I am asked this question regularly, by patients, by students, by people who are researching what practice to begin. Tai Chi or yoga? Which is better? What is the difference? If I already do yoga, do I need Tai Chi? I have practiced Tai Chi for 57 years. I have enormous respect for yoga as
Wuji for Chronic Pain: What Standing Still Can Do That Movement Cannot
Chronic pain is one of the most difficult conditions I encountered in clinical practice, not because it is the most severe, but because it is the most persistent. Acute pain has a cause, a timeline, and usually a resolution. Chronic pain has often outlasted its original cause entirely. The tissue has healed. The injury is
Tai Chi for Knee Pain: A Chiropractor’s 57-Year Perspective
The knee is the most commonly injured joint in the human body. It is also the joint most frequently cited as a reason not to practice Tai Chi, which is one of the great ironies I have encountered in clinical practice. People with knee pain avoid the one practice most likely to help them because
Tai Chi for Balance and Fall Prevention: What the Research and 50+ Years of Practice Show
In 35 years of chiropractic practice, fall-related injuries were among the most serious cases I saw. Not always because of the physical damage, though hip fractures in older adults are genuinely life-altering, but because of what happens after. A fall produces fear. Fear produces guarded movement. Guarded movement reduces the proprioceptive feedback the nervous system
Tai Chi for High Blood Pressure: What 57 Years of Practice Taught Me
I have been a chiropractor for 35 years. During that time I have seen thousands of patients, and the number of them who were managing high blood pressure, who were on medication for it, who had been told to watch it and come back in three months, is extraordinary. It is one of the most
Tai Chi for Back Pain: The Complete Guide by Dr. Bob Bacher
Back pain is the most common reason people seek medical care in the world. It is also one of the conditions that responds most consistently and dramatically to the regular practice of Chen style tai chi. In 35 years of chiropractic practice, I prescribed tai chi to more patients with back pain than any other
Wuji Standing: The Complete Method
Can you remain still until the right action arises by itself? — Tao Te Ching Standing quietly doing nothing. That is the entire instruction. And it may be the most valuable exercise you ever learn in your entire lifetime. I have practiced Tai Chi every day since 1970. I have studied under Grandmaster Wang Xi’an
How to Learn Tai Chi: The Complete Beginner’s Guide
Someone walks up to me in the park while I am practicing and says they want to learn Tai Chi. The first thing I do is smile. And then I tell them: this may be one of the most important and wisest decisions you make in your entire lifetime. I pause and let that land.
The Complete Guide to Silk Reeling
Silk reeling is the heart of Chen style Tai Chi. Not a technique, not an exercise, not a concept you study and then move on from. It is the fundamental quality of movement that runs through every posture, every transition, every breath of authentic practice. When it is present, the body moves with an effortless,
The Complete Guide to Tai Chi for Health
People ask me what Tai Chi is good for. I find it easier to answer what it is not good for, because after 57 years of daily practice and 35 years as a board-certified chiropractor using Tai Chi as therapy with every patient I treated, I have not found that answer yet. This guide is