WelCare

02/10/2021

Tai Chi Chuan - is traditionally a balance between slow gentle movements focused around Qigong and a very effective martial art. Both approaches can be healthy but you will need a good teacher. In recent history most Tai Chi has been slowed down significantly, for good reasons, based around health and well-being.

In the deeper historical past, much of which has been lost, Tai Chi was reportedly used for combat and self-defense and was much more explosive. Chen style Tai Chi has movements that reflect this past.

I often tell my students of Tai Chi, that if you speed up Tai Chi it very much looks like Kung Fu when performed properly. Many modern masters of Tai Chi claim that speeding up Tai Chi is wrong and must never be done that way. However history shows that the origins of Tai Chi appear to be totally different to this ingrained point of view.

My perspective is that both ways are important - in fact I teach my students slow, medium and fast forms of Tai Chi depending upon their interests and need for learning.

The important thing however is that the chi or the flowing water like concentration of the person is not broken. Flow is so important between movements and it can take years before a student becomes totally relaxed in their body and their mind so that at any speed a person performing Tai Chi looks like a bird or butterfly - but with the faster martial arts aspects - stings like a bee.

Why is Tai Chi any different to other martial arts therefore?

Breathing techniques, energy conservation and releasing stale or excess negative energy and drawing in positive energy, embodied or experiential knowledge of one's own anatomy and physiology, and using defense as attack spring to my mind.

Some modern martial arts such as some MMA (Mixed Martial Arts done badly) focus on battering one another in sparring - using up large amounts of energy, often leading to severe energy depletion, fatigue, exhaustion and bodily damage. Definitely not healthy! People who have mastered most martial arts will sometimes focus on re-directing the force of another's attack against them, but for Tai Chi this is the total essence of it's practice when done well.

People who master Tai Chi, will use the least amount of effort and use the energy of the other person against them by flowing with the other person like a deadly dance. Dissipating the other person's energy through effective body movements via slight to moderate but rapid changes in posture and stances that evade an attackers force (punches, kicks). Then turn the tables on them with rapid effective Tai Chi self defense grappling or rapid focused punches, elbows, knees and kicks to known vital and vulnerable areas of the body.

Self defense can be important for one's safety in terrible situations. I can think of the safety of some people who are abused to the point of being life threatening, especially for women in domestic violence situations or at risk of attack at night in public places. Tai Chi could be a life saver in such situations and so this is definitely an important potential area of health and well-being.

However, one should never advocate violence in undertaking Tai Chi as a martial art.

At moderate or fast speed, Tai Chi has health benefits for the body but only after practicing Tai Chi slowly for some extensive amount of time. A practitioner will need to:
* learn the movements,
* learn the techniques,
* learn some philosophy (not religion) of traditional Chinese medicine and well-being and compliment this with western health and well-being philosophies,
* understand and experience the serenity and mindfulness in moving slowly, particularly outside in the presence of nature,
* to build flexibility, muscular strength and endurance,
* to build aerobic capacity through effective breathing techniques and improving blood circulation.

The ability to relax one's body and mind is critical. Basically the body is a torso with arms, hands, fingers, legs, knees, feet, toes and head attached to it. Sure, you can only do so much with a human body, although what can be done is amazing in terms of moving bones, joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and internal body systems (cardiac - circulatory system, central and peripheral nervous systems, respiratory system, energy systems, etc).

A person's mind in tune with movements of the body with the ability to think during action is the most effective weapon of all. It can be like a game of chess - thinking 2-3 movements ahead of an opponent for example. In addition, reflexes and muscle memory also develop and mature over time with practice. Tai Chi is very effective for falls prevention in the elderly because of this.

Tai Chi uses mostly circular movements that mimic circular phenomena and fractals in nature. Those circular movements are at once fluid and ballet like, but also extremely effective in self defense.

Words unfortunately just can't convey exactly what this means. You must experience these things over time, be disciplined in practice and enjoy the sensations that meditative movements or mindfulness in motion can bring.

To do this though you need a good teacher - one who has researched, has extensive experience and is capable of teaching the holistic practices of Tai Chi and the more ancient Qigong to people of all backgrounds, genders and ages.

The soft internal martial arts and the hard external martial arts are part of Yin and Yang (Taoism and Confucianism) and ancient Buddhist philosophies, but were also part of every human culture on the planet in ancient times according to some evidence.

I have previously included some evidence of the benefits of the slow form of Tai Chi in this facebook area, but there are also healthy benefits of the fast and explosive forms of Tai Chi as well for people who share this interest or need.

Like all martial arts, used for self-defense, Tai Chi self defense should be the very last thing you do against another person or persons who threaten your life or others' lives. Preventing and de-escalating aggression using communication and negotiation skills should be a primary aim and something I teach my students as a high priority wherever possible in a conflict situation. Life and health are so important.

I use Tai Chi also as part of Family Therapy, psychotherapy, nursing and Personal Training because it teaches people self discipline, mindfulness, empathy with others, and a deeper more natural embodied understanding of the world around us. Compare this to the often artificial and dare I say, many superficial experiences that humans have been repeatedly exposed to in the modern world.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this brief overview of the potential of Tai Chi, sometimes called Tai Chi Chuan or taiji chuan.

Alan
⛩

06/06/2021

Family Therapy and Promoting Health, Fitness and Wellness:

Traditionally family therapy has been used to help people such as individuals, couples and families explore and deal with relationship issues and deal with what most people would call mental health issues in their lives. Often this involves a counselling talking session in a nice room where client(s) and therapist are seated.

WelCare extends this approach based on my (Alan's) research over many years. Dr Alan in Tamworth, is a family therapist among other roles such as trainer, educator, researcher, consultant, Registered Nurse, Tai Chi teacher and Personal Trainer. Dr Aditya (Alan's wonderful colleague) in Toowoomba, has a medical, public health and social worker background as well as a lifelong knowledge and experience of Eastern yoga.

Research shows that physical, mental, social, and environmental health are linked. In other words health is holistic with one impacting on the other in different ways.

Sitting down in counselling is fine but not everything. Getting up and moving and meaningful chatting and losing yourself to a serene calm often fun environment is a different form of counselling that targets health and wellness goals. That is more encompassing.

The ancient Chinese and other cultures around the known world such as in ancient Greece, Persia, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Okinawa, Korea, Tibet and Nepal in those times knew how important this was to their survival and well-being. So did ancient Indigenous cultures in the Americas, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and other pacific Islands to name just a few.

Yet our modern western world and increasingly eastern worlds could be summarised as basically a living experiment never before experienced by humans and their environments around them.

If you could go back into the not so distant past and make a science fiction movie about a brave and dangerous new world then our world in 2021 could be it.

Many people in modern communities struggle with understanding how to live their lives and stay well. Work-life balance, stifling pollution, noise, trying to balance nutrition and exercise, dealing with relationships and communication, struggling with body image and weight issues, ageism, dealing with injuries and arthritis or struggling with diabetes are not uncommon issues. COVID-19 has definitely raised the bar often as not in seriously challenging us humans and the way we live, work and relate to one another.

The problem is that the more we perceive problems as inevitable in our lives the more problems that we inadvertently collect in our lives. Busyness (being busy) often becomes an excuse to just keep on busying up our lives to the point of exhaustion or despair and hopelessness. It's a common perception of the world that is promoted by the media and others including ourselves often as not when we mindlessly believe this is the way it is in our world.

Yet there is another positive strengths based side and way of the life-health equation that is often forgotten, neglected, thought of as a pipe dream or not even considered by people stuck on a treadmill of busyness.

Being creative, having knowledge and desire to eat well, to drink fresh clean water, to be pleased with our bodies and thoughts, exercising as an essential part of life and being human rather than running mindlessly from one fad to another, having fun, building valued relationships, being serious about work-life balance and having a purpose and goals in life often fall into the too hard basket.

Having a mentor or someone that can help you to get onto and to stay on track is now considered one of the greatest jewels that we can have in our lives.

Family therapy when combined with exercise (Eastern and Western), good diet and hydration, exploring communication and ways of building meaningful and satisfying relationships, getting a balanced sleep, mindfulness in motion and rest, setting goals and being motivated to live happily.

That my friends is a mentoring process that WelCare supports in each and every package that is offered.

Please consider WelCare's services.

Give Alan a call 0412 464 296 or email taicology@gmail.com

It might just change your life. ⛩🙂

23/05/2021

As part of trying to introduce why Tai Chi and Qigong are so important for your health and wellbeing in addition to modern western health approaches as practised in WelCare, Alan has included the first part of the famous Shibasi Tai Qigong form that he demonstrates in this video narrating this as he goes with an ancient story and with relaxing music.

If you want to learn this and many other forms or to include this in the packages that WelCare offers in the services section, please contact Alan on 041 246 4296 or taicology@gmail.com

Please let Alan know if you enjoyed this little excerpt. 🙂⛩

08/03/2021

Please have a look at Alan's Free Video demonstrating the Lotus Qigong in the Video section. Qigong is much older then Tai Chi but the ancient movements which are part of traditional Chinese Medicine form the basis for Chinese Martial arts such as Kung fu, Wing Chun, and Tai Chi. The Lotus is a beautiful set of movements which when coupled with the story and classical Chinese music and beautiful natural surroundings leads to what Alan calls Meditation in Motion. What more could you want - exercise, imagination, relaxation without the stress.

08/03/2021

I have included a video of the Lotus Qigong - an ancient set of movements which I describe in a story as I demonstrate this important form from Ancient China. I normally charge for this video but I have included this here to show how mindfulness, exercise and storytelling can help people to improve their health and wellbeing.

08/02/2021

A little article about WelCare, health, fitness and wellbeing:
Family therapy approaches and fitness/wellness. The WelCare practice explores how aspects of counselling, coaching, family therapy, fitness and wellness fit together. Wow you might say! Mental Health and Physical Health are intertwined and not separate to one another. The old children’s saying your hip bone is connected to your knee bone etc is a fun way to think about how we are put together and function as a whole.

Researcher’s (well quantitative researchers at least) love to pull the human being apart so they can study little bits and pieces of us – we feel like lab rats sometimes. That’s great for you and your orthopaedic surgeon who is going to replace your hip or knee.

But for us health and wellness and fitness professionals, knees have a tendency not to talk to us except when you bend them and they crack and ache.

It is incredible of course, and a testimony to scientific endeavours, when a cardiologist works on your heart to help fix it after a heart attack.

But why let it get to that stage in the first place? We at WelCare would like to help you well before the surgeon’s knife is even considered or needed or before a preventable heart attack or stroke sneaks up to put your life at risk.

We know that mental health issues or problems often accompany chronic physical health problems for all sorts of expected reasons. We would love to work with you before any of these things creep up on you unexpectedly. At WelCare, we value evidence from a variety of sources to support our practice and the type of care provided.

For example, there is recent research (e.g., McKinney, Lithwick, Morrison, et al., 2016 in the British Columbia Medical Journal) indicating the importance of maintaining exercise or physical activity throughout life including avoiding chronic health problems (heart disease, diabetes Type 2, stroke, some cancers) and to ensure cardio-respiratory fitness as we age. There is also recent research showing that mindfulness and stress reduction help people to become motivated to engage in healthy activities including daily exercise.

It’s incredible to learn, that the less exercise you do the more tired you become, the less sleep you enjoy and so on.

The reverse appears to be true – if you exercise regularly with moderate effort, amazingly the more energy you have and the better sleep you enjoy and so on.

So, we as health care practitioners have a challenge, therefore. But an exciting and honourable challenge nonetheless. We firstly need to relate to people, and not just focus all of our attention on our wonderful bits and pieces when they get crook and cause pain and discomfort. We humans have evolved so that we need to engage with each other and communicate effectively with learned skills in order to survive and prosper – be that with a person, a family, or a group. Many people need help, need motivating, need to understand what’s going on in their world and lives. I’d say we need this from birth through to our old age.

There are many different and effective ways to help people. Often as not people already have the strengths and resources in themselves to improve their health and wellbeing, but they just can’t see these – most often they see problems they cannot understand or deal with.

So how can WelCare help? Family Therapy approaches help here. Well we talk to you and listen. We can help you explore your successes and exceptions to problems and how you achieved those things in your life, work or study. We find what you are good at and what resources you have. We offer you choices of interventions and share our knowledge to see how this can benefit you or your family or a group you engage with. Then we work with you to promote your health and wellbeing and create change that you want or need.

If you want to feel safe, we can explore the ancient martial arts and develop your skills. If you want to have muscle, bone and joint strength and endurance and manage discomfort we can offer you exercise such as Qigong, Tai Chi, laughter yoga and personal training. If you want to feel less stressed, exercise is also great but so is relaxation and rethinking your goals and ways to alter your lifestyle and workstyle with less stress. If you want to manage your weight we can help you learn and feel motivated, feel great about yourself, understand nutrition, exercise and relaxation and of course, have fun doing so.

Please contact Alan if you want to benefit from WelCare packages.

Reference:
McKinney, J., Lithwick, D.J., Morrison, B.N., Nazzari, BHK Hamed, Isserow, S., Heilbron, B., & Krahn, A.D., (2016), ‘The health benefits of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness, BC Medical Journal, Vol. 58, No.3, pp: 131-137, Internet article (accessed 08/02/2021) located at URL:

Ancient philosophers and physicians such as Plato and Hippocrates believed in the relationship between physical activity and health, and the lack of physical activity and disease. However, by the mid-20th century it was believed that physical activity might be harmful to health. Moreover, the recomm...

02/02/2021

If you know someone who could benefit from the packages offered by WelCare (click Services) or if you would like to enquire further please don't hesitate to contact Alan at WelCare (contact details are on this page).

If you live distant from Tamworth (or Toowoomba for Aditya) or are in lockdown or restricted because of COVID-19 and cannot attend face-to-face classes, Alan is a very experienced teacher online (previous University lecturer & current TAFE Teacher), who has experience using Microsoft Zoom, Google Duo and SKYPE and this could be an option.

02/02/2021

Research & Tai Chi Benefits - Some bedtime reading 😴

Heart disease:
A 53-person study at National Taiwan University found that a year of Tai chi significantly boosted exercise capacity, lowered blood pressure, and improved levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin, and C-reactive protein in people at high risk for heart disease. The study, which was published in the September 2008 Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, found no improvement in a control group that did not practice Tai chi.
Heart failure:
In a 30-person pilot study at Harvard Medical School, 12 weeks of Tai chi improved participants' ability to walk and quality of life. It also reduced blood levels of B-type natriuretic protein, an indicator of heart failure. A 150-patient controlled trial is under way.
Hypertension (High BP):
In a review of 26 studies in English or Chinese published in Preventive Cardiology (Spring 2008), Dr. Yeh reported that in 85% of trials, Tai chi lowered blood pressure — with improvements ranging from 3 to 32 mm Hg in systolic pressure and from 2 to 18 mm Hg in diastolic pressure.
Parkinson's disease:
A 33-person pilot study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, published in Gait and Posture (October 2008), found that people with mild to moderately severe Parkinson's disease showed improved balance, walking ability, and overall well-being after 20 Tai chi sessions.
Sleep problems:
In a University of California, Los Angeles, study of 112 healthy older adults with moderate sleep complaints, 16 weeks of Tai chi improved the quality and duration of sleep significantly more than standard sleep education. The study was published in the July 2008 issue of the journal Sleep.’

Ref:
Harvard Medical School (2009), ‘The health benefits of Tai Chi’, Harvard Health Publications, Internet document (Page 1) located at URL:

Tai chi is gentle and not strenuous, but it has been shown to have a positive effect on muscle strength, flexibility, and balance, and it can be practiced by people in nearly any state of health or physical condition.

02/02/2021

Dr. Alan doing 'Weaving Silk in the Air' Tai Chi movement - a beautiful relaxing example of mindfulness in motion, especially when also listening to traditional Chinese Classic music and Alan gently telling the ancient story of the movements as you go through the form.

02/02/2021

My colleague, Dr. Aditya Menon filmed doing Laughter Yoga or I think Laughter Tai Chi on a cold winter's day in Tamworth

01/02/2021

A little bit of Tai Chi Phoenix Fan Form demonstrated