April 23, 2008

Taijiquan Journal at Twin Cities World Tai Chi Day Event

Taijiquan Journal will be at the Minneapolis-St. Paul-area World T'ai Chi Day celebrations at Normandale Community College on Saturday, April 26th, 2008, from 9–1. Editor Barbara Davis will give a talk on the I Ching (Yijing), the Chinese Book of Changes. Come visit Taijiquan Journal's booth, where you'll be able to purchase back issues, books, and other items, including "I Love Tai Chi" bumperstickers. See the website for the program schedule.

April 16, 2008

Tai Chi Caught in Olympic Torch Political Crossfire

A conflict erupted between Tai Chi enthusiasts promoting Olympic good will on the San Francisco leg of the Olympic Torch Relay and pro-Tibetan protesters. For the complete story, see Mercury News.

Farmer Ch'i? Tai Chi Practice Helps Cows Produce Milk


Reminsicent of Chinese health exercises for farmers developed in the early PRC, the Federation of Organic Milk Groups through their website "Love Om" in the UK has posted instructions for tai chi exercises that farmers claim increases by 10% a cow's milk production. As one of the farmers says, "The happier I am, the happier the cows are. And the happier they are, the more milk they produce."
The movements, grouped by day of the week, are adapted to Western sensibilities using such names as ‘Lazily Buttoning Overalls', adapted from ‘Lazy about Tying Coat' (Lan Zha Yi).
The accompanying music however, is thoroughly Chinese, rather than fiddle and fife or bagpipe. BBC News, 4/14/08

April 3, 2008

Tai Chi Helps With Parkinson's Disease

"Tai Chi improves balance and mobility in people with Parkinson disease" is the title of an article in Posture and Gait M. E. Hackney, and G. M. Earhart that describes the use of tai chi on balance, gait, and mobility for helping people with Parkinson's disease. Subjects showed improvement on numerous tests, including backward walking. An interesting thing to note is that neither the tai chi group or the control group improved on forward walking or one leg stance test. (April 1, 2008). Author Hackney has also done research on the use of tango dancing for the same population.