For a long time I wondered how these slow, soft, circular, grounded movements of Tai Chi could help with your health. I mean when I was young, I was so used to working out my cardiovascular system, joints and muscles till I was exhausted and I associated that level of fitness from fatigue, sweat & energy expended from vigorous exercise with good health & the ability to fight diseases. When you're younger and you have a lot of energy pent up inside you so you may need those outlets but don't underestimate the gentle movements of Tai Chi! The Lymph system is twice as big as your cardiovascular/blood system & responsible for the white blood cells that fight bacteria, viruses  other causes of diseases. Vigorous exercise of course helps pump your lymphatic system around your body - as the lymph fluid is pumped via muscular contractions, not via the bloodstream - but part of the mystery of Tai Chi's slow, gentle movements on health can be seen from the above image. You can see that the major lymph nodes & system (in black) are located around your neck, armpit and groin ("Kua") regions. These are the areas that get a gentle massage repeatedly when you do Tai Chi. Especially around the Groin/hip/waist/& armpit area, the opening and closing of the "Kua" & arms are central to how we move in a Tai Chi fashion. As mentioned in my previous post, the slow stretch, weight bearing and release of the thigh muscles - so famous for that Tai Chi "thigh burn" helps pump the lymphatic fluid around your body & in particular to the Huang Sheng Shyan Yang style, the "Up & down/compression & release" (vertical motion/rebounding-like) movements, albeit gentle (I would argue) helps promotes the free flowing of the lymphatic system. According to the article from the lymphologist  (http://www.wellbeingjournal.com/rebounding-good-for-the-lymph-system/) such "rebounding" movements is great for detoxification, the nervous and intestinal system. How deceptive and underestimated Tai Chi can be, fooled me when I was young.



References

http://ic.steadyhealth.com/how_to_maintain_a_healthy_lymphatic_system.html

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/swollen-lymph-nodes/multimedia/parts-of-the-immune-system/img-20006608

http://www.steadyhealth.com/medical-answers/the-most-common-causes-of-swollen-nodes.html

http://www.bodymovementsolutions.com/tai-chi/

http://www.wellbeingjournal.com/rebounding-good-for-the-lymph-system/

Here's a good article I found posted on linked in about the benefits of Mindful Meditation in "Scientific American"  which is what Tai Chi is: "Mindful Meditation in Motion".  What is surprising is that actual physical changes in the brain are noted as mindful meditation is regularly practiced - most notably the amygdala (associated with lower order brain activity e.g. - stress) shrinks and the pre-frontal cortex  (associated with higher order activity e.g. - awareness, decision-making & concentration) becomes thicker resulting in a better, more thoughtful  control over the primal stress response.  With regards to pain this article reinforces the previous post I wrote about how mindfulness affects the interpretation of pain. That is, the practice of mindfulness seems to allow the practitioner to have more control over the thought processes that exacerbate the experience of pain, hence lower the experience of pain felt. They (regular meditators) still feel it but the pain is lessened & they think that this is a permanent change in perception & brain structure!

Check the article out:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2014/06/12/what-does-mindfulness-meditation-do-to-your-brain/?WT.mc_id=SA_sharetool_Twitter

Very interesting & surprising recent research findings about Tai Chi's effects on anti-ageing, who'd have suspected practice to positively influence Stem Cell proliferation. We already know about blood pressure and maybe even "blood flow" (as sometimes heard in Tai Chi circles) & longevity of course but... read below -

Tai Chi Martial Arts Could Reverse Ageing, Reduce Stress And Lower Blood Pressure, Says Study The Huffington Post UK  |  Posted: 29/05/2014 11:08 BST

91190 Get UK Lifestyle Newsletters: Subscribe Follow: Health, The Third Metric, Anti-Ageing, Blood Pressure, Health News, Stress, Tai Chi, Wellbeing, UK Lifestyle News Looking to bathe dip your toe in that elusive fountain of youth? Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese martial art, may be a good place to start.

A recent study suggested that Tai Chi may not only have anti-ageing properties, but can help reduce stress and lower blood pressure.

The sport was found to increase the numbers of an important stem cell (CD34+), which is vital to a number of bodily functions.

Researchers split young people into three groups to discover the benefits of Tai Chi, brisk walking or no exercise. The group performing Tai Chi saw a rise in their cluster of CD34 cells.

"To evaluate the potential life-lengthening effect of Tai Chi, we conducted a year-long, retrospective cross-sectional study comparing the rejuvenating and anti-ageing effects among three groups of volunteers under the age of 25 who engaged in either Tai Chi, brisk walking, or no exercise habit," said study author Dr. Shinn-Zong Lin of the Center for Neuropsychiatry, China Medical University Hospital, Taiwan.

"We used young volunteers because they have better cell-renewing abilities than the old population and we also wanted to avoid having chronic diseases and medications as interfering factors."

According to the authors, Tai Chi "has been confirmed to benefit" patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease and fibromyalgia.

In addition, they cite possible advantages of Tai Chi in pain reduction, fall prevention and balance improvement, aerobic capacity, blood pressure, quality of life and stress reduction.

"Compared with the no exercise habit group, the Tai Chi group had a significantly higher number of CD 34+ cells," wrote the authors. "We found that the CD34+ cell count of the Tai Chi group was significantly higher than the brisk walking group."

CD 34+ cells, they explained, express the CD 34 protein and are "cluster markers" for hematopoietic stem cells (blood stem cells) involved in cell self-renewal, differentiation and proliferation.

"It is possible that Tai Chi may prompt vasodilation and increase blood flow," said Lin. "Considering that brisk walking may require a larger space or more equipment, Tai Chi seems to be an easier and more convenient choice of anti-aging exercise."

"This study provides the first step into providing scientific evidence for the possible health benefits of Tai Chi." said Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, distinguished professor at the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. "Further study of how Tai Chi can elicit benefit in different populations and on different parameters of aging are necessary to determine its full impact."

The study was published in issue 23(4/5) of Cell Transplantation

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/05/29/martial-arts-health-benefits-anti-ageing_n_5409276.html