A Growing Amount of New Research Confirms the Many and Diverse Health Benefits of Tai Chi

Some may wonder how the slow, methodical movements of tai chi can have any health advantages, let alone the variety of significant health effects that it does have. Just this year alone, the practice of tai chi has been shown to help everything from balance to blood pressure, back pain to depression, and even Parkinson’s.

“Tai chi is considered to be a moving meditation that works on balance, breath, and internal awareness,” explained Andrea Felix who has been practicing tai chi since 2006 and teaching it since 2016. “Tai chi relies on the balancing of opposites with both hard and soft movements that balance yang and yin energies to create harmony and peace leading to healthful longevity.”

Tai chi is an ancient Chinese martial art that combines slow, gentle movements and postures with a meditative mind and controlled breathing.

“Tai chi students work to connect mind, breath, and body as the practice starts with gross physical movements and ends with more subtle energetic awareness,” said Felix who has been practicing martial arts since 1986 and holds a first-degree black belt in Kenpo Karate and a red belt in Hwa Rang Do. “It seems as though the research is catching up with what practitioners and students have known for centuries, that tai chi is a powerful way to stay strong and healthy.”

Recent Research

According to Peter Wayne, PhD, the author of The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi, the low-impact slow movements of tai chi have eight characteristics that are synergistic and interwoven into the practice:

1. Awareness
2. Intention
3. Structural integration
4. Active relaxation
5. Strengthening and flexibility
6. Natural, freer breathing
7. Social support
8. Embodied spirituality

Wayne believes these factors work together to deliver both physical and mental health benefits.

From a physical standpoint, a key, well-known benefit of tai chi is its positive influence on balance. This year there have been three published papers substantiating the fact that tai chi improves balance including a systematic review and meta-analysis featuring 17 randomized clinical trials.

Another analysis of 10 randomized controlled trials published this year found that the practice of tai chi helps relieve chronic low back pain.

A randomized clinical trial published this year also found that tai chi was more effective than aerobic exercise in reducing blood pressure in patients who were prehypertensive.

Parkinson’s is a difficult-to-treat condition presently with no cure, so the clinical goal is to ease symptoms and slow disease progression. According to a 3.5-year follow-up cohort study published this year, tai chi helps improve both motor and non-motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s with the benefits lasting several years. Specific to non-motor Parkinson’s symptoms, another randomized controlled study published this year found that tai chi improved cognition and sleep while downregulating inflammation and enhancing energy metabolism.

Another study published this year featured breast cancer survivors with insomnia and found that tai chi not only helped treat the insomnia, it also reduced markers of inflammation.

Tai chi’s effects on the brain and mental health are also well-known. A systematic review and meta-analysis published this year featuring 20 studies concluded that tai chi not only helps reduce anxiety and depression symptoms in older adults, it also enhances social integration and overall well-being.

Regarding brain function, a cross-sectional study published this year found that tai chi may help prevent age-related brain decline as it was shown to increase functional connectivity in the brain of those practicing tai chi compared to older individuals who did not do tai chi.

Recommending Tai Chi to Patients

“One of the biggest advantages of tai chi from a health perspective is that anyone can practice it, which includes those who have health issues, injuries, or limited mobility,” says Felix who specializes in teaching tai chi for beginners.

Felix recommends practitioners develop a relationship with an instructor in their community who has a clear lineage that they have followed. They can then feel comfortable referring patients to that instructor. Collaborating with an instructor who is well-versed at working with beginners may also be helpful.

The main style that Felix teaches is the yang style which emphasizes relaxation through slow, graceful movements, which is a great style for beginners. 

“It’s nice to see that the benefits of tai chi—physical movement, body connection, balance, breathing, and stress reduction—are being confirmed by such a growing amount of research,” she concluded.