Tai Chi has proven benefits

Ted Hillson is exactly what you picture when you think of a tai chi instructor: soft-spoken, wiry build with a beautiful gray handlebar mustache and ponytail to match. He moved here from Pennsylvania after retiring to pursue his love of snowboarding. In conversation, he admits that he can “get windy,” but also will drop pearls about how tai chi “encourages your existence." 

Ted started doing karate at age 20 and then got into baguazhang, a type of Chinese boxing in which circle walking is an integral part of the training. After teaching martial arts professionally for about 40 years, he moved here and started taking tai chi classes “to get out of the house and … do something."

When the instructor declared she was moving back to California, she told the director that Ted was taking over the class. And that’s how Ted came to teach tai chi at the senior centers in North Idaho.

I have also been interested in the meditative movements of tai chi for a long time. In fact, 30 years ago, when I lived in Oregon for a brief time, I took a semester-long class through the local community college in the Yang-style short form of tai chi as taught by Chen Man Ching. So even though I have not kept up with my tai chi practice regularly, I was eager to try one of the tai chi classes that Ted teaches at the Hayden Senior Center.

Tai chi chuan is an internal Chinese martial art known for its slow, intentional movements which originated sometime between the 12th and 17th centuries in China. It has spread worldwide as a form of gentle exercise and moving meditation with proven benefits to mental and physical health. According to the American Academy of Family Practice, tai chi has been shown to have multiple benefits including improvement of muscle strength, balance and cardiovascular fitness.  

In one study, the practice of Yang-style tai chi for one hour twice weekly for 12 to 24 weeks improved quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia. Studies have also shown that it improves function and reduces pain in knee arthritis. And, in a randomized controlled trial from 2005, tai chi even improved sleep in older persons with moderate sleep problems! 

The group of seniors who joined Ted and I at the Hayden Senior Center was small but obviously dedicated. We spent the first 30 minutes doing Qigong (warmup breathing) exercises and then Ted led us twice through the 24 movements of the tai chi short form he teaches. It was both fun and relaxing with flowing movements that have beautiful names like “cloud hands” and “grasp bird’s tail."

I was glad that I had some experience with it in the past as I tried to follow along, but regretted that I haven’t kept the practice up more regularly. Nevertheless, Ted encouraged the group with kindness and helpful suggestions (as he says, “guardrails not rules”) and he told stories to go along with the instruction, which made it even more enjoyable. Afterward, as the group posed for a picture, I was struck by how lucky we are to have such an amazing tai chi instructor in our community.

THE GOOD: Tai chi is a form of exercise with many proven benefits. Or as Ted said in his own inimitable style, “it lets you investigate your own physical being and improve it, no matter how old you are.”  

THE BAD: According to Ted, the two things that put people off are that it takes effort (as he puts it, “there’s nothing else to do but to do the work”) and that you have to keep at it. Like anything, regular practice (unlike my example) is the key to benefitting from tai chi.

THE NITTY GRITTY: Classes are offered at 9 a.m. Tuesdays at the Lake City Center and Wednesdays at the Hayden Senior Center. It only costs $1 per class with a membership (or $3/class without the membership). If you want more tai chi, you can also sign up for a semester-long class through NIC that is two hours per week offered in the spring and fall semesters (with a different instructor than Ted).

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Dr. Emry is a family physician and partner at Ironwood Family Practice in Coeur d’Alene. Exercise Explorer MD will appear every other week in The Press and Dr. Emry can be contacted via email exercisexplorermd@gmail.com. © 2024. This work is licensed under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license.