Anxiety, Depression and Taoist Tai Chi® arts
If you are suffering from anxiety or depression or both, you know that they can deeply affect your enjoyment of life. You may be experiencing many challenging symptoms and feelings including low energy, hopelessness, apathy, or trouble connecting to people. Perhaps you are struggling with worry or panic, a sense of agitation that is difficult to control and trouble with focusing. Certainly anxiety and depression interfere with daily functioning and happiness.
Fortunately, research and anecdotal evidence shows that Tai Chi helps people with both depression and anxiety. With Taoist Tai Chi® practice people find they increase their energy, improve their mood, and reduce their anxiety. They are able to relax, be steadier emotionally, and manage stressful situations. Being part of a supportive community and practising together helps to build strong connections. People find they begin to enjoy their relationships with others as well as activities that they may have begun to avoid. Training in these arts gives practitioners a way to maintain healthy connections within themselves and with the outside world.
People practising Taoist Tai Chi® arts also find they become stronger, have better balance and flexibility, and enjoy a wonderful feeling of lightness and well-being.
Related Readings
One Person’s Story of Recovery from Anxiety and Depression - One Class at a Time!
My name is Kirosa. I was diagnosed with Depressive Disorder, General Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder. At the time I could not interact with my family or work or get out of the house at all. I was sleeping many hours. Attending a Taoist Tai Chi® arts retreat was a turning point in my life. I began to think more positively and I stopped feeling so alone. I began to be more comfortable in my own skin and to like myself better. It has been a journey, but with Taoist Tai Chi® practice, I feel that I am a new person.
What are practitioners with anxiety or depression saying about Taoist Tai Chi® arts?
“Going to Taoist Tai Chi® arts class aids in the prevention of depression and is a great pain killer. Taoist Tai Chi® practice gives me hope.”
– Jane, UK
“After my wife died Taoist Tai Chi® arts helped me cope with the grieving process. The calming yet focused “moving meditation” was an enormous help in giving me back a purpose for living.”
– Michael, Ontario
“For me, Taoist Tai Chi® practice has most strongly impacted my emotional/mental health – less anxiety and depression and an improved ability to relate to others. I have better self-esteem; I am less shy and have less social anxiety. I am calmer and less angry.”
– Ann, Ontario
“While I am very grateful for the improved physical health Taoist Tai Chi® practice has offered, it is the mental peace, calm, equanimity that I now feel that is so appreciated. The actual functionality of my life has improved immensely – mental clarity, cheerfulness, organizational abilities, increased mental memory/problem solving, less anxiety to none.”
– Margaret, Ontario
“When I first started Taoist Tai Chi® practice in 1991 I was very anxious and depressed. There is a genetic component to my depression: my paternal grandmother, my father, my brother and some of his children and grandchildren – so 5 generations – have struggled with both anxiety and depression. Of all the family I am the only one who keeps these things under control without medication. From quite early in my Taoist Tai Chi® arts training I realized that Taoist Tai Chi® practice gave me more energy, helped me to relax and be less anxious. I learned that if I am beginning to feel anxious or depressed, I can do dan-yus and actually stop the feeling of grief and fatigue. In Taoist Tai Chi® arts classes we talk about balance a lot; to me this always means first and foremost having emotional balance. I have also learned that being balanced in my body contributes to being emotionally balanced, that the mind and body are all one.”
– Polly, British Columbia
Cultivate health and well-being with Taoist Tai Chi® practice
The whole body approach of Taoist Tai Chi® arts has a profound effect on all aspects of our health and well being. Mind, body and spirit are deeply nourished and transformed.
Taoist Tai Chi® practice involves a full range of motion with deep stretching and continuous turning of the spine. It exercises the whole physiology including muscular, skeletal and circulatory systems, as well as tendons, joints, connective tissue and organs, increasing strength, flexibility and resilience, whatever our condition. It is a form of moving meditation that has a penetrating and relaxing effect on the nervous system and the brain, reducing anxiety, lightening the spirit, calming and clearing the mind.
Come and experience Taoist Tai Chi® practice at a location near you.
