Wellness Day Reflection

Link to our: Tai Chi Presentation

      Carolyn Chen and I decided to choose Tai Chi as our Wellness Day topic because we were both not very knowledgeable or experienced in the art and wanted to explore more about its physiological benefits and its relation to our Chinese culture. I was also intrigued to learn more because I know quite a few people who participate in this slow-moving activity and I wanted to see how the culture connected to the physical aspects. Carolyn’s dad had some DVD tutorials of Tai Chi lessons, and he himself had experience doing Tai Chi, so we ended up gaining a lot of knowledge from both a professional Tai Chi instructor and from a two-on-one in person lesson. Since many of the students in our class didn’t have much understanding of the Tai Chi, some only from middle school PE, we thought it would be informative to teach the class some background information on Tai Chi history and provide studies to show its physiological benefits. 

      What surprised me the most during this learning process was how Tai Chi moves were based off martial arts. Carolyn’s dad demonstrated and explained how one of the main moves was from a martial arts move to attack an opponent. After understanding what the moves originated from, I found it easier to grasp the Tai Chi moves and appreciate its slow pace. Carolyn and I decided it would be informational and interesting to show the class this defense move while we were teaching the segment. Another interesting aspect I learned was the stressed importance of connecting to nature and animals. I thought this went along well with the current idea of mindfulness and how we can allow our mind to calm and focus on our physical movements for relaxation. After doing the sequence multiple times, I noticed my body relax and I felt significantly more calm than before I started. I was surprised how many of the moves were named after animals such as “white crane spreads its wings”, and how the moves were mimics of animal characteristics.
      Tai Chi is important for health and fitness because it works out the entire body, through low impact movements. Core abdominal muscles are consistently used and there is a great emphasis on balance and flexibility. Some advanced moves require a lot of flexibility as the body has to stretch into low positions on the ground, yet still maintaining posture and grace. Stress plays a large role in our life; therefore, Tai Chi is beneficial for relieving stress and focuses on breathing. As the studies shows, Tai Chi helped increase college students’ information processing and aided in mental health focus for young adults. Our parasympathetic nervous system is induced, decreasing our overused sympathetic nervous system. Our body can pay attention to loosening its muscles and take time to breathe and be calm. Tai Chi done early also prevents joint problems, arthritis, and falling by actively strengthening our coordination and balance, slowing the deterioration of our bones when we get older. 

      On a scale of 1-10 I would rate our presentation a 9.5 because I think we provided informative background information on Tai Chi that helped students become aware of the culture behind the physical activity. By presenting studies on Tai Chi, we used concrete evidence of its physiological benefits and showed why people should take interest in Tai Chi and try it out. We also went over specific hand techniques that are crucial when doing Tai Chi and the class seemed thoroughly engaged in both our presentation and activity. One major goal in our presentation was to emphasis how Tai Chi can be beneficial for younger people and the exercise is not restricted to older people. I hope that people are inspired to learn more about Tai Chi and maybe have courage to go out and take a class!