Why I Recommend Qigong, Yoga, and Tai Chi

As a patient of mine, you can expect some kind of light exercise to be apart of your nutritional balancing program.

But it will look much different than the intensive cardiovascular and weight training regimens recommended by your personal trainer.

I typically will recommend my patients participate in health practices such as yoga, qigong, and tai chi, along with meditation, stretching routines, and breathing exercises.

Due to the modern stressors in the age of toxicity, we won’t be recommending a “no pain no gain” routine.

This may be great for a professional athlete, but for the average person, this may take a toll on the body.

I’ve seen it time and time again through patient HTMAs (hair tissue mineral analysis) showing an alarming rate of my patients in chronic fatigue patterns–such as the four lows pattern (lower than the ideal calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium). 

What is this saying? That our population doesn’t even have the energy anymore to keep up with day to day life. 

That is why I often encourage my patients to simplify their lives, slow down, and take a breath.

Yoga, Qigong, & Tai Chi 

Yoga, Qigong, and Tai Chi will incorporate the breath into each move and often end with a brief meditation. 

When you intentionally work with your breath, your entire body begins to relax: the nervous system, the digestive system, etc.

The combination of deep breathing with slow movements stretches and strengthens the body without over-exhausting it.

This will help keep the body in a more parasympathetic state as opposed to sympathetic dominance–in which a person is pushing themselves too hard and thus are consistently carrying tension in their body. 

People in sympathetic dominance leave little time for rest and relaxation.  

Exercises like tai chi and yoga also work with the natural movements of the body as opposed to the more robotic ones in the everyday exercise programs. 

This allows for stretching and strengthening the areas of your body that are often overlooked such as the ankle/foot muscles and the tongue (yes, even the tongue needs a nice stretch once in a while).

Additionally, these exercises relax any racing thoughts and worries, releasing tension from the mind as well as the body.

Feeling the stress of your day unfolding? 

Now would be a great time to put this article into action with a quick qigong video on Youtube. 

Best of all, you can access many yoga, qigong, and tai chi videos on the internet, in the privacy of your own home, and according to your own schedule. 

To start, you can find yoga routines that range from 30 to 75 minutes and qigong videos ranging from 10 to 50 minutes.

If it is easier, you can find an instructor near you that can give you individual attention as you slowly being to incorporate these types of light exercise into your everyday routine to improve your overall health.