Reduce Blood Pressure with Tai Chi

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By Suzanne C. Weltman

This gentle workout-a modern-day form of an ancient Chinese martial art-reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, and improves cardiovascular fitness.

When Marilyn McCord’s blood pressure edged toward an unhealthy high, she knew she needed to take action. With the support of her physician, she decided to try Tai Chi instead of drugs to lower her numbers.
           
Modern Tai Chi (pronounced tie-chee) is a mind-body exercise based on an ancient Chinese form of self-defense. It combines slow, graceful physical movements with focused breathing and inner concentration. It is a gentle, self-paced exercise in which each movement or posture flows effortlessly into the next. Studies have shown that Tai Chi quiets the mind and reduces stress, resulting in a more relaxed state of well-being. One study showed that Tai Chi was nearly as effective at lowering blood pressure as moderate aerobic exercise.
           
The philosophy of Tai Chi centers on aligning what is called “Chi,” or the energetic life force that flows through your body. A typical hour-long Tai Chi session begins with exercises that are designed to awaken the Chi within the body, followed by a special sequence of movements or postures. Depending on the Tai Chi form—short or long—there may be as few as 13 movements or more than 100. The movement sequences have poetic names, such as “White Crane Spreads Its Wings” and “Waving Hands in Clouds.”
           
Tai Chi—sometimes referred to as meditation in motion—focuses on deep breathing and gentle movements that work all the muscles in the body, says Beth Rose, a Philadelphia-area instructor. “Tai Chi helps you feel calmer,” she says. “You reach a state of relaxed awareness, and it becomes a tool for dealing with stress. I’ve had students tell me it’s easier for them to go up the stairs now. They also breathe better because their circulation has improved and they get more oxygen into their system. To me, there’s no question that Tai Chi helps heart health.”
           
Marilyn agrees with Rose that the exercise provides health benefits. Marilyn, 66, of Durango, Colorado, watched her blood pressure gradually drop from 150/90 mmHg to 135/82 after regularly practicing Tai Chi for several months. “Every time I do Tai Chi, I feel so much better,” she says.
           
She says that the deep breathing she learned has an immediate effect on her stress and blood pressure levels. “When I begin to feel stressed, I can practice Tai Chi’s open-close breathing, and it lowers my blood pressure almost immediately.”