Mindfulness and Wellness

A number of my students have lately wondered how it is that they still get sick even though they practice their tai chi assiduously. Some may have in mind, I suppose, that mind/body practice is such a powerful pill that it banishes all pathogens and enhances the immune system to beyond mortal levels. These folks are in good company. The history of martial arts is littered with great masters who thought they were invincible because of their art, and abused themselves with drugs, alcohol, promiscuity or other excesses only to die young and surprised.

The truth is the practice of tai chi or any other mind/body exercise is only one piece of the large picture of how we live our life. The mind part of the equation presupposes that we learn the lessons of the art and seek balance and peace and harmony in all things, not just the few hours per week that we practice. We’re supposed to be learning not to meet force with force, to go with the flow, and to relax as deeply as possible. That translates to everyday action, not just to class time. Seeing the practice this way blurs the distinction between tai chi the philosophy and tai chi ch’uan (ch’uan means fist) the martial art. After all, if we are practicing the principles all the time, where does one leave off and the other begin?

Sports icon Jim Fixx, took up running when he was 35, overweight, and a two-pack-a-day smoker. He discovered the joy of running, lost 60 pounds and stopped smoking. His books and media appearances were a source of inspiration to many folks who got out on the road, addressed their sedentary lifestyles, and changed their lives for the better. When he suffered a massive heart attack at 52, some people said Fixx’s premature end proved that running was a bad thing. What those critics failed to recognize was that Fixx had a family history of cardiovascular disease. His father suffered a heart attack at 35 and died of one at 42. Were Fixx’s ten extra years worth the effort? I bet he would say yes.

We all go through cycles of sickness and health. These cycles represent our body coping with assaults from the outside, and dealing with our stress at life’s challenges. If we always felt perfectly well, our body’s defense mechanisms would have no practice dealing with adversaries. We’d do great until boom, one day we just dropped dead from a mosquito bite. The up and down of our every day energy level is normal. The goal is to narrow the amplitude of the cycle so that we never feel really badly, and the big afflictions do not strike us.

If we want to achieve that goal, if we want to feel tip-top most of the time and avoid serious illness, we have to put our practice into our life on an hourly basis, from the way we bend and move to what we do when we face the refrigerator door at 11PM, to letting go of anger and frustration and judgment—self-judgment most of all. Mindfulness is the key. The practice has shown us what to do, but if we don’t do it and only pay lip service to the path, we can’t expect miracles. It is hard to be fully conscious all the time, but if we try, it gets easier, and the results are so worth it!