A couple of days ago I took time to read the March-April Issue of Arthritis Today. I was really struck by an article on creative visualization and how it can help with arthritis. According to the article, if you visualize pain leaving your body or visualize being able to do something without pain, you will experience less pain. I haven't been in pain recently to try out the techniques suggested by the article, but I hope to try soon.


Here is a link to the article http://www.arthritis.org/picturing-perfect.php

I am sure that many of you are familiar with the Arthritis Foundation's program to train individuals to teach water aerobics. However, you might not be aware of the AF's program to train individuals to teach Tai Chi for Arthritis. The AF adapted the program from Dr. Paul Lam, a physician from Australia. Several days ago I took an instructor's course from Caroline Demoise to learn how to teach Tai Chi for Arthritis (Sun style). Not only did I have a good time at the training, but I also had the opportunity to meet five really interesting individuals. I am impressed that these of training classes are offered in many countries around the world.

I haven't been doing tai chi for very long - only for a couple of months now and not on a regular basis. I cannot honestly say that my tai chi practice has made me feel any different. However, this fact is not at all that surprising to me given how stressful and busy my life has been in the past several months. I plan to continue practicing tai chi in hopes that the symptoms of my arthritis will be alleviated. In time, I expect to feel better. Once I feel that I have improved enough in my practice (and my life has calmed down), I plan on trying to start teaching a tai chi class. I encourage everyone to give tai chi a chance - it may not be the exercise for you, but you should give it a try -- it could be the very thing that will improve your quality of life.

I have been reading about and researching tai chi in the past several weeks. The one thing that has really impressed me is the number of clinical trials that are currently being conducted in the US on tai chi. I am amazed at the various conditions that tai chi may help! I can't wait to see the research.

Is anyone out there doing tai chi? Have you found that it has helped your arthritis or other conditions? How would you feel about doing tai chi?