PEOPLE
“It was the simplicity
of the program that
I felt contributed to
the solution."
“The gym is a safe and comfortable
environment, and who would have thought we’d
have women and men, some aged over 80-years,
pumping iron? We started with group exercise
sessions at the University gym in Bathurst, and
in just a matter of weeks, we celebrated ‘small’
successes such as standing from a seated
position without pushing off using the arms.”
Dr Stott said she understands, however, that
the gym environment is not for everyone, and
cited the example of the recent eight-week Tai
Chi program as an example of an alternative form
of exercise that might interest some people.
“Some who may be starting from a very low
level of fitness may find Tai Chi a better place to
begin an exercise program,” she said.
Dr Stott said she attended the workshop
hosted by Health NSW last year to learn all about
Dr Paul Lam’s Tai Chi for Arthritis program.
“It was the simplicity of the program that I felt
contributed to the solution to getting people to
practise at home,” Dr Stott said. “Comprising just
six basic movements, I practise at least three
times a day which helps me step away from
working at my desk.
“Being able to speak Mandarin, I find myself
using literal Mandarin-to-English translation to
provide cues for the moves. It may sound like
pidgin English, but it provides the important cues
which help the participants learn and memorise
all six movements in just eight hours.
“Fostering this independence to practise
at home is our key objective in this Tai Chi
program.
“We use a simple survey to track progress
over the eight weeks because we are interested
to know whether just eight weeks of Tai Chi can
help a person feel safer in their ability to balance
or perhaps decrease their fear of falling.
“When the current participants attend the
exercise sessions at the University in the
morning, we rarely get a chance to gather
socially, so the research information session will
also be a valuable opportunity to tell the whole
ALLong story!”
Tai Chi is said to continuously massage your
internal organs, including lungs, heart, liver,
kidneys and spleen. Constant turning of the waistand limbs creates gentle internal pressures that
create beneficial compressions in your organs.
Taking care of your internal organs is
important because your life and health depend
on them. The stronger they are, the better you
can perform in any area of your life.
In tai chi, stretching occurs by gently letting
go of the tension in your muscles, rather than
by pushing or forcing muscle fibres to stretch.
Relaxing the muscles in combination with slow-
motion movement gradually stretches them.
What is unique about tai chi movements is that
they stretch not just the large muscles, but also
hundreds of smaller muscles. Although Western
exercise programs are beginning to include
stretches of these smaller muscles, most don’t
and even when they do, they often don’t do it as
effectively.
Tai chi also does a wonderful job of relieving
back, neck and shoulder pain by loosening up
all the muscles of the upper body. The emphasis
on flowing relaxation is especially useful for
softening muscles thatbecomestiffthrough
repetitive daily activities.bmlBlue Mountainslife 39