Multiple Sclerosis and Taoist Tai Chi® arts
If you have been recently diagnosed or have been managing for years, you know that multiple sclerosis can cause problems with movement, balance and coordination, fatigue, stiffness, pain, loss of sensation, and depression. Certainly, MS can leave you feeling isolated and deeply affect your enjoyment of life.
Fortunately, research and anecdotal evidence about Tai Chi and MS show that Tai Chi is effective in helping people who have multiple sclerosis. With Taoist Tai Chi® practice you can move more freely, maintain flexibility and strength, find better balance and lift your spirits. Daily activities become easier.
In addition, people practicing Taoist Tai Chi® arts have found a sense of lightness and a deep feeling of well-being.
Related Resources:
One Person’s Story of Moving Freely and Improved Quality of Life through Taoist Tai Chi® practice
My name is Sylvia Guite and I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1983 when I was in my early twenties. There were times I was completely paralyzed in as many as three limbs at a time and I was very stiff. It was very frightening because I couldn’t do things that I had just been able to do.
I started Taoist Tai Chi® arts in 2003 and within four months I could move again. Taoist Tai Chi® arts allow me to be better balanced and to loosen up and that helps me walk better and feel better. It is not a quick fix like a pill, but working at your Taoist Tai Chi® practice is the greatest thing you can do for yourself. You feel terrific in your body and you are in a good mood.
Another story of improved MS symptoms through Taoist Tai Chi® practice
What are Practitioners with Multiple Sclerosis saying about Taoist Tai Chi® arts?
“Taoist Tai Chi® practice eliminated fatigue due to multiple sclerosis.”
– Gail, Saskatoon, Canada
“Taoist Tai Chi® arts have provided a tool to work with my MS. I have a feeling of some control of my outcome with MS and Taoist Tai Chi® practice definitely helps me stay more positive”
– Michele, North Saanich, Canada
“My MS gives me a lot of fatigue. With Taoist Tai Chi® practice I am able to maintain a certain level of energy and I am able to enjoy things more.”
– Ellenore, Niverville, Canada
If I can do anything for someone who has MS it would be to recommend they do Taoist Tai Chi® arts.
I was diagnosed with MS in 1998 and started Taoist Tai Chi® practice in 2012. If I don’t do my tai chi I really feel it. If I am in pain I do my Taoist Tai Chi® practice. It also really helps me with mobility and balance. I know where to put my weight so I do not fall. For example, when I was first diagnosed using a bathtub was a nightmare. Now, because of Taoist Tai Chi® arts, I know how to manage my body. I know how to get the weight in my feet. Also the community is great. I feel like I belong and the energy of the group really helps me; it moves me. I don’t feel like I have a disability here. All these things make the whole of why I do Taoist Tai Chi® arts. Everyone cares.
– Maria, Coquitlam, Canada
“I feel Taoist Tai Chi® arts have made a huge difference with my MS symptoms. I used to be very active but due to severe fatigue with the MS my activity had been reduced to only walking. Taoist Tai Chi® practice makes me feel like I’ve had a great physical workout but it doesn’t fatigue me; it actually gives me more energy. Balance and concentration are much improved. I highly recommend Taoist Tai Chi® arts for its many health benefits especially as we age! I’m also a retired nurse.”
– Barbara, Victoria, Canada
“There is little or nothing in western medicine that improves people who have multiple sclerosis, but Taoist Tai Chi® arts got me walking again. I have the relapsing-remitting form of MS, and before Tai Chi I would never remit fully; I’d always lose something after a relapse. After I started Taoist Tai Chi® practice, I could use it not only to remit completely to where I was before the relapse, but also to take it further and regain some of what I had lost earlier.”
A note from Bill, Sue’s husband/caregiver.
“I’ve been Sue’s caregiver since the MS started to have serious effects on her in the late 1980s. I realized a few years ago I had been coping physically and emotionally with very difficult experiences much better than I would have before Taoist Tai Chi® arts. The meditative benefits of Taoist Tai Chi® practice has allowed me to do what needs doing — eyes see, hands do — without driving myself crazy fretting about things I can’t control.”
– Sue and 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. Training in these arts can help reduce the risk of developing health problems and gives people a way to work with problems that do occur.
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
