Tai Chi and Relaxation

The vitality and exuberance of the tai chi performance at the opening of the Beijing Olympics did much to dispel the association between the art and elderly folks moving delicately in the park. While tai chi is indeed helpful at any age, the movements in Beijing, executed by hundreds of synchronized “players” were low, fast, and so powerful as to be occasionally explosive.

Any gymnastic or martial practice can be great exercise, but tai chi adds a specific dimension to the cardiovascular workout that is little heralded and often misunderstood—relaxation. In our aboriginal state, strenuous activity was usually limited to the flight or fight syndrome. We ran not for pleasure but because the tiger was after us, the village was on fire, the hyena had our child in its mouth, or a warring party had just burst from the wood. We exercise this way today, motivating ourselves with exciting visualization or pushing relentlessly, and stressfully, toward a goal. As a result stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol attend our pounding heart and bring with them undesirable consequences (hypertension, impaired cognitive function, decreased bone density, lowered immunity and more) once the exercise session is complete.

Because of its relentless emphasis on relaxation during movement, tai chi is that rarest of exercises—the one that gets the heart pumping without stimulating the release of these undesirable chemicals into the bloodstream. In addition to sparing the body stress hormones, it also builds the heart by reducing backpressure, as peripheral blood vessels relax and dilate.
The October 2, 2008 edition of the New York Times featured a “Personal Best” column that explored relaxation in sport. In Before Hustling to Finish, Relaxed Is a Good Way to Start, writer Gina Kolata interviewed leading trainers and athletes. She brings into focus the fact that Michael Phelps and other great athletes go faster without getting tired by being relaxed, by being consistent in their strides and strokes. The article quotes Dr. Michael Joyner, a Masters swimmer and exercise researcher at the Mayo Clinic as saying “At some level… everyone I know who has been a hard-core endurance athlete for many years is a covert religious mystic due to these types of experiences.”

We don’t need to be religious mystics, but we can have a relaxing and transcendent experience while we exercise, and in these stressful times there are few better ways to beat stress and gain fitness. Tai chi addresses tension we don’t even know we have—in the hips, the fact, the back, the jaw—and releases it while building our body with beautiful movement. In writer/director David Mamet’s recent film Redbelt, the protagonist, a martial arts teacher, tells a new student that the first step in training is the most difficult. “What is the first step?” the new student asks. “Leaving the outside world outside when you step in here,” is the answer. Part of tai chi’s magic is that it brings you to a relaxed place and helps you stay there even after you go home.