"Best" IMA for healing?

I've been doing IMA since I was a kid when I first learned Sanchin.

"My own very limited 'experience' in the mind/body area tells me that for 'wellbeing', one's mindset is vitally important."

I agree, and a person can have a wonderful mindset doing water exercises or dancing with equivalent health benefits as tai chi. It's common sense - I don't need to read it in a study...although I'm sure there are lots out there.

my main point is, what someone attributes as being a 'higher meaning' to the movements they are doing, is less of an effect than the fact they are happy to do it in a social setting (assuming they are in a class) and are getting exercise (assuming the activity is physical).

the common sense part comes from imagining trying to reconcile a statement such as:
"tai chi elderly in China live longer and healthier lives than Okinawan elderly folk dancers."

now reconcile this: If diet and living condition were comparable, and if it were shown that Okinawan folk dancers lived longer and healthier lives than their Chinese tai chi counterparts.

what would be the common sense conclusion?


there is no conclusion. both groups are getting exercise and are happy doing it. one is happy channeling their internal paradigms and the other is equally happy and fit telling a story with body language.

The 'why' matters less than the 'how'.

Ed
You seem to be saying that it's irrelevant what exercise is done as they all have the same benefits? Tai Chi differs from most other exercise systems through its way of teaching movements and alignments that aim to prevent people from holding onto muscular tension. It promotes excellent posture, good balance and full breathing. It helps the practitioner to increase their mind-body connection more than any other system I know through mindful focus on postures and movements.

On the other hand maybe your line dancing classes do the same thing??

There is a wealth of information about the 'healing' aspects of tai chi and other forms of qigong on the internet and elsewhere. Personally if I wanted to know more about IMA for health this is the last place I'd look as I'm well aware that for most folk in these forums any discussion on internal martial arts is an excuse to air opinions about its ineffectiveness. No other form of martial arts seems to get the same response.

That's very interesting Ed... it is true that sanchin is a kiko (qigong), but it's more an "external" (waijia) qigong from the southern Shaolin traditions. So, to say that you've been doing IMA (neijia) since you were a kid when you first learned sanchin, is embellishing the truth somewhat.

I agree with your assessment that health and healing are two entirely different, but related things. Any form of regimented exercise can contribute to good health. But to answer Demonologist's question... there are many forms of IMA. Each proposes that their "method" is the "best"... or at least, in their opinion, the "best" way of doing it.

But as Ed said, doing it for health (which is the intended purpose of such exercises), is not quite the same as doing it for healing. You *may* be able to use such exercises to boost your general health and constitution, which would allow you to heal or recover faster. Or you *may* be able to use the personal results of such exercise to heal others.

As to what IMA can help soothe back and joint ailments... it doesn't work like that. You can certainly use specific IMA or even EMA exercises to strengthen the tendons and muscles which support your skeletal structure.

But the best advice I can give is go see a physician. It may be you are overtraining or stressing your body due to inefficient mechanics, or something a lot more sinister. Hopefully, it's nothing a good rest and some ointment can't fix.

all we have to do is show that Chinese seniors who do tai chi live longer, happier and healthier than Okinawan senior folk art dancers...or American seniors who swim regularly for that matter. I certianly am not claiming I can put that together.

It would be a difficult task to separate out the life styles and cultural differences, not to mention diet and poverty levels of each in order to isolate and compare the benefits of each activity. I mean, it's easy to say that Okinawans historically live longer than Chinese (which is true), but it's a leap to say that okinawan folk dancing therefore must have more health benefit (which is not necessarily true).

I don't know for sure which activity benefits health best...however, I DO know that physical activity benefits health comparred to no activity. It's my opinion that the difference between any activity vs. no activity is much much greater than the difference between whichever particular activity.


let's pretend we had the numbers and saw that some activity/exercise added 10 years of life on average.

then let's say we comparred tai chi with folk dancing and found tai chi adds, on average, 1 month more than the average folk dancers life....and further found that other physical activities were within similar.

a 10 year difference is significant, whereas a 1 month difference is not. That's a made-up example, but that's what I'm thinking.

similar to how you can't really compare in a question such as: 'which religion is the best for happyiness'. that question is unanswerable, but everyone has their own sense as to what the answer is.

It's my opinion that someone who swims everyday for 50 years will be healthier/stronger than someone who does tai chi everyday for 50 years. The happiness factor is perhaps connected, but a separate and more subjective measure.