In this section we have some personal stories and statements about Tai Chi. Some are long, some are brief but all are personal commentaries from our Academy members.
Tai Chi & Life
As a skilled Maintenance Engineer/Works Inspector my work involves either standing at various machines making spare parts for the brick industry or crawling in difficult positions trying to identify issues with faulty machinery.
Over the years my body has suffered badly due to my work and several years ago I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia which I struggled to cope with days off work with reoccurring back pain and pain in other areas of my body. I also had suffered mental trauma with the loss of my eldest daughter and breakdown of my first marriage so was not really in a good place and probably the shock of both issues finally manifested itself within my body.
I had in my younger past studied Judo (I broke my arm ),
Tang Soo Do ( I wrenched my knees three times tearing the ligaments ) so when my new wife Irene suggested taking up Tai Chi to help my condition I was naturally very wary!
I have been practising Tai Chi for around 8 years now and where if I turned quickly to reach for a tool or bend to lift something, yes I might still have a slight tinge in my back but the exercises and techniques learnt from Tai Chi have helped me cope better so I no longer have to have time off work from strain injuries. Tai Chi has certainly helped my mental state as when practising the mind is totally focused on the moves so no bad thoughts have time to enter the mind. From my experience, I recommend Tai Chi for everyone.
Colin
Tai Chi – my path to well-being!
In my early 20’s I had a car accident. My car left the piste* and went on to kiss a tree-stump hidden in the bushes. I woke up with my dog licking my face, my forehead embedded in the upper part of the windscreen frame, the bent steering wheel pushing my chest inwards and the engine on my lap. I couldn’t breathe, my head was sore, my eyesight was blurred and my knees didn’t support me. I was bleeding from my knees, my mouth, nose and ears. Not a pretty sight!
I dragged myself to the side of the piste and waited for a vehicle to come, traffic on the piste was unreliable and some days, none existent.
Several vehicles passed, stopped, looked at me and promptly went. They didn’t want a muddy and blood-covered woman dying in their car: that was trouble!
Eventually a lorry stopped and the driver laid me on his load of banana stems. Two hours later I was back at the hotel I had left earlier that morning.
I remember seeing the hotel manager, who was a friend and then nothing more for several days when I woke up in hospital. At the hotel I was put to bed and the manager called the flying club in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 200 kms away, for a plane to pick me up, but being late afternoon and seeing the state I was in, they had decided to wait until the next morning before sending the plane … consensus of opinion was that I wouldn’t survive the night and sending a plane would be a waste of time, fuel and energy … when told, later on, I totally agreed as, being one of the pilots in the flying club, I would have done exactly the same. The reason was that some of the seats in the plane would have had to be removed to allow the wounded person to lie down.
My injuries were multiple: a cracked skull above my left temple and eye, whiplash in the neck, most ribs detached from my sternum, punched liver and smashed knees … and when I woke up, I was blind!
After 9 months I started to recover a little of my eyesight, the rest of my body had healed itself very slowly but I started a life of pain and, at times, of limited movement – I had also damaged my spine!
When I left Africa for France, I stopped flying and went scuba diving instead. Unfortunately I had a diving accident which resulted in 24 hours in a decompression chamber. That left me with a bad case of claustrophobia and, sometime later, a pulmonary embolism. I survived and returned home to Africa.
In 1967 I came to England as an ‘au pair’ for one year … 52 years later, I’m still here!
Circa 1980 the sequel from my car accident started to kick in; my neck hurt, my arms became weaker, my shoulders crunched, my spine became sore and my fasciae tightened (fasciae is the connective tissue that holds the body together and lets its move around – ed)
In the 1990s, I was having problems with Fibromyalgia Syndrome. The travelling pains, lack of energy and sleep deprivation made life very hard especially because no medical person recognised what I had. It took 4½ years of constant visits to many consultants before I was diagnosed
Around 1998/1999 I had a stroke which played havoc with my balance, sapped the little energy I had left and damaged my sight. I had to use a wheelchair and was told, by a consultant, that I should get used to it as that was going to be my life’s companion from then on. They also wanted to fuse my spine in 3 places but I refused when I was told that they couldn’t guarantee it wasn’t going to take away the stiffness and the constant agonising pain I was enduring. On top of that, my heart, which has been slightly defective from birth, was not behaving as it should have and I was finding myself in hospital, on a monthly basis; the ambulance crews knew me very well and the A&E was almost my second home.
One day, my cousin, who is 6 dan in martial arts, told me that Tai Chi could help me … he was right! To cut a long story short, I started Tai Chi very gently. When I became stronger, I tried to go to classes every day. With time, I was able to do more and more without my wheelchair. I was also feeling better, with more energy and better balance … I won’t say my balance was perfect but it was good enough for me to walk and go places on my two feet. It was easier and less painful to move my neck, my shoulders stopped crunching and my fasciae relaxed.
My spine was better too, more supple and less painful and no ‘fusions’ anywhere. I cut out all painkillers and applied willpower!
For different reasons, I had to stop Tai Chi for 6 years and in the last 2 years many of my aches, pains and body dis-functions reappeared and life became a little bit harder once more.
Now, with my husband, we have started Tai Chi again and although it’s a little early to say, I can already feel some improvement in my neck, shoulders, spine, lower back and fasciae. My balance is better although there is still a lot of room for improvement! I will not say that every day is good, that would be wrong; some days I can’t do anything and, at times, the pain can be numbing and excruciating but I can move better and control my body and pains more easily when I do Tai Chi. I know I can’t be cured but I have a life worth living!
Tai Chi is exercising within my limits: it makes me move without damaging my body or hurting my muscles. It keeps me mobile and even reduces some of the pain and it calms me down.
There is one important side of Tai Chi I haven’t touched on … the social aspect! That is very important. Meeting like-minded people and exercising with friends is part of the well-being feeling Tai Chi gives you.
Macha
Piste*: dirt road in Africa. These roads are cut by bulldozers into the forest exposing the laterite layer of the ground. In the dry season, the laterite forms huge, fine powdery clouds infiltrating everything and everywhere but in the rainy season the pistes are slimy ribbons as slippery as an ice rink.
Betty’s Back!
I had a stroke about 10 years ago. I attended a stroke recovery class. I’ve been attending seated Tai Chi classes for just over a year. The Tai Chi has really made a difference.
The strength in my arms has really improved. I can now raise my arms to do movements and can hold them up for over 30 seconds to do the hand turning exercise (I do practise at home.)
But the thing that I’m really pleased about – well thrilled – is that the other week, after many years, I was able in class to stand up without help!
Who would have thought seated Tai Chi would strengthen my back and legs to allow me to stand up? Doing well for 90 years of age…
Betty
Gill’s Hip
I had endured years of hip pain and attended many sessions of physiotherapy together with podiatry consultations and treatment. The success of these treatments was limited and so I decided to end them. A few months later I started attending tai chi beginners classes and a workshop.
After attending around 12 classes over a period of 3 months I am now able to walk much further without pain and I also sleep better at night as a result of less hip pain. I look forward to further improvements with practicing tai chi!
Gill
Tai Chi & Me: Greg’s Story
I started getting a ‘Bad Back’ in my early twenties. Every so often I would ‘Put my back out’ – and this then meant I could not bend my lower back and was stiff and in some pain/discomfort for 10 days to a fortnight.
Things really ‘Got going’ when, in my mid thirties, I reached into the fridge on holiday and felt my whole pelvis shift in relation to my spine. Not an experience I would wish on others. The back duly ‘Went’ again – lower back pain is not a great boon when on holiday abroad with two young boys…
I likened my problem to a rusty gate hinge. It doesn’t shift until under load – but when it does move it shudders along to the next place and sticks solidly there. This was my back/pelvis which was normally stuck in one place. Any movement was alien so if it did actually move then it duly locked up to prevent this unusual occurrence – inflaming the muscles and giving pain and (increased) stiffness.
Life continued – with my back ‘Going out’ every couple of months or so. Then over time I noticed that it was ‘Out’ more often and the recovery was taking longer. I now considered that I suffered from a ‘Bad back’.
I tried chiropractors, osteopaths, physio etc. yet the arc of the narrative seemed clear and it appeared that the destination might be a lower back fusion operation at some point.
Then a strange thing happened. Quite by chance I started Tai Chi. My wife heard of a new Tai Chi course starting locally and I tagged along as I thought it might be interesting…
After about 3 or 4 weeks I mentioned that I thought my back was moving just a little easier. This was a major surprise. The classes were for absolute beginners and I wasn’t sure I’d really done anything much in them – yet the gentle movements were clearly having some benefits which amazed me given my scepticism.
Success breeds success and since I was getting some benefit from the Tai Chi I persevered. Life was still a hectic mix of International travel and hard work – but if around in the UK I attended Tai Chi class, albeit still only once a week maximum. This continued for a period of some five years and I felt I had gained a real benefit…..but I still found standing up for anything more than about 45 minutes was painful.
I carried on with Tai Chi classes once a week but added a daily element of 8 Tor Yus on each side and 8 Dan Yus every morning whilst my tea was brewing! This accelerated any improvements – little and often definitely helped increase my mobility.
Now I was nearing 50 years old and I was more mobile and flexible than I had been for quarter of a century! This is not how things usually work. As if to get some external validation my sports physio, who I had occasional recourse to during bouts of back pain (declining in frequency and severity ) announced that my previously unbalanced pelvis was now level. The Tai Chi was definitely helping – my lower back now had the suppleness to move and flex as it should.
Tai Chi has made a real difference to me. After nearly thirty years of having a ‘Bad Back’ – I now consider that I no longer have a bad back. Standing for an hour or more is painless. Yes I can ‘Put my back out’ – but once in a blue moon and it will be right again within a couple of days. Tai Chi has been so beneficial – not just for my back but in overall flexibility, well being and relaxation.
I am keen to share the benefits with others and have now become an Instructor. I wish I had been doing daily Tai Chi since my teens – just think about the pain I could have avoided. Ah well, better late than never …
Greg