Healthy Heart and Cardiac Rehabilitation with Taoist Tai Chi® arts
If you have been diagnosed with heart disease or have had recent cardiac surgery, you may be feeling weak, anxious, perhaps even depressed. Certainly cardiac challenges can deeply affect your enjoyment of life.
Fortunately, research and anecdotal evidence show that tai chi helps people improve their heart health, better manage heart disease, recover from cardiac surgery and live fuller lives. With Taoist Tai Chi® practice many people have found they increase energy, reduce stress and anxiety and dramatically improve their mood. As well, the physical movements improve cardiovascular and muscular strength and circulation, reducing the risk of developing heart problems and minimizing problems that may occur. Training in these arts gives people a way to maintain healthy heart function.
People practising Taoist Tai Chi® arts also find they have better balance and flexibility, and a feeling of lightness and well-being.
Related Resources:
Stories of Recovering from Cardiac Surgery
In the first video a woman talks about how Taoist Tai Chi® arts gave her the courage to go through with surgery and how grateful she is. Before the surgery she used what little energy she had to do her Taoist Tai Chi® practice. The surgery went exceptionally well and she was up on her feet walking further and out of the hospital quicker than other people.
In the second video a woman discusses how she used Taoist Tai Chi® arts to help her recover from surgery. Taoist Tai Chi® practice gives her energy and the gentle movement significantly helped in healing scar tissue after the splitting of her breastbone.
Finally, a man describes how Taoist Tai Chi® arts keep the chest open which aided in his recovery from double bypass heart surgery. He had no scar tissue pain and felt resilient because of his practice.
What are practitioners recovering from cardiac challenges saying about Taoist Tai Chi® arts?
As a heart transplant recipient, I am keenly aware of how important it is to manage stress, both physical and emotional. When I experience stress, I literally feel the muscles in my neck and shoulders tense up, and I feel that my heart beats faster and my blood pressure seems to creep up. Taoist Tai Chi® practice has helped me very much in managing my stress. After a long week at work, I attend my Taoist Tai Chi® arts classes. The gentle movements and the focus needed to practise are meditative. I feel my muscles relax and my heart rate calm down. I feel at peace after each class.
– Carrie, Vancouver, Canada
Western medicine helped a lot after my heart attack 10 years ago, but Taoist Tai Chi® practice made, and continues to make, a huge contribution. One of the cardiologists at St. Paul’s Hospital was pleased that I was doing Tai Chi and ordered me to “do Tai Chi every day”. One of his colleagues observed that I’d regained my strength faster than anyone else who had come through the hospital’s Health Heart Program. I’m in my 70s now and I’m noticing that I’m increasingly more flexible than many people my age. I have better balance and stronger legs than most, and I’m a stronger walker, thanks to Taoist Tai Chi® arts.
– Bill, Vancouver, Canada
How does Taoist Tai Chi® practice help?
Taoist Tai Chi® arts involve a full range of motion with deep stretching and continuous turning of the spine. They exercise the whole physiology including muscular, skeletal, and circulatory systems, as well as tendons, joints, connective tissue and organs.
This whole body approach has a profound effect on our health, increasing strength, flexibility and resilience, whatever our condition.
Taoist Tai Chi® arts are also a form of moving meditation that has a deep effect on the brain, calming and clearing the mind.
Move Confidently – Be Active – Be Social
