This caused my friend to ask “are there some simple techniques that could have helped an elderly person to respond in an unexpected emergency situation similar to what her mom encountered several years ago.

This led me to write the following article “Some simple techniques to remember and to respond in times of emergencies.”

The most talked about martial arts stance is the “horse stance,” as shown in the first photo below.  However. In terms of stability, that is not necessarily the most important stance, which is the stance as shown in the second picture below (the Chinese characters “Taiji Wild Horse Shakes Its Mane” refers to the name of that stance):

To go from the first photo (the horse stance) to the 2nd photo (wild horse shakes its mane), you make the following shifts:

1. You shift from looking at the front by looking at your left
2. You move your left foot over to your left from your right foot by about half-a-shoulder to a whole-shoulder-width
3. Your left foot from the knee down should be straight
4. Your right foot should be about one step behind your left foot with your weight evenly distributed between your right foot and your left foot
5. Your body should be upright mostly over your left foot

Note that with this stance, your body weight is supported by both feet.  With your two feet separated by about a shoulder width, you are able to withstand a minor push to try to get you off balance or cause you to fall.  Furthermore, both of your hands can be used to block or defend yourself, or to use them to grab or hold on something, or even to counter attack if the occasion warrants it.

A similar stance (a mirror image of the second photo above) can also be used by looking to your right, instead of looking at your left.  Then instead of having your left leg vertical from the left knee downward, you have your right leg vertical from your right knee downward.

The above bodily arrangement is typical of Taiji in the sense that you don’t place your two feet along the same straight line, but your two feet are separated by a shoulder width which provides stability from being pushed.  Your bodily weight is firmly supported by your two feet.  Your hands are free to be used to grab hold of something, to defend yourself, or even to counterattack. 

I think with such simple adjustments, an elderly person, as well as anyone else, can be mentally prepared to handle similar unexpected emergency situation.  Of course, the person has to be properly trained so that when such an emergency occurs, the response should be automatic, instead of needing to remember what you might have learned in the past, thus leading to panicking.

Of course, due to her senior age and no previous experience or training, it is possible that such a technique might not have worked for my friend’s mom.  But for someone younger and with training in Taiji, the above technique could have avoided that terrible incident.

Qigong Demonstration from Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang:  First I want to give you some background information on Feng Zhiqiang (冯 志 强). Taiji has many styles. The two most popular or most-practiced styles are the Chen Style and the Yang Style. The originally created style was the Chen Style. In the 19th century after Yang Lu-Chan (楊露禅) went to the Chen village in Chenjiagou in Henan Province and learned Taiji, he formulated the Yang Style Taiji, which became very popular. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a revival of the Chen Taiji, led by the then Chen style leader Chen Fake (陈发科) who became a famous martial artist, non only well known in China, but in the rest of the world. This led to the Chen Style and the Yang Style as the two most popular and practiced Taiji styles in China and the world.

Not only Feng Zhiqiang was a lead student of Chen Fake, he was also a student of the Xingyiquan expert and Qigong master Hu Yaozhen (胡耀貞), who was also an expert in traditional Chinese medicine.  Under the guidance of the two masters Chen Fake and Hu Yaozhen, Feng Zhiqiang combined Taiji and Qigong and synthesized a new Chen Taiji Style known as the Hunyuan (混元) Taiji.  Starting around the second half of the 20th century, the Yang Style Taiji and the Chen Style (either the traditional Chen Style or the Hunyuan Chen Style) became the two most popular and practiced Taiji styles in the world, with Feng Zhijiang as the leader of the Chen Style.

Now I want to show you a video demonstration of Qigong by Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang.  Below is a short demo I found on the web which shows his demonstration of Qigong breaking a glass cup and a glass ash tray.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUv0Sb6mMdM (shattering a glass cup)

or

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2541872779359886 (shattering a glass ashtray)

The significance of this demo is to show that Qigong has the potential in healing when it is directed to a blocked artery, or a tumor.

For someone who has never heard of Qigong, the above demos may seem like fake.  However, for anyone who knows about Qigong and its health benefits, this demo is not a myth or fake.  For someone like Grandmaster Feng with his deep knowledge of Taiji, Qigong, and Traditional Chinese Medicine, the ability to execute this kind of Qigong and power is completely believable.

Many expert Taiji masters or other martial arts masters can exhibit remarkable strengths and skills using a technique known as Fa-Jin which means to issue or discharge a large amount of power. Below are several videos of people who demonstrate their Fa-Jin power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q21hC_eNaGo (Lin Kuanchang)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGEP5X78G1w (Liang De Hua)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuW4UfaC-l8 (Adam Mizner)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNJebrhrVZ0 (Yap Boh Heong)

under the names of masters like Lin Kuanchang, Liang De Hua, Adam Mizner, Yap Boh Heong, and others, often in videos from “The Martial Man” Kieren Krygier.

In particular, I want you to focus on the first video by Master Lin Kuanchang, because he explains the technique that he uses to accomplish his Fa-Jin power.

In my opinion, applying the Fa-Jin method of force to an opponent should be able to be used in American football between offensive linemen and defensive linemen. The most difficult part of the technique is to relax the body in the proper way (i.e., “song”, or 放松 in Chinese). The key question is how long does it take for someone to learn that kind of technique and apply it effectively and consistently in a real situation of playing American football?  If that technique can be taught and learned in one year or two, then we could have a breakthrough technique of using the Fa-Jin method of martial arts to American football.  This could open up a huge application of Qigong/Chinese Martial Arts to areas not previously explored!

Original Style:  Chen Style:  It is more likely that Taiji was invented about 350-400 years ago near the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) or the beginning of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), associated with Chen Wang-Ting (陈王庭, 1600-1680), a former military officer who lived in the Chen village in Chenjiagou (陈家沟) in Henan Province (河南省).

Existence of Yang Style Taiji (Yang Lu-Chen):  There are many different styles of Taiji.  The original style is the Chen Style, which gave rise to the Yang Style, when Yang Lu-Chan (楊露禅, 1799-1872) from Hebei Province (河北省), went to the Chen village to work, and then also learned Taiji from Chen Chang-Xing (陈长兴) for an extended period (about 7 years).  Then Yang went back to Beijing in Hebei Province and taught Taiji.  Because many of his students were from the imperial court’s aristocratic class, instead of laborers, farmers, and soldiers, he modified the Chen Style Taiji to make it less physically demanding and more suitable for the aristocratic class, but not necessarily decreased its effectiveness as a martial art. Yang-Style Taiji which is mostly soft and slow became popular and spread. As a matter of fact, Yang Lu-Chan and some of the subsequent masters of the Yang-Style Taiji were superb martial arts fighters who were among the best fighters of their period.  During the next hundred or so years, several other leading practitioners of Taiji made their own modifications and extensions of the Chen Style Taiji and gave rise to the Wu Style (吴式), Sun Style (孙式), and Wu/Hao Style (武/郝 式).  The Yang Style became the most commonly practiced Taiji style in the world.

Reemergence of Chen Style Taiji (Chen Fake):  In the early 1900 there is a reemergence of Chen Style Taiji when Chen Fake became the most dominant martial artist and taught many people around China and the world.  There is an interesting story about Chen Fake.  He was the son of a Chen Style Taiji teacher in Shandong province, but he was weak and in poor health.  When he was 14 in 1901, he overhead from his relatives criticizing his weakness. That served as a wakeup call that he might not be able to carry the tradition of Chen Style Taiji.  So over the next 3 years, he diligently practiced the various forms of his Chen family Taiji and became well known and famous by winning many impromptu competitions where there were no rules and could be very dangerous.  His fame spread and he had many students in China and around the world and resulted in the reemergence of Chen Style Taiji until his death in 1957.  With a mixture of fast and slow movements, as well as a mixture of hard and soft movements, the Chen Style Taiji reemerged again as a popular martial art.  Therefore both the Chen Style Taiji (characterized by a mixture of fast/slow movements and a mixture of hard/soft movements) and the Yang Style Taiji (characterized by mostly slow and soft movements) were practiced by many people in China and around the world throughout the twenty century.  Some of the disciples of both styles of Taiji also became superb martial arts fighters.

Emergence of the New Chen Style Hunyuan Taiji:  One of the best students of Chen Fake was Feng Zhiqiang (冯 志 强) (1928-2012), who besides being a student of Chen Fake, was also a student of the Xingyiquan expert and Qigong master Hu Yaozhen (胡耀貞), who was also an expert in traditional Chinese medicine. Under the guidance of two superb martial arts masters Chen Fake and Hu Yaozhen, Feng Zhiqiang practiced diligently Taiji and Qigong, and synthesized both techniques in a new Chen Taiji Style known as the Chen Style Hunyuan (混元) Taiji.  Feng Zhiqiang became perhaps the most well known Taiji master in the world.  His reputation grew in China and around the world, especially in Japan where he had been challenged many times by karate, judo, and other martial arts experts and successfully met those challenges.  Today the Yang Style Taiji and the Chen Style Taiji (either the traditional Chen Style or the Hunyuan Style) are the two most popular and practiced Taiji forms in the world.

Who Is Carrying on the Tradition After Feng Zhiqiang: After Feng Zhiqiang’s death in 2012, Chen Style Hunyuan Taiji is continued to be taught in Beijing under the leadership of Feng Zhiqiang’s daughter and grandson.  In the U.S. it is taught under the leadership of Wang Feng-Ming, son-in-law of Feng Zhiqiang and who accompanied Feng Zhiqiang in many of his oversea training and teaching trips.  After leaving Beijing in 1994, Mr. Wang taught Taiji in Europe, especially in Finland, for more than a decade, with many students all over Europe. Then around 2007, he moved to the U.S., with his base in central New Jersey.

Form Names of the Chen Style Hunyuan Taiji 24 Form: The two most popular form sets for Chen Style Hunyuan Taiji are the 24 Form and the 48 Form.  The names of the forms in the 24 Form are given below:

Taiji is a wonderful skill to have.  It can provide you with an exercise that you can practice for a lifetime.  It has many health benefits that have been confirmed by numerous medical journals. 

Health Benefits of Taiji: Taiji has many health benefits that have been confirmed by numerous medical journals.  For example, health benefits have been found [1] in the following categories:

• Bone Density
• Cardiopulmonary
• Physical Function
• Falls and Balance
• Immune Function and Inflammation
• Quality of Life
• Self-Efficacy
• Patient-Reported Outcomes
• Psychological

Reference [2] provides another review article on the health benefits of Taiji. 

The Mind Set to Adopt in Learning Taiji: Learning Taiji is not simply to learn the basic movements of your arms and legs in executing the motions of a particular form set. Yes, it is important to learn to do that, but just as important, it is to learn why you are doing certain movements, what are the health benefits of of doing those movements, and what are the potential martial arts applications of those movements. Although one may take up Taiji purely for its health benefits, and one doesn’t need to know or to practice the potential martial arts applications of the various Taiji movements, it is still important for one to be aware of its potential martial arts applications, because it helps you to understand and appreciate why the movements are done in a particular way and why it can lead to potential health benefits, and besides that, it helps to build confidence that you know some basic skills of self defense. As a matter of fact, explaining the Taiji movements from a health perspective and from a martial arts perspective can complement each other.

Breathing is also an important part of learning Taiji. Although in the beginning, the student is told to breathe naturally, except that occasionally, the student is instructed that for certain movements, when one should breathe in, and when one should breathe out. In general, when you are delivering a strike, you want to breathe out. When you are setting up a strike, you want to breathe in.

But no benefit can be realized if you don’t practice it.  Furthermore, one’s interest and motivation for practice will fade away quickly if you don’t learn it, constantly practice it, and enjoy doing it.  Therefore, while you are learning Taiji, you also need to enjoy doing Taiji. It will be a waste of your time if you don’t plan to spend the time to learn it, practice it., and enjoy it.

Examples To Illustrate the Mindset: Let’s use practicing the Yang-style 24 Form to illustrate several points mentioned in this article. The movements of the 24 Form are described in [3].

The reason that Taiji can give rise to multiple health benefits is because while doing the Taiji exercises, your body goes through certain exercises, e.g., stretching, aerobic, or breathing exercises, that increase your flexibility, massage your body including your internal organs, build your endurance, relax your body and calm your mind.

One of the exercises we want to practice from the health perspective is to rotate our waist. This is executed in part of the Form 2 “Wild Horse Shakes Its Mane” when we pivot the left (right) foot to the left (right) so that in the next part of that move when you step up, you need to rotate your waist while still ending up facing your opponent.

Another exercise we want to do from the health perspective is to be able to go low and block a low attack to our groin area. This is executed in Form 4 “Brush Knee and Step Forward,” when we go low and position our body to be able to block a low kick to the groin.

Another exercise we want to do from the health perspective is while simultaneously moving backward with your feet, you can use your arms to do other things. In Form 6 “Step Back and Repulse Monkey,” by stepping back we can avoid a direct attack from the front and at the same time initiate a counter attack by striking your opponent on the face or neck.

One of the exercises we want to do from the health perspective is to use our hands to block an attack and simultaneously initiate a counter attack. In Form 10 “Wave Hands Like Clouds,” we are moving our hands in a way that blocks an opponent’s attack and simultaneously counter attacking the opponent.

From the health perspective, one of the exercises we want to do is to be able to position our body in a low position and do things with our hands and feet while in a low position. In Form 16/17 “Push Down and Stand on One Leg (Left Leg or Right Leg),” your bend your body to go low so that you can extend your hand to reach your opponent’s foot, and once extended, you can use your extended hand to lift up your opponent’s foot/lower body while leaning your upper body against your opponent’s upper body to cause your opponent to fall backward.

One of the exercises you want to do from the health perspective is to exercise eye-hand coordination and at the same time to be able to use one hand to do something while using your other hand to do something else. In Form 18 “Fair Lady Works the Shuttles,” you exercise eye-hand coordination while blocking an opponent with your right hand but simultaneously attacking your opponent with your left hand (or blocking an opponent with your left hand but simultaneously attacking your opponent with your right hand).

Like some of the exercises previously mentioned that you want to do from a health perspective is to be able to do one thing with one hand while supporting that activity with the other hand. In Form 20 “Unfolding Arms Like a Fan,” you block with your right hand close to your head while counter attacking your opponent with your extended left hand.

One of the exercises you want to do from a health perspective is to be able to rotate your body rapidly and respond appropriately in the other direction. In Form 21 “Turn, Deflect Downward, Parry and Punch,” you change direction, counter attack to your opponent’s head, and followed by a frontal attack to your opponent.

One of the exercises you want to do from a health perspective is to be able to go low while doing something low and simultaneously do something high. In Form 23 “Cross Hands,” you block an opponent’s attack from your back or side, and then pull opponent’s feet upward and toward you, while leaning your upper body against your opponent’s upper body, causing your opponent to lose balance and fall backward.

Summary: The Taiji exercises are designed to be done in a certain way so that your body is going through a list of motions that engage your body in stretching, aerobic, or breathing exercises. As you can see from the discussion above, many exercises we want to do from a health perspective can be done with Taiji exercises that have self defense applications built in. That is why we say that explaining the Taiji movements from a health perspective and from a martial arts perspective can complement each other. That is also why we say when you learn Taiji in the proper way, you will enjoy doing Taiji

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References

[1] See for example, a review article “A comprehensive review of health benefits of qigong and tai chi”(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20594090/) by R. Jahnke, L. Larkey, C. Rogers, J. Etnier, and F. Lin, in the American Journal of Health Promotion, 2010 July/August.  I have written a short summary of this article in my website “A Comprehensive Review of Health Benefits of Qigong and Tai Chi”:  https://www.dontow.com/2010/12/a-comprehensive-review-of-health-benefits-of-qigong-and-tai-chi/. 

[2] See also “Health Benefits of Taiji” by Don M. Tow, The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health & Fitness, Vol 29, No. 3, Autumn 2019, pp. 20-28.

[3] D. M. Tow, “Simplified Yang Style 24 Form”, contains an attachment providing the names (both English and Chinese) and a short description of the form for each of the 24 forms: http://www.dontow.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Yang-Style-24-Forms-1.pdf.

Although it is a well-known martial arts technique that can be demonstrated by numerous people for literally centuries, its technique is somewhat mysterious, and it is not easily taught. As a matter of fact, many students who have studied martial arts for many years may have never learned and mastered such techniques. But such techniques have been seen by many people in many demonstrations, as in the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q21hC_eNaGo.

This video is explained and demonstrated by Master Lin Kuanchang, who is a Taiji master based in Taiwan, who has spent his past many years studying, demonstrating, and explaining his method.

Master Lin Kuanchang explains that his technique is actually very simple and is based on the method of yin yang when your body is very relaxed, or “song” in Chinese (放松), and instead of trying to exert an outward yang force of pushing an opponent backward, you must first exert a small backward yin force, followed almost immediately by an outward yang force. When you do that, surprisingly your outward yang force is magnified much more than if you first apply an outward yang force without first applying a small inward yin force.

In the video in the above link using the leg as an example, Master Lin Kuanchang would first move one leg slightly backward, then followed by moving that leg forward. Then you can clearly see that the yin-yang method can result in a yang force that is much larger than the yang force without first applying the small backward yin force.

Similarly, the above video also shows that a similar yin-yang technique can also be used on the arm, i.e., one arm would also first move slightly backward, then followed almost immediately by that arm moving forward. Of course, if you combine the leg and arm methods in the same application, then the result can be even magnified,

Master Lin Kuanchang also illustrated his technique when it is applied to the chest. But applying it to the chest is much more difficult and is not elaborated or explained in detail in the above video.

Since the Fa-Jin method of force can be applied in defense and offense, as seen in another video as demonstrated by Master Liang De Hua of Thailand:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGEP5X78G1w.

This is a long video (20:50 minutes). The first 8:30 minutes provides an introduction and the theory behind it. The section (9:00-14:45 minutes) shows some applications.

In my opinion, applying the Fa-Jin method of force to an opponent should be able to be used in American football between offensive linemen and defensive linemen. The most difficult part of the technique is to relax the body in the proper way (i.e., “song”, or 放松 in Chinese). The question is how long does it take for someone to learn that kind of technique and apply it effectively and consistently in a real situation of playing American football. If that technique can be taught and learned in a matter of a few months, or even in one year or two, then we could have a breakthrough technique of using the Fa-Jin method of martial arts to American football.

After moving to the U.S. for additional education, she worked for a number of years in the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Then she started working for NWS in March 2007. Chen’s primary work was to develop, model, and significantly improfe flood prediction for over 2,000 miles along the Ohio River and its tributories.

Accusations Against Sherry Chen: In October 2014, the FBI came to her workplace and took her away in handcuffs in front of her co-workers to the shock and surprise of her colleagues. She was charged with making false statements to federal investigators and downloading data from a restricted government database in relation to a trip to visit family in China in 2012. And a month after her arrest, she was suspended from her job without pay. Chen said that she had accessed only publicly available information to help a former classmate. In March 2015, federal prosecutors dropped all changes without any explanation. Nevertheless, in March 2016, she was fired from her job as a hydrologist with the NWS.

In 2012, the Commerce Department’s internal security unit, the Investigations and Threat Management Service (ITMS) began unlawfully investigating Ms. Chen as part of a broad pattern of discrimination directed at Chinese Americans, leading to her baseless arrest and prosecution by the FBI and Justice Department. ITMS was officially disbanded last year, following a Senate report detailing how the unit had become a “rogue, unaccountable police force” that operated outside the law and “opened frivolous investigations on a variety of employees without evidence suggesting wrongdoing.”

After being fired from the job she had worked at for years, a federal administrative judge found that her termination by the NWS and NOAA was unlawful, and that Ms. Chen had been the victim of a “gross injustice.” After the government appealed, she was placed on indefinite leave, instead of being fired.

Sherry Chen’s Lawsuit Against the U.S. Government:

Ms. Chen asked herself “why do I have to accept the unfair and unjust treatment my government has given me? I am not just fighting for myself but for all victims of racial profiling so that it won’t happen again.” So around 2018 she filed a complaint for wrongful termination with the Merit System Protection
Board (MSPB). The MSPB was established to protect federal workers against abuses by their employers.

Finally, the settlement of that lawsuit was announced on November 10, 2022 at the time during the “International Society for the Study of Oversea Chinese” (ISSCO) conference in San Francisco. The results of the settlement include:

• Ms. Chen will receive $550,000 from the Commerce Department
• Ms. Chen will receive an annuity valued at over $1.25 million over 10 years
• The Commerce Department will host a private meeting between Ms. Chen and a senior National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official, where they plan to discuss wrongdoing at multiple levels of the agency and the importance of anti-discrimination reforms
• The Commerce Department will also provide Ms. Chen with a letter acknowledging her extensive accomplishments during her years of service as a government hydrologist.

The settlement is one of the largest paid to an individual plaintiff in Commerce Department history. Nevertheless, the compensation just covered her legal fees and her back wages. It cannot compensate for the disruption to her life, and the mental anguish she and her family members had to suffer.

Implications and Lessons Learned:

It took a decade for Sherry Chen to win some kind of justice. How many people can afford to be suspended from their career for so long and put themselves in a seemingly endless legal battle.

Despite the victory, it is important to remember that this was a decade of Sherry’s life,” says Gang Chen, the MIT Mechanical Engineering professor experiencing similar charges from the U.S. government under the “China Initiative.”

Sherry Chen, Gang Chen, and Xiaoxian Xi, another Chinese American scientist being falsely charged under the China Initiative all participated at the ISSCO conference in San Francisco, and all have been fighting against the false charges against them.

During this time, these people and their family members’ lives are turned completely upside down, their reputation is destroyed, and their finances are completely taking up by the huge legal expenses.

We need to be constantly alert in the atmosphere of demonizing China and take actions against it.

Anti-Chinese hate crimes must not be tolerated, especially when it was originated by the government.

We are really grateful for the courage, stamina, and sacrifices displayed by these pacesetters. We hope that we can follow their blazing footsteps.

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** Normally this Taiji page in my website is reserved for articles on the subject of Taiji. However, because of the importance and timeliness of the recently (Nov. 10, 2022) announced settlement in two lawsuits from the American hydrologist Sherry Chen against the U.S. government for the U.S.’s wrongful prosecution and termination from her job as a hydrologist at the U.S.’s National Weather Service, we have made an exception to this website and have replaced my Taiji article in this page with this most important and timely decision on the Sherry Chen’s legal lawsuit settlement.

September 2022 No Comments Edit

This article describes a clinical trial study that shows how Taiji can improve mindfulness, sleep quality, and overall well being of young adults in colleges. Mindfulness means that the mind is focused on the present task at hand, being aware of the environment but at least for that moment not overly anxious or worry by what is going on around us. Mindfulness can help a person concentrate on the current work, and not get distracted or overwhelmed by other events and the greater environment in which we live.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was introduced more than 40 years ago by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and has become widely recognized and used since then, especially in the last 20 years to help reduce stress and improve overall health. Mindfulness is often associated with meditation and Taiji.

This paper reports on a clinical trial study using Taiji as the method to mindfulness. It compares an experimental group who practices Taiji (Chen-stype Taijiquan) twice a week and a Special Recreation control group who are involved in classes of a similar duration via lectures, discussion, and service learning. Both groups involve ccollege age male and female adults.

Methods: Students in both groups completed in class a survey instrument of five questionnaires at the beginning (baseline), midpoint, and end of the semester. The five questionnaires are

• Mindfulness: The Five Facet Mindfulness questionnaire of 39 items The five factors representing elements of mindfulness are (1) observing or attending to sensations, perceptions, thoughts, and feelings, (2) describing or labeling these internal experiences with words, (3) acting with awareness rather than on “automatic pilot,” (4) nonjudging of inner experiences, and (5) nonreactivity to inner experience.
• Mood: The Four Dimensional Mood Scale is based on a circumplex model of dispositional mood measuring Positive Energy, Tiredness, Negative Arousal, and Relaxation.
• Stress: The Perceived Stress Scale-4 is a 4-item LIKERT format scale designed to measure the degree to which situations in one’s life appraised as stressful.
• Self-efficacy: The Self-Regulatory Self-Efficacy Scale is a 4-item LIKERT format instrument designed to measure self-regulatory self-efficacy (i.e., motivating oneself to keep trying difficult tasks).
• Sleep quality: The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) consists of 19 self-rated questions related to normal sleep habits.

Results: The results of this study can be summarized in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. 

Fig. 1 shows the  Change in Total Mindfulness, Sleep Disturbance, and Perceived Stress over time for the Taijiaquan Group (dotted line) and the Special Recreation Group (solid line).

Fig. 2 shows the Change in the four mood facets over time for the Taijiquan Group (solid line) and the Special Recreation Group (solid line).

What do these results tell us?  Fig. 1 shows significant improvements for the experimental Taiji group as compared to the Special Recreation control group in mindfulness, sleep disturbance and perceived stress. The improvements are significant and improved with time. Similarly, Fig. 2 shows significant improvements for the Taiji group in the four mood facets over time for Positive mood, Negative Energy, Relaxation, and Tiredness. In addition, the significant baseline differences in negative energy and tiredness were reversed by the end of the semester. The study also discussed possible differences between the two groups at baseline but concluded that they do not change the conclusions of the study.

Summary: The main findings of this study support the hypothesis that Taiji classes are associated with increases in mindfulness, well-being and sleep quality among college students. Unlike many Taiji studies which involve mostly senior citizens, an important result of this study is that it investigates young adults. For more recent related studies on mindfulness and Taiji, see Ref. 11 and the articles mentioned in that review.

Acknowledgement: I want to thank Dr. Karen Calwell for permission to reprint Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 of her 2010 article (Ref. 1].

[1] K. Caldwell, l. Emery, M. Harrison, and J. Greeson “Changes in Mindfulness, Well-Being, and Sleep Quality in College Students Through Taijiquan Courses: A Cohort Control Study”: The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 920210 17:931-938 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3199537/, If you are not a subscriber of this journal, you can access a free copy of this article at the above link.

[2] See, e.g., J. Kabat-Zinn “An out-patient program in Behavioral Medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: Theoretical considerations and preliminary results.” General Hospital Psychiatry, 1982: 4, 33-47.

[3] J. Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness, 2013 , Bantam.

[4] In the last two decades, there have been many scientific papers on mindfulness and its relationship to health. See, e.g., M. A. Henning, C. U. Krageloh and C. Webster, “Mindfulness and Taijiquan,” Annals of Cognitive Science 2017m 1(1):1-6. For more references, see also M. Henning, et. al., “Integrating Mindfulness and Physical Excercises for Medical Students: A Systematic Review.”

[5] For a more recent article on Mindfulness and Taiji, see D. M. Tow, “Mindfulness, Children’s Social and Emotional Health, and School Initiative”: Https://www.dontow.com/2020/09/mindfulness-childrens-social-and emotional-health-an-school-initiative.

[6] Baer RA, Smith GT, Hopkins J, et. al. Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment 2006l13L27-45.

[7] Huelsman TJ, Nemanick RC, Munz DC. Scales to measure four dimensions of dispositional mood: Positive energy, tiredness, negative activation, and relaxation. Educ Psychol Meas 1998;58:804-819.

[8] Cohen S, Kamarck T, Mermelstein R. A global meaaure of perceived stress. J. Health Soc Behav 1983;24:385-396.

[9] Harrison MB, McGuire FA. An investigation of the influence of vicarious experience on perceived self efficacy. Am J Recreation Ther 2008;7:10-16.

[10] Buysse DJ, Reynolds CF, Monk TH, et. al. The Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index: A new instrument for psychiatric practice and research. Psychiatry Res 1989; 28:193-213.

[11] M. A. Henning, el. al., “Mindfulness in Tai Chi Chuan as Practised amongst Higher Education Students with Implications for Health and Learning: A Narrative Review”, OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine, 2021, V.6, Issue 4.

One of the scientists who has been involved in that research Is Dr. Shin Lin of the University of California at Irvine. He is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Biomedical Initiatives and Professor of Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Biomedical Engineering. He received his Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry at UCLA and postdoctoral training in Biochemistry & Biophysics at the School of Medicine of University of California, San Francisco. He is also a graduate of the Acupuncture for Physical Medicine program at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (香港理工大學) and was a Visiting Professor at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (上海中醫藥大學客座教授) for over a decade. For many years, he served as Chairman of Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University, where he co-founded the Kreiger Mind/Brain Institute and the Cardiovascular Mechanics Research Center. He is also an expert Taiji/Qigong practitioner and a long-time (17 years) disciple of the well-known Chen Style Taiji Grandmaster Chen Zhanglei.

In several presentations given by Dr. Shin Lin, he has summarized many recent scientific findings by various research groups around the world, including his own research group at the University of California at Irvine. Reference 1 is one of his longer presentations given in January 2019. Reference 2 is a more recent and shorter presentation given in January 2021. This paper makes use of many of the research findings that Dr. Lin presented in these two references.

Summary of Recent Scientific Research Explaining the Health Benefits of Taiji and Qigong

Stretching to Reduce Inflammation:

An experiment to inject a chemical Carrageenan that causes inflammation in the lower back of mice. It has been found in the laboratory that by holding the tail of a mouse, it can keep the mouse from running away but in the process stretches the back of the mouse. When this is done repeatedly, the stretching can reduce the inflammation and pain caused by the chemical Carrageenan. For humans, such inflammation and associated pain in the lower back may be caused by lack of activities and too much sitting especially during Covid-19 when we spend a lot of time at home watching videos and participating in Zoom meetings and do not exercise sufficiently. Then doing stretching exercises, such as warm-up exercises which accompany Taiji/Qigong exercises, as well as the actual Taiji and Qigong exercises, will help to get rid of lower back and other pains due to lack of exercises.

Repetitive Motions Can Improve Bodily and Mental Functions by Increase of Serotonin:

It has been found in the laboratory that repetitive motions can increase serotonin neural activity. It has been observed in the laboratory that cats like to go through motions that appear to be grooming exercises, although the cats are doing this not looking at themselves in front of a mirror. Apparently such motion can increase the release of Serotonin, a chemical messenger that can act as a mood stabilizer. It can help to produce healthy sleeping patterns as well as boost the mood. In Taiji and Qigong there are many repetitive motions such as waving hands like clouds, brushing knee and stepping forward, or just breathing in and breathing out. Thus many such basic motions in Taiji and Qigong that are repetitive can help to increase serotonin release and thus help to regulate the mind and mood.

Deep Breathing Can Increase Serotonin Cell Activity:

In another experiment involving cats sleeping in the laboratory in a room where the CO₂ concentration can be adjusted and where the serotonin level of a cat sleeping soundly can also be measured. When the CO₂ level is increased from normal to 4%, the cat can stay sound asleep by increasing its breathing rate because the heavier breathing stimulates serotonin activity allowing the cat to sleep peacefully, and when the CO₂ level is increased again, now to 8%, the cat can still stay sound asleep by increasing its breathing rate even higher. Thus deep breathing in some Taiji and Qigong exercises can help to reduce stress.

Taiji Increases Immunity Toward Shingles:

In one of the earlier studies of this kind in a research study led by Dr. Michael Irwin of UCLA [3], the study shows that the practice of Taiji can increase the human body’s immunity toward the Shingles virus. Furthermore, even for people who have taken the modern varicella Shingles vaccine, these people’s level of immunity to Shingles can also be boosted by practicing Taiji.

As stated by Andrew Monjan, Ph.D., chief of the NIA’s Neurobiology of Aging Branch: “Dr. Irwin’s research team has demonstrated that a centuries-old behavioral intervention, Tai Chi, resulted in a level of immune response similar to that of a modern biological intervention, the varicella vaccine, and that Tai Chi boosted the positive effects of the vaccine.” Dr. Irwin’s research has shown that the probability of the people who did not receive the Shingles vaccine but practice Taiji is higher than the people who received the Shingles vaccine but did not practice Taiji. Furthermore, these people (with average age of 70) who practice Taiji after they received the Shingles vaccine have immunity that is even higher than those who have received the Shingles vaccine but are 30 years younger and did not practice Taiji. Many more research findings in the last 15 years or so have found scientific evidence of the health benefits of Taiji in many other areas of health. [3]

Taiji Can Enhance Bone Health and Increase Bone Density:

Because some Taiji exercises are weight-bearing exercises that can put stress on the body and creates vibration of the bone structure. Recent research studies at the lab have shown that such activities can increase the bone density and increase the health of the bones. That is why certain Taiji exercises, especially those associated with Chen-style Taiji, or certain warm-up exercises such as Qigong paida exercises when one self pats certain parts of the body can increase the bone density and the overall health of the bones.

Taiji Provides Better Connectivity Between Short-Term Memory and Long-Term Memory:

Short-Term Memory (STM) is controlled by the Pre-Frontal Cortex (PFC) part of the brain and Long-Term Memory (LTM) is controlled by the Hippocampus part of the brain. These two parts of the brain are analogous to the computer’s Random Access Memory (RAM) and the computer’s Hard Drive (HD). Having better connectivity between these two different parts of the brain means that one will be able to think faster (or the computer will be able to do faster processing and computing by having better connectivity between the RAM and the HD. Recent research findings using electrode measurements on different parts of the brain show that there is better connectivity for the Taiji practitioners between the PFC and the Hippocampus parts of the brain, thus speeding up the transfer of information between STM and LTM. Thus, such research has shown that Taiji can help our memory by better connecting our STM and LTM.

Gaining Physical Strength by Doing Exercises Via the Mind:

There is a surprise research finding of comparing one group of people doing lifting exercises with another group of people going through the mental process of doing such lifting exercises. It is found that the first group of people observes an increase of about 30% in the weights that they can lift. But to people’s surprise, there is also an increase of about 20% in the second group of people in the weights that they can lift. However, the strength of the arm of the 2nd group of people doing the imaginary lifting has not increased, but there is significantly more brain activities in this second group of people that apparently gave rise to their ability to lift more weights. So the involvement of the mind’s activities could be mysteriously tied to our physical exercises. This is very intriguing and needs to be repeated with more analysis.

Observation of Brain Wave Patterns While Performing Taiji:

By connecting electrodes to skeletal muscles, we can generate diagrams called electromyograms that show us our Theta waves (4-8 HZ), Alpha waves (8-13 HZ), and Beta waves (13–30 HZ), which respectively are indications of brain waves shown while we are in deep relaxation, in periods of calmness, or in periods of awake but alert. When one is on alert (or aroused and actively engaged in the mind on a problem, the person’s brainwave is Beta. When one is non-aroused and is taking time out to reflect or meditate, the person’s brainwave is Alpha. When one is in deep relaxation or daydreaming, the person’s brainwave is Theta. Finally, when a person is in a deep dreamless sleep, the person’s brainwave is Delta (1-3 HZ). Taiji practitioners when connected to electromyograms display all three 3 types of Theta, Alpha, and Beta brain waves. This means that the Taiji practitioner is partially in a deep relaxation mode, in a calm mode, and at the same time in an alert mode. That means that he/she can be deeply relaxed, calm, but also alert, which is almost an ideal state for someone to be in while engaging in physical exercise, but with the body and mind still relaxed and calm, and is aware of possible emergencies.

Conclusion:

In the last 20 years or so, many research findings from laboratories in the U.S. and around the world have provided much new evidence why ancient practices like Taiji and Qigong are still being practiced all over the world by so many people. These findings are helping us to understand and establish a scientific basis for these ancient practices. With these new research findings, we can understand better both the old and the new, and adjust the understanding of each as appropriate. These more recent research findings summarized by Professor Shin Lin have provided us a better physiological understanding of the benefits of Taiji and Qigong besides showing there is a correlation between doing Taiji/Qigong and health benefits. These findings give us more motivation to do exercises like Taiji and Qigong.

Later when I find the technical journals that published these research findings, I will update this article with references to those technical journals.

[1] Dr. Shin Lin, presentation on “Tai Chi & Qigong: Science, Medicine, and Health 2019”, January 18, 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaglNxKz40s.

[2] Dr. Shin Lin, presentation during the “International Congress for Qigong/Tai Chi/TCM,” January 1-8, 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iKK-ZjC69c.

[3] “Tai Chi Boosts Immunity to Shingles Virus in Older Adults, NIH-Sponsored Study Reports,” National Institutes of Health News Releases, April 6, 2007: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/tai-chi-boosts-immunity-shingles-virus-older-adults-nih-sponsored-study-reports.

[4] For a recent summary of such work up to 2019, see, e.g., Don M. Tow, “Health Benefits of Taiji,” Qi:  The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health & Fitness, Volume 29, No. 3, Autumn 2019, pp. 20-28.

In the March 2021 issue of my website, I made some speculative thoughts on the scientific basics of Qigong. [1] The idea is based on the concept of “fields” which is so prevalent in physics in describing what matter is made of, or the fundamental building blocks of matter. [2] Until recently, there are four fundamental fields in physics, corresponding to the four forces of nature: the gravitation force, the electromagnetic force, the strong force, and the the weak force. Since the discovery of the Higgs particle in 2013, now a fifth field, the Higgs field, has been added. [3] Historically, the reason of introducing the concept of fields is to remove the need to answer the question, e.g., of instantaneous action at a distance. Instead of saying that an object of mass M exerts instantaneously a force on any other object in the universe, we say that the object of Mass M creates a gravitational field that permeates all of space, then any other object in the universe will be affected by the presence of that gravitational field. Thus we don’t have to explain “action at a distance”, i.e., how does the object of mass M instantaneously affect any other object in the universe no matter how far away that object is from the object of mass M.

Can the field concept of Qi help to explain any observable phenomena?

We know that many Qigong practitioners can exhibit unusual strength or power, which cannot be explained based on the practitioner’s physical size or normal strength. See the two sample videos in Ref. 4: One by Sifu Liang De Hua (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGEP5X78G1w), and another one by Sifu Adam Mizner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuW4UfaC-l8). We know that these are real phenomena, although currently we don’t have a scientific explanation of the phenomena. The question then is: Can the field concept of Qi help to provide a scientific explanation of these unusual and unexpected physical phenomena? Finding an explanation will be a major breakthrough in Qigong and will help to establish Qigong as part of science.

What Sifu Liang De Hua and Sifu Adam Mizner [4] (as well as other Qigong masters have demonstrated in other videos we can find in the web [5]) is that skills such as theirs can also have many interesting and useful applications. For example, they can be used in the sport of American football. An obvious example is by offensive linemen to protect their team’s quarterback, running backs, or other players from being tackled or sacked by the other team’s defensive linemen or other players. Or conversely they can be used by defensive linemen to push back the offensive linemen and attack the other team’s quarterback, running backs, or other players. Finding an explanation of this phenomena perhaps can also lead to finding a method that can train people to learn these techniques in a reasonable amount of time (like within a year or two, or even more optimistically within several months) so that it can become a practical technique in football.

Can the field concept of Qi predict new phenomena that have not been seen before?

In physics, a field affects the space all around it. That most likely will also be the case for a Qigong field. Therefore, the Qi field from a Qigong practioner should also affect the space around it. This means that the Qigong field exerted by an expert Qigong master can also be felt by someone else in the vicinity of the Qigong master’s Qi, thus possibly explaining the therapeutic value of Qigong therapy. There are many important questions related to the Qi field. For example, how does the strength of a Qigong field drop off with distance? Is the Qigong field short range, like the strong field, or long range like the gravitational field? How does the Qi field get circulated in a person’s body? Does it get circulated via the body’s blood vessel system, or does it get circulated via the body’s nervous system, by perhaps first converting the neurological information into perhaps chemical signals and then transmitted via neurotransmitters?

In physics, the quantum fields are represented by ripples or flickering or fluctuations in space. These ripples or flickering or fluctuations in space may manifest themselves in physical particles, like a photon (a fundamental constituent of the electromagnetic force), or quarks (which are the fundamental constituents of the strong force). In the Qi field, are there fundamental constituents of the Qi force?

We don’t know the answers to these questions, or even whether they are useful questions. But introducing the concept of field to Qigong may open up new ways of examining and understanding this ancient art of Qigong and the associated Chinese martial arts.

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[1] “Some Speculative Thoughts on Qigong”: https://www.dontow.com/2021/06/some-speculative-thoughts-on-qigong/.

[2] See, e.g., “Quantum Fields: The Real Building Blocks of the Universe” by David Tong – February 15, 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNVQfWC_evg (1:00.17)

[3] Since the Higgs particle was discovered in 2013, physicists have also introduced a fifth quantum field, the Higgs field, associated with the Higgs particle and through its interaction with other quantum fields leads to the mass of particles. See also Ref. 2.

[4] “Wonders and Mysteries of Chinese Martial Arts”: https://www.dontow.com/2021/12/wonders-and-mysteries-of-chinese-martial-arts/

[5] Besides videos of Sifu Liang De Hua and Sifu Adam Mizner mentioned in Reference 4, one can find other similar videos demonstrating similar extraordinary strengths. Here are a couple more such videos:

• Sifu Patrick Kelly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIz6hpoOkKQ
• Master Lin Kuancheng: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q21hC_eNaGo

But how this is done is mysterious, although most important. However, because I am not sure that today there is a good simple scientific explanation of the internal aspects of Chinese martial arts that is more or less universally accepted, I will not discuss this further here, except that I will refer to two sample videos that demonstrate the internal powers of Chinese martial arts. [1] [2]

The external component of Chinese martial arts can be understood in terms of physics and mathematics:

When you defend against an attack, you don’t block the attack head-on, because then whoever is stronger wins. Instead, you yield to the attacking force by complementing it with a small force along the same direction and simultaneously add a small force perpendicular to the attacking force. The former yields and gets your opponent off balance, and the latter, even a small force, will deflect the attacking force, because there is no force of your opponent in that direction.

This is the essence of the classic saying “four ounces can deflect a thousand pounds”.

Once you sense that your opponent is losing balance, you change direction by applying a force opposite to the direction of your opponent’s original direction of attack. This changes you from defense to offense, as illustrated by the Taiji symbol of constant change: 

Since a rotation changes the black part into the white part, and vice versa. The small white dot in the black part implies the offensive potential while in a defense position.  Similarly the small black dot in the white part implies the defensive potential while in an offense position.

When you step, you step heels down first, followed by stepping down your toes. When you do that, as your foot steps down, not only your foot moves forward, your body also moves forward. By synchronizing your arm attack with the movement of your steps, all parts of your body (foot, body, and arm) are simultaneously moving toward your opponent, thus increasing the power of your attack.

When you attack, you also add the rotation of your waist to increase the power of your attack. That is why loosing up your waist or doing waist rotation is often part of the warm-up exercises.

To increase your own stability, don’t walk like a tightrope walker or a model walking down a walkway. Instead, you always separate your two feet by about a shoulder width. As long as your center of gravity is within your lines of support of your two feet, you don’t fall and your stability is increased.

By keeping these Taiji principles:

• Do not oppose a force head-on.
• But deflect it and simultaneously add a small component of force along your opponent’s original direction of attack.
• When opponent begins to lose balance, you change from defense to offense by applying a force opposite to your opponent’s original direction of attack.
• Separating your two feet by a shoulder width provides stability.
• Synchronizing your feet movement with your hand movement allows you to attack your opponent with your hands, feet, and body simultaneously.
• Including rotation of your waist adds power to your attack.

By keeping these Taiji principles: Your soft and slow Taiji technique can exert the power of a football player, and your opponent feels like that he is attacking cotton.

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[1] Sifu Liang De Hua: Taiji Jin 太極勁 | Part 1/2 | Liang De Hua | Season 3 Episode 9 (good demonstration of jin to resist and transform attacking force):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGEP5X78G1w. In particular, see

• The video clip at (0:00-6:20): An introduction and the theory behind it.
• The video clip at (9:00-12:32): More demonstration of its applications.

[2] Sifu Adam Mizner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuW4UfaC-l8. In particular, see

• The video clip at (3:30-6:00): Applications
• The video clip at (7:45-11:20): Striking and neutralizing striking, importance of placement, timing, and power
• The video clip at (12:20-15:30): External versus internal martial arts

For both Reference [1] and Reference [2], I like to offer a few comments:

• The way different people may explain it may be slightly different or they may use different terminologies.  Do not let that bother you too much because in my opinion I am not sure that currently we have a really good scientific explanation that is understandable and acceptable to all the people.
• What one should get out from these videos is that these are real phenomena, and many people have been able to achieve these skills.
• It is not easy to achieve the level of these experts.  It takes many years of serious training with suitable experts as your teachers.