WHY IS TAI CHI IS GREAT FOR HANDLING STRESS?
Why is Tai Chi great for stress in the workplace? Tai chi or Taiji Quan is a martial art, birthed from combat like all traditional Chinese martial arts. And the benefits you reap from its practice can be achieved from practising other related styles such as Bagua Zhang for example. But based on the heading of the article, we will stick with Taiji Quan.
There many articles one can google on the benefits of Taiji Quan, namely that it will relax and destress you from the stresses of daily life. Yes, taiji trains you to “relax”. But this “relax” is not the one that people dream of or the illusion of old Chinese people training in a park, moving slowly at bliss. This will not get you the benefits. Imagine Taiji Quan (pronounced T’ai Chi Chuan) as any exercise, it will require effort. And from these efforts, you will then reap the benefits of having a clearer mind than before.
By “relaxing” you are letting go of tension held in the upper body. You not fighting gravity and relaxing the tendons, sinews and ligaments or the connective tissues. On a psychological level, it is the neutralisation of the flight-fight response. Now, this may not be completely be neutralised but when it arises for any reason. A problem at work, instead of you reacting you can seize your emotions and make a sounder decision. From a self-defence or fighting perspective, it is the same. When you attacked, instead of letting the adrenalin control you with the flight or fight response. You calm the mind and can effectively redirect your assailants’ attack.
All based on the calming of the mind, by letting go of tension. One of the ways this is done is by rounding and raising the upper back lightly. While simultaneously sinking the centre of the chest slightly downwards. The knee joints are slightly bent with the hips. The coccyx is tucked in slightly as if you about to sit. The head is suspended as if the crown of the head is being pulled by a straight string. There are more points, and it has been written about extensively here on deadlyduels.com.
By doing the above-mentioned points you are relaxing the tension down, or balancing the forces acting on the body. As with the main one being gravity, you do not resist it. The same way you would when weightlifting. Now, this is not easy but with time and serious practice, you may achieve some result.
This is how it would benefit you in the workplace, you will be less fazed by the issues, whether it is your boss or your colleagues or the work at hand. You should be able to neutralise or better handle these external stress factors. And the reason why is that you should then be more efficient with the task at hand. On this subject a whole novel can be written; they are articles on the site going more in-depth on Taiji Quan, I suggest you give them a read. It should hopefully improve your life in the workplace or in general. Better yet, seek a good Taiji Quan teacher.
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