Re-model your Brain with Tai Chi

If you could re-train your body with good habits, isn't it worth a shot? Imagine - if you could do this enjoyably - and at the same time, relieve stress, shouldn't you do this everyday then?

It is well-known that meditation heightens the senses. Tai Chi is essentially meditation in motion. By learning to relax and coordinate your breathing with the minutiae of each postulation, you can slowly improve your motor coordination. Also, you need to concentrate when you visualize the flow of Qi in your body. This is why Tai Chi is categorised as mindfulness training. When you do Tai Chi, you are practising control over your body. The more you practice, the more body awareness you acquire. It is a beautiful synergy.

Is our Brain old and static? Maybe Not
We all know that Tai Chi is an excellent physical activity in the prevention of falls, this has also been consistently proven in many health studies. But to say that it might help us to remodel our brain, is that taking it too far?

Apparently not. Consider a basic requirement in Tai Chi. A proper stance in all traditional Tai Chi forms requires that you maintain an upright posture. We can help our bodies to remember this by imagining a guiding line from the center of our heads pulling our spine straight. This eliminates slouching. Hence, with every movement you learn, you practice it with an extended, straightened spinal column.

So, what you are doing when you go through your Tai Chi routine, is that you are continuously reinforcing those motor synapses that tell your body to keep your posture upright, without slouching. The signals that collectively work together to instruct your brain to keep your body posture straight keeps getting strengthened. In effect, the more you keep up your practice, the synaptic connections related to a bad habit of slouching is weakened and it will eventually die. The adage of use it or lose it definitely applies here.

How does Tai Chi adapt our brains?
When we pay attention to how our bodies move, we are consciously firing those synapses for the motion that we want to execute. As we practice a movement more, we strengthen the motor synapse for that particular posture. These changes are mapped into our motor cortex. In time, these good habits become unconscious. This is minful movement.

This comes with the caveat that you are postulating your body correctly, for which the onus is on you to get a good instructor. You don't want bad body habits getting ingrained!

Internal Focus : Our Mind Body Connection
When we move consciously, we find that our focus is turned inwards. We are trying to listen with our bodies. Your body will be at attention because it is trying to capture the feeling that comes with the right posture. There is a great deal of mental focus at work. So, each time we practice mindfully like this, we are incrementally expanding the cortical area involved. This means more and more of your brain gets exercised.

The exacting requirements for body attention, coupled with memory work in remembering the routine choreography, Tai Chi rates as a superior activity for nurturing our brains.

There are so many health benefits which have been bundled up into this traditional art form. You can learn Tai Chi at any point in your life. It is also the best exercise you can keep doing well into the twilight years.