Apr. 20--Sherrill Hughes lost her husband. Mary Jane Granger developed type two diabetes. And Ellie Seals needed a cane to walk due to constant pain.
They were all looking for something to help them put their lives back in balance. They turned to tai chi.
"My husband died, and I was trying to live," Hughes said.
The slow movements and deep breathing were enough to keep her grief from consuming her. Hughes practiced every day. Her grandchildren teased her about her "spinning" in the bedroom. Four years later, Hughes still attends tai chi classes. She walked into Frederic Lecut's class recently at the Westgate Recreation Center dressed for the day, complete with high heels that she quickly kicked off. Tai chi is done barefoot.
"Tai chi is for focus and balance, and it really helped because you have to focus," she said.
Lecut has taught tai chi locally since 2000 with support from Dothan Leisure Services. The practice has health benefits, but Lecut said it's not a miracle pill that will cure disease in a quick-fix society.
"The reason people do tai chi is to improve their health or maintain their health, but it was originally a martial art used for fighting," Lecut said.
Mary Jane Granger started tai chi after her diagnosis with diabetes. She had been very sedentary, and the low-impact practice didn't put any stress on her joints. She's been practicing now for seven years.
"I'm no longer on any medication," Granger said. "I think it definitely helped."
Tai chi originated in China in the 12th century A.D. There are different variations, but the first tai chi movements supposedly mimicked the movements of a crane and a snake as observed by a Taoist monk.
In tai chi, the movements are slow and flowing. The person gently moves from one movement to another at the same slow pace. The practice also focuses on breathing, calling for practitioners to concentrate on breathing deeply and in a relaxed manner.
The idea is that tai chi, through its movements and breathing, massages the internal organs and aids in the exchange of gases in the lungs. It's believed tai chi also helps digestion, flexibility, balance and creates calmness. Local tai chi practitioners will participate in World Tai Chi Day on April 26 at Solomon Park.
Lecut said stress relief is a big part of why people turn to tai chi. He warns that if a condition has progressed so far that someone needs surgery, tai chi may not help. But he knows people who have been helped with chronic pain, which in and of itself can cause stress.
"If you are in pain, you cannot find serenity," Lecut said.
While there is little evidence to back up claims of tai chi's benefits, there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that the practice impacts people's health. But the science behind it may be building.
There have been two small studies in Australia and Taiwan that showed tai chi could help manage type two diabetes. The National Institute of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine classifies tai chi as part of mind-body medicine and is funding research into whether tai chi can help women cope with breast cancer, comparing tai chi to other cardiovascular exercise in adult survivors of cancer, to determine its impact on osteoarthritis of the knee and into the effects tai chi has on rheumatoid arthritis.
Ellie Seals is a believer. Tai chi, she said, improved her flexibility and the deep breathing helped with a chronic cough.
"When I first came here I was on a cane," said Seals, who was suffering from herniated discs in her back.
She's no longer on a cane and has stuck with tai chi for almost four years.
"When I'm on the floor, when I drop things, I don't have to wonder how I'm going to get up," she said.
If you go ...
World Tai Chi Day
Who: Anyone with an interest in tai chi is welcome.
When: Saturday, April 26.
Where: Solomon Park at the corner of Choctaw and Hazelwood in Dothan.
Time: 10 a.m. (should last an hour to hour-and-a-half).
Other: There will be a free seminar before the event on Thursday, April 24, at 6 p.m. at the Westgate Recreation Center gym.
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