Taiji Quan and my Parkinson's
by Alex Chan
I am glad to have come across Master Rennie Chong's Taichi group that Teaches the Taichi 37 (also know as Chen Mang Ching Taichi ).
One of his student, also a Parkinson's Disease patient,
has experienced an improvement after learning from Master Chong
teaching's.
As a Parkinson's Disease patient for the past 2 years, I have tried various exercises to help with my weakening or degenerating mobility, balance, strength and flexibility - which is the common symptoms among PD patients. In my opinion, Taichi is the ideal form of daily activity as it emphasizes both the Mental and Physical agility in its practice. Since attending Master Chong's lessons for approximately 5 months I have noticed a overall improvement in following areas:
1) Balance
2) Flexibility
3) Mobility
4) Strength
How was this achieved? I believe it is the wealth of experiences, knowledge and methods that Master Chong's has accumulated from over 50 years of teaching and training Taichi.
In brief, Master Chong's lessons are divided into 4 areas, namely:
a. Warming up exercises (over 30 minutes)
b. Qigong Breathing exercises
c. Meditation
d. Taichi movement
As I understand it, the above 4 areas cover the essentials of Strength, Balance, Flexibility, Coordination and concentration.
Since I have benefited from Master Chong's teaching, I hope this message will help encourage PD patients to consider and try out Master Chong's training programs.
2012