New research on the benefits of Tai Chi

Easing Ills through Tai Chi

Researchers study the benefits of this mind-body exercise. Read the article with full context here:

http://harvardmagazine.com/2010/01/researchers-study-tai-chi-benefits

This article includes some discussion of tai chi and qigong effects on the brain, immune system response, balance issues, cardiovascular and bone health. They discuss old and new research results, and ideas that may be confirmed by future research.

Some excerpts:

• For anyone who practices tai chi regularly, “brain plasticity arising from repeated training may be relevant, since we know that brain connections are ‘sculpted’ by daily experience and practice,” explains Kerr, who is investigating brain dynamics related to tai chi and mindfulness meditation.
• One study on the immune response to varicella-zoster virus (which causes shingles) suggested in 2007 that tai chi may enhance the immune system and improve overall well-being in older adults.
• Clinical trials and basic research studies on patients with heart failure “suggest tai chi may be of benefit to patients in terms of greater exercise capacity and quality of life.”
• "... greater than a 40 percent reduction in the number of falls in the group that received tai chi.”

Further information may be available from the organizations and experts quoted in the article:

• National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (http://nccam.nih.gov/health/taichi)
• Brookline Tai Chi school near Boston (http://brooklinetaichi.org)
• Catherine Kerr, Harvard Medical School instructor
• Marie-Helene Jouvin, Harvard Medical School instructor and pathologist 
• Peter M. Wayne, director tai chi and mind-body research program at Harvard Osher Research Center