Menopause by Sue Smith-Heavenrich
-- What is "Yuen" from Jason
-- Dear Paul from Pam

Click on the title to read the article, and here to read all previous newsletters

Hello Everyone!

We know Tai Chi improves our physical and mental health. We know that because we have seen and experienced it ourselves, and it makes logical sense. However that is not enough. We need evidence from scientific studies. Over the last ten years increasing evidence has brought support from health professionals around the world. Our team is excited to have received the Cardiovascular Research Grants in General Practice application by the Royal Australia College of General Practice. The grant will be used to study how Tai Chi can improve diabetes management and reduce the risk of heart disease.

One in four Australians either suffer from diabetes or pre-diabetes. The incidence is similar in most western countries and increasing. There is a lack of scientific evidence to show that people with diabetes could benefit from the regular practice of Tai Chi. If found to be effective, Tai Chi could be an economical and practical alternative exercise for diabetics. Our project is designed to compliment a similar project being undertaken by colleagues from other countries. I am sure the result would be positive but we need to test it scientifically. I shall report our result in one to two years' time.

I am hoping to meet with you in the coming workshops:

1. October 8 - October 9, 2005. Zurich , Switzerland
   Tai Chi for Arthritis Instructor's Training - there is space for the workshop for this evidence based program.
2. October 15 - October 16, 2005. Bradenton, Florida , USA
   Explore the Depth of Tai Chi for Arthritis - You will enjoy working with to gain deeper understanding of tai chi.
3. October 22 - October 23, 2005. Durango, Colorado , USA
   Explore the Depth of Tai Chi for Arthritis - You will enjoy working with to gain deeper understanding of tai chi.
4. October 29 - October 30, 2005. San Diego , USA
   Tai Chi for Back Pain Instructor's Training - You will learn about new medical discovery and how to use it to improve your tai chi.

In this issue:

• I have always love kids; I must have all the children in the neighborhood as patients. To teach children Tai Chi requires a different sets of skill. Val and Sharon have devoted much of their time doing this over the last three years. I am sure you will enjoy the photos and a letter from Helen Pearson, St Joseph's Primary School, Victoria, Australia.
• More articles from the Tai Chi workshop in Sarasota, Florida, USA are still coming in. This month we have:
  • Ralph's "What is Tai Chi?"
  • Sue using Tai Chi breathing to deal with menopause.
  • Jason explaining what is "Yuen".

  Please enroll early for the similar workshop in Sydney January 2006 to ensure a place in your chosen class. You can find more information from this link.

• Pam from the UK sends this letter with photos of her people in the World Tai Chi Day. Thanks Pam.

Our featured product this month is Tai Chi for Back Pain DVD or video at USD$24.95 or AUD$29.95. You will get a free Tai Chi Music CD worth USD$15.95. Click this link to place your order:

This month's most useful letter is written by Carolinew, she wrote: "I bought Tai Chi for back pain for two of my friends. They have both had intermitent back problems and dislike painkillers unless they have to..." Carolinew is a regular contributor of the Forum, we think you are very kind to send your friends the most useful gifts. Thank you Carolinew for your feedback. We would like to send you a Tai Chi Music CD for being our Letter of the Month winner, please email us and advise your postal details. You can read her thread at this link.

Yours sincerely,
Paul Lam, MD
http://www.taichiproductions.com

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Dear Dr Paul Lam by

Val Chenoweth and Sharon Duke have volunteered their time for the last three years to teach Tai Chi to school children in this area. They have taught at Chiltern and Barnawatha Primary schools and at St Joseph's Primary School Chiltern and next term they will start teaching at St Marys Primary School Rutherglen.

Some comments from our children:

'I enjoy Tai Chi it is relaxing and fun'
Zac grade 5

'Tai Chi is relaxing especially with you eyes closed'
Ella grade 6

'I think Tai Chi is a relaxing and calm sport exercise.'
Laura grade 4

'Tai chi is a way to exercise your limbs and makes yourself concentrate on your work.'
Dan grade 4

'Tai Chi relaxes and stretches both sides of the body. It makes your body nice and calm.'
Julian grade 3

'Tai Chi cleanses my body and helps me with my work.'
Katiana grade 3

'Tai Chi is a great sport to do and it is slow and quiet.'
from Daniel

'Tai Chi stretches your back legs.'
Olivia grade 2

'Tai Chi quietly calms my body down.'
Abbey and Maddison grade 2

St Joseph's Primary School
Chiltern

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What is Tai Chi?
by Ralph Dehner

Tai Chi is a Chinese martial art with hundreds of years of history.

Taijiquan, it's more formal name, translates into English as "supreme ultimate" or "without limits" and Quan as "boxing art" or "fist".

Originating in China as a martial art, Tai Chi is also an effective exercise for health of mind and body. It is now practice by millions of people around the world for it's many health benefits.

Studies have shown that Tai Chi is effective in reducing stress, hypertension, decreasing back pain, reducing the pain of arthritis, while increasing strength and improving balance while toning the cardiovascular system.

These mindful, relaxed movements improve our ability to circulate qi (or life force) throughout our body. Helping us along the path towards inner peace or harmony.

It is an exercise almost anyone can learn. It's doesn't cost a lot of money and can be practiced almost anywhere.

Tai Chi, for most of us becomes something more as we practice over the years. It becomes personal.

For some the mindful, fluid movements and controlled breathing become a moving meditation, an oasis in the middle of a hectic world. But, in reality, how we answer, "what is Tai Chi", depends on who is asking the question.

If I were speaking to a group of high school boys and girls I would talk about Tai Chi as a martial art and competitive sport…noting that it most likely will be included in the Olympic games in 2008.

If I am speaking to a group of seniors I will stress that Tai Chi is a form of gentle exercise shown in studies to improve their health.

If I am playing in the park and someone comes up and asks "what is that?" I might give them a little bit of the martial art and health explanations.

If my new neighbor, BUBA yells across the fence "what the hell are you doing?" I would say - secret Chinese fighting techniques.

If my teacher asked me the same question I would most likely drop my head and confess that I had no idea and desperately needed his help.

For me, Tai Chi is like singing. We can all sing and we can all learn the notes and melodies to our favorite love songs. However, the way we express those notes and melodies will be unique to each of us, yet all beautiful if expressed through our hearts.

In closing, I would like to say ultimately Tai Chi is something unique for each of us. A wise man once told me "we are all like snow flakes, from a distance we all look pretty much alike, but the closer you look the more uniquely beautiful we each become."

The Hopi Indians, of the American Southwest, believe the Great Spirit has given them a sacred song. Each morning a member of the tribe goes to high ground at sun rise, to sign the universe into existence.

I believe that the song I have been given is Tai Chi, and I sing it every morning to bring myself into existence.

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Tai Chi Breathing for Hot Flashes
by Sue Smith-Heavenrich email: sueheaven@frontiernet.net

One winter night as I was walking home with my sons, they asked if I knew of a way to get feet warm. They were wearing sneakers and it was nearly nine below. I taught them a qigong exercise that combined visualization with breathing.

"This works, mom," said my youngest. "My feet really are warm." About a year later I began to get …. not quite hot flashes, but rolling power surges. I began playing around with my breathing and imagery and discovered that I could reduce the severity of the hot flashes.

A hundred years ago women living in the U.S. could expect to live to the ripe old age of 48. Now we're likely to reach the age of 80 or beyond. Many women spend one third of their lives after menopause, so getting through the "hot flash" stage, with its associated memory loss and decrease in bone density, has become more topical.

The 1997 Massachusetts Women's Health Study surveyed 2500 women. About 75 percent of them reported experienced hot flashes. The use of estrogen dramatically lowers the rate of hot flashes. But the use of the hormone also raises the risk of heart disease and stroke - a risk many women would rather not take.

One thing that might help reduce the frequency of hot flashes is paced breathing -long, slow breathing that is similar to the relaxed breathing that is integral to the practice of tai chi and yoga. Dr. Robert Freedman, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the School of Medicine at Wayne State University, has been investigating breathing and hot flashes for the past twenty years.

In recent studies, he has compared the number of hot flashes in women who used paced breathing, brainwave biofeedback or muscle relaxation. The number of hot flashes fell by 50 percent in the group using breathing techniques, but not in the other groups. Other researchers have shown that relaxed breathing can ease the intensity as well as the frequency of hot flashes. Women who exercise daily also have fewer severe hot flashes

By training the body to slow breathing down to 6 to 8 breaths per minute (inhaling and exhaling) rather than the usual 15 - 16 breaths, something happens in the body's temperature regulation system. Freedman is not sure exactly what is happening yet, but it doesn't seem to involve internal biochemical changes.

Try it yourself

To make the breathing work you first need to learn how to breathe deeply, using abdominal breathing - the same sort of breathing you do for tai chi and yoga. Women trained to use this technique as soon as they feel a flash (or surge) come on are often able to abort it or reduce its severity significantly, notes Freedman. The technique may also be used by anyone to relax, he adds.

1. Sit quietly and focus on your breath. Wear comfortable, loose clothes or at least unbuckle your belt and loosen your waistband. (Don't lie down - you might fall asleep.)

2. Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose for about five seconds, then exhale slowly for about five seconds. Focus on the air going in and out of your lungs. Imagine that your lungs and belly are like a tall glass. When you pour water into a glass, it fills the bottom first, and on up. So, too, when you breathe in imagine the air filling your belly first, making it bulge gently outward. When you exhale, the belly contracts and you imagine pushing the air outwards - just like pouring water from a glass.

3. When your mind wanders, let the distracting thoughts pass and return your focus to your breath. If you wish, you may count as you breathe in (1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000) and out. This will give you 6 to 8 breaths per minute.
Practice deep breathing a couple times a day. It helps relax you and reduces stress. Then, whenever you feel a hot flash coming on, begin to breathe deeply. As you breathe out visualize the heat flowing down your legs, leaving your body and returning to earth.

Sue Smith-Heavenrich is a certified for "Tai Chi for Arthritis" and "Tai Chi for Back Pain". She writes and teaches in upstate New York. You may contact her at <taichimama1@yahoo.com>.

References:

1. Avis, NE et al. 1997. Psychosocial, behavioral and health factors related to menopause symptomatology. Women's Health 3: 103-120.
2. Freedman, RR and S. Woodward 1992. Behavioral treatment of menopausal hot flushes: Evaluation by ambulatory monitoring. Am J Obstet Gynecol 167 (2): 436-439.
3. Freedman, RR et al. 1995. Biochemical and thermoregulatory effects of behavioral treatment for menopausal hot flashes. Menopause 2 (4): 211-218
   

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Hello everyone (from the workshop in Sarasota)
Thank you for the e-mail. I had a wonderful week with you all, and I will always remember it. We are so lucky to have this opportunity to learn Tai-Chi together under three wonderful instructors. In Chinese, the opportunity for strangers to meet together, to do something together and become friends is call "Yuen", which means an event that is pre-determined, we just follow the invisible guide that leads us to it. Well, whether you believe "Yuen" or not, that is the Chinese word describing this kind of event.
Have a great day!!
Jason
*******************************
Jason Y. Chang, Ph.D.
Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences
Department of Ophthalmology
Slot 510
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
4301 W. Markham St.
Little Rock, AR 72205

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Dear Paul,

Thank you for a most enjoyable Tai Chi for Arthritis workshop in Colerain in May and the opportunity to meet and work with Lesley and Chew-yeen.

I have attached photos of some of our group who participated in World Tai Chi Day in April 2005 at Crawfordsburn Country Park. Even though the weather was a bit chilly, it was so pleasant and great fun to be together and outside, under trees and beside running water.

Our group (who have been practicing Tai Ch for a year now) all noted wide-ranging benefits from the regular practice of Tai Chi. Here are some of the comments from members of our group when asked what had been the effects of the regular practice of Tai Chi.

" Helped to reduce headaches. General well-being improved. Good fun. Had a Tai Chi 80th birthday cake!
" Sleeping better. Able to do exercises with grandson
" Relaxing. Good camaraderie.
" Improved balance.
" Enjoyed the gentle pace of the classes
" Noted a big reduction in stress. Improved stamina. It was no effort to do exercises at home.
" Improved balance. Some improvement in memory. Good company and fun. No stress.
" Memory improved. Enjoyed the exercise.
" Balance improved. Stiffness reduced in ankle (old injury). Upset that there are no classes over the summer.
" Generally beneficial. Sleeping much better.
" Sleeping and relaxing much better. Using Tai Chi music and doing Qi gong before going to bed. Reduction in pain.

As you can see from these comments the Tai Chi for Arthritis programme has been a great success and of much benefit to our group in Bangor, Northern Ireland.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and skills of Tai Chi.

Best regards,

Pamela
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END OF NEWSLETTER
Warning: Dr. Lam does not necessarily endorse the opinion of other authors. Before practicing any program featured in this newsletter, please check with your physician or therapist. The authors and anyone involved in the production of this newsletter will not be held responsible in any way whatsoever for any injury which may arise as a result of following the instructions given in this newsletter.

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