One of the leading wellness trends right now is somatic healing. Somatic therapies use mind-body techniques to help people process and release stress, trauma, and tension.
There is a reciprocal relationship in mind-body healing with the somatic approach:
– working with the mind can release pain and tension in the body, and
– working with the body can release stress and past stored trauma that is affecting the mind.
Examples of somatic healing could include:
– working to correct negative or fearful thinking patterns that generate a fight or flight response in the body, which in turn can help heal stress-related illnesses.
– using massage or progressive relaxation in the body to send messages of safety and ease, which in turn reduce depression and anxiety in the mind.
– stretching or deep breathing to unlock patterns of physical restriction and tension caused by past injury or trauma to the body
Why Taichi and Qigong are Powerful for Somatic Healing
It’s no coincidence that somatic therapists recommend Taichi and Qigong to their patients as a way to relax and rekindle an awareness of their own mind-body connection. You’ll often find Taichi or Qigong as part of a suggested treatment plan.
Taichi and Qigong work in multiple ways as a somatic therapy:
1. They both include deep, slow abdominal breathing throughout each practice session. This type of breathing automatically switches the body from reliance on the sympathetic nervous system and its fight or flight response to the relaxing and restorative parasympathetic nervous system. This switch is deeply calming to the internal organs, and is a state that allows for deeper healing and rest.
Deep and slow abdominal breathing also becomes a point of mindful awareness that reconnects the mind and body. Breathing is a life-sustaining process that we can feel and observe with our minds. And while we can certainly control our breath, we can also restfully let go of control and simply watch and feel how this miraculous function of breathing continues naturally, without our conscious effort — even while we sleep!
2. Both Taichi and Qigong require ongoing awareness of the feelings in your body. More specifically, each requires a continued effort to both feel and then relax the body whenever points of tension arise. Practitioners build and then carry this skill into their daily lives — the ability to notice when their bodies are tensing up and then immediately and purposefully relaxing that tension.
3. “When done correctly, Taichi and Qigong are both moving meditations,” explains Master Waysun Liao of the Taichi Tao Center. “Both are far more than just slow-motion physical exercise, and more than just sitting meditation. We have to move and meditate – we cannot separate them.” These ancient arts offer unique advantages to mind-body healing – they require full engagement of a meditative mind with a relaxed, fully engaged body in motion. That’s why Taichi and Qigong are also great choices for those who struggle with sitting meditation. Why?
Most people quit meditation because they just can’t seem to quiet the racing and impatient thoughts in their minds, or they find their bodies become too restless just sitting still. Taichi and Qigong provide the answer: they give the mind something to focus on (the sensations of movement and breathing), while the body is engaged in a gentle and easy activity.
“Finally, I can meditate!” says a new Taichi student who began experiencing the benefits of meditation only after discovering Taichi moving meditation.
Mind-Body Somatic Medicine: A Microcosm of the Universe?
According to Tao wisdom, when we separate and compartmentalize our mental health, our physical health, and our spiritual wellness, we are already out of harmony with the way the universe works. In the true practice of Taichi and Qigong, such compartmentalization does not exist:
“Treat moving meditation like one inseparable event. Treat it like one word, movingmeditation, and you’ll have the right idea. When moving combines with meditation, it matches up with the facts and the truth of the Tao. The original all-encompassing One Energy of the Universe is both ‘everywhere and always conscious,’ and ‘everywhere and always in motion.’ It is never one without the other. It is always meditating and always moving.”
Master Waysun Liao, from the book “Restoring Your Life Energy”
By bringing together our mental focus and our physical movement, we bring ourselves back into a state of integration that mirrors the true state of the Universe and how it works. We become a microcosm of a holistic and connected Universe, more in-synch with both what’s inside and outside of ourselves.
This corrective reintegration, this reharmonization, is one of the the main reasons Taichi and Qigong deliver so many profound health benefits in addition to stress relief, mood stabilization, mental clarity, and overall well-being.
Where Can I Learn Taichi & Qigong?
Most people can find a local Taichi or Qigong class in their community or nearby. You can also learn Taichi and Qigong from online classes, videos, and books offered by Master Waysun Liao through the Taichitaocenter.com and Taichitao.tv.
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