Does Tai Chi Fight Diseases And Is It Because of Chi (Qi)?
Some people don’t attend school, some only finish grade school; other students finish high school and attend university or obtain a graduate degree. You can find successful and happy people who have stopped learning at different levels. Few people, even after obtaining an advanced degree, must by their nature continue learning, studying and researching for the rest of their lives.
Unfortunately, Tai Chi has become commercialized like Yoga – see
http://voices.yahoo.com/article/9294671/should-learn-yoga-tai-chi-qigong...
Even grade school teachers know that there is more advanced mathematics than what they teach. Tai Chi teachers, even if they are happy with their level of knowledge, should know the original purpose and content of Tai Chi and inform their students that there is much more to learn.
If you are really interested in Tai Chi for health you must learn advanced biological sciences and mathematics to be able to judge correctly whether a clinical study is valid. If you have worked in a research laboratory, you probably know that data are altered to obtain more grants and for financial gain. Two recent examples are the faked results by well-known scientists to prove that there is global warming and also promoting the health benefits of red wine.
Even if the scientists are honest, most know very little about Tai Chi and the person that they chose to teach the research subjects might not know much either. The experiments are difficult to replicate because even 2 “experts” in Tai Chi teach different forms. In many of the trials there are not enough subjects and there are no control groups. A control group of people walking slowly and waving their arms might have produced the same result. The length of the trials is too short and they should really be entitled “Effects produced in learning Tai Chi”. It takes many months to learn even a shortened form correctly. There are no trials yet that have lasted for many years to establish longevity claims.
Clinical trials that suggest positive results should be repeated with a larger number of subjects, over a longer period of time and with a control group.
To use Tai Chi to treat a particular disease a diagnosis is required, since Tai Chi is a form of Qigong. Using Qigong properly requires years of study – for example, see or read the Qigong books by Jerry Johnson at
http://www.qigongmedicine.com/catalog.php?act=view_prod&i=&l=&sid=&id_ca...
or Chinese Medical Qigong, Eds. T. Liu & K. Chen, Singing Dragon, 2010. However, for serious diseases it is better to use Qigong, because the patient will die before they learn even a simplified form of Tai Chi properly.
Qi is a basic concept used in Chinese medicine and Tai Chi. The health effects are explained in terms of Qi flow. Deadly strikes to acupoints (Dim Mak) are hidden in the main form and 2-person forms. The effects of striking these points and treating the resulting injury are also explained in terms of Qi. Although Qi cannot be explained scientifically, there is recent research which is getter close to explaining it – see
http://martyeisen.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/some-modern-scientific-theori...
http://martyeisen.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/the-concept-of-qi/
http://yang-sheng.com/?p=1159
By profession, Dr. Eisen was a university Professor specializing in constructing mathematical models used for studying medical problems such as those in cancer chemotherapy and epilepsy.
He has studied Judo, Shotokan Karate, Aikido and Tai Chi. He taught Judo in a community center in Toronto. Dr. Eisen was the founder and chief-instructor of the Shotokan Karate Clubs at Carnegie-Mellon and Dusquene Universities and the University of Pittsburgh
He has taught Tai Chi at community centers in New Jersey, the Chinese Community School of South Jersey, Temple University, a Master's Dance Class at Glassboro State College and Triton High School and also Qigong at some of these locations. He taught a Qigong course at Lehigh U. He helped teach Yoga at Graterford Prison.
One of Master Mark's students introduced him to Master Mark and Praying Mantis. He found the system so interesting that he devoted most of his time only to this art. He taught Praying Mantis at Master Mark's School in Philadelphia and at Temple University. He became a Disciple of Master Mark and teaches Praying Mantis, Qigong and Tai Chi at the Cherry Hill branch of Master Mark's school.
Master Mark fostered his interest in acupuncture, herbology, Chinese massage and Qigong. He took correspondence courses in Chinese herbology and studied other branches of Chinese medicine with a traditional Chinese medical doctor. Dr. Eisen was the Director of Education of the Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Institute in Upper Darby, P.A.
Dr. Eisen has written many articles on Kung Fu, Qigong, Eastern exercise and Chinese medicine.
He was honored by the University of Pittsburgh in 2001, on the 35th anniversary of the introduction of Shotokan Karate, as the founder, for contributing to its growth, popularity and also to students’ character development. He was selected as one of the coaches for a world competition of the U.S. Wu Shu team in 2001. Dr. Eisen received meritorious awards from Temple University National Youth Sports program in 1980 and from Camden County College for participation in a student sport program in 1979