Side effects of practicing Tai Chi

When it comes to Tai Chi, everyone is very familiar with it, and almost everyone believes that practicing Tai Chi is good for the body. However, if the correct method is not mastered or for other reasons, practicing Tai Chi may also have side effects. For example, poor complexion, knee pain, etc. In fact, practicing Tai Chi should be based on one's own physical condition and health condition, and one should master the correct practice methods of Tai Chi, and avoid impatience and excessive practice.

1. Injury to Qi

There are two main phenomena of damaging Qi: one is an uneasy mentality, excessive, intense, and rapid exercise, which results in breathlessness and poor complexion after exercise; the other is too much intention, too much emphasis on breathing, coordinating every posture with breathing, and even letting "Qi" to "drive" the movements, which results in poor breathing, qi stagnation, chest tightness, dizziness and other phenomena. These are also misunderstandings in the process of practicing boxing, which can easily cause injuries and diseases.

The practice of Tai Chi requires that one be completely relaxed and natural, with the speed changing according to the strength and breath. The skill is based on the flexibility and slow practice that is accumulated over time, and it cannot be forced. The breathing is left to nature, with the mind leading the movement, and the force guiding the qi, and the qi and momentum follow each other and are mutually beneficial. I believe that the use of Qi lies in relaxation, and when it is relaxed to the point that only the tendons remain, as if connected by a thread, and this thread is the Qi. You can benefit from changing the idea of ​​using qi to how to relax, and understanding it from the perspective of how to keep muscles, tendons and blood vessels unobstructed.

2. Injury

Injury refers to the damage or disease caused by excessive, intense, or unbalanced exercise. In addition, the amount and intensity of exercise should be within one's ability and should not be forced. The amount of exercise depends on your age and physical condition. When you are young and have a good physique, you should focus on gaining experience through practicing Kung Fu; when you are older, you should reduce the amount of exercise appropriately and focus on gaining experience through the mind. This is actually the development process of Tai Chi practice from the primary stage to the advanced stage, which is irreversible.

3. Bone Injury

Bone injuries are caused by incorrect posture or careless movements. A more prominent phenomenon is leg injuries, especially knee joints. On the one hand, leg strength and motor function are the parts of the human body that degenerate earliest; on the other hand, long-term half-squatting exercise load, or excessive pursuit of the difficulty and intensity of posture changes in order to achieve the artistic effect of "winning by surprise" to improve performance, such as landing on one leg after spinning in competitive Tai Chi, will cause great damage to the athletes' legs, and they may even have to take blocking injections to participate in competitions, which will make it more likely to cause early degeneration of leg function, bone injuries or sequelae.

If one does not grasp the essentials of Tai Chi correctly, such as having the knees past the toes, using force on the knees when turning left or right, or having the knees too low when stepping forward or backward (or kneeling), etc., it is easy to cause obvious or chronic bone injuries. All these should attract our sufficient attention. We should give deep thought and research to the nature and connotation of Tai Chi, and return to and give Tai Chi its original true appearance, so that it can be inherited, innovated and developed in a healthy way.

4. Insufficient understanding of the essence of Tai Chi

The secret to human longevity and health is to follow the order of time, and work and live in accordance with the four seasons in accordance with nature; joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, the seven emotions and six desires should be developed and calmed in accordance with human nature and ethics, neither being indulgence nor repression. The physical exercise should also be adapted to the laws of human growth. Overload exercise and going against the trend to force miraculous effects may temporarily bring about flashes of physical limits, but it will also bring severe damage to the body and harm life. One must also constantly improve one's personal mentality, not become lazy due to success or become arrogant due to fame, and maintain a routine of exercise in life, so that diseases can be kept away and aging can be delayed.