Personal tai chi

A tai chi trainer can gear your practice to your specific ailments.

by Dr. Steven Cooner — 

Tai chi can help lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, calm the nervous system, reduce anxiety and depression, improve circulation and sleep, and heal new muscular-skeletal injuries and internal disorders. It also is wonderful for anti-aging, improving skin tone and hair texture, reducing cellulite, tightening sagging muscles, and generally improving energy and circulation throughout the body.

Those who practice tai chi regularly and properly usually look much younger than their chronological age and most often are a lot healthier. Tai chi enables a mind/body connection and is a type of anaerobic exercise, almost like yoga in motion. Many of us can relate to tai chi because we are in a state of motion most of the time. This is exercise done slowly to our motion; in fact, the slower we practice it, the better the results.

Imagine having a personal trainer for tai chi, to not only teach you, but to monitor your progress, making sure you are using proper form and motivating you with a program designed to meet your needs, desires and goals. Group tai chi is taught in a basic, uniform course, and is often confusing and frustrating for students because it is difficult for one teacher or trainer to attend to several students’ simultaneous questions, need for corrections, etc.

A tai chi trainer can gear your practice to your specific ailments. Because there are so many tai chi exercises to choose from, without guidance from a qualified instructor, it can be challenging to select the proper ones. Training can be done at the trainer’s facility, in a park or even in your backyard. There are advantages to practicing tai chi outdoors — there is a better air transfer and energy exchange between the practitioner and the environment, the grass, trees, air, etc.

Today, more than ever, people are using personal trainers to motivate them to reach their personal goals. By choosing to practice tai chi with a personal trainer, you will be more readily able to achieve your goals of health, anti-aging and relaxation.

Steven Cooner, O.M.D., Ph.D., L.Ac., L.M.T., and Helene Cooner, O.M.D., L.Ac., L.M.T., are doctors of oriental medicine, state-licensed acupuncturists and have taught tai chi for 25 years. They are located in Scottsdale, Ariz. 602-625-6612.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 26, Number 1, February/March 2007.