It always comes back to Ai Chi

The world is a bit unsettled at the moment. I’ve noticed that people seem less likely to respect boundaries than in the past~ opening doors marked “staff only” or unapologetically soliciting personal information over the phone. “Private” seems to be an invitation for exploration. And respect, civility and kindness too often seem to be forgotten~ especially with those you don’t know. This has the result of raising general tension levels and promoting distrust of others. When I get particularly bothered by such things, I am prone to commenting to my husband, “The world needs more Ai Chi!” and his joking response is “It always comes back to Ai Chi.”

And figuratively speaking, it does. Our society is better when we are more centered, more appreciative of our God-given gifts, more aware of our surroundings and more respectful of others. We need to rely more on our parasympathetic “rest and digest” nervous system than our sympathetic “fight or flight” nervous system. Sharing smiles and joy is contagious. Now Ai Chi is not the only way to accomplish this, but it is a very effective way to find equilibrium. Plus Ai Chi promotes so many other good things, like core strengthening, improved mobility, deep breathing and balance. It lowers blood pressure and slows your heart rate… So many good things come from this practice…

A few years ago, one of the Ai Chi Masters was in an accident that left her traumatized and immobilized in the hospital for an extended period. She shared that doing Ai Chi in her head was a calming, healing tool that helped her through a difficult time. When my busy mind keeps me awake at night, I do the same to bring calm that allows sleep to come. 

I have recently been sharing Ai Chi with a population with multiple comorbidities~ lots of health issues that make some Ai Chi steps overwhelming. I’ve had to modify or skip some of the steps, and to place a lot of emphasis on how to move, weight-shifting and breath. However it turns out is how it was meant to be, and I’ve seen amazing physical performance improvement in my participants, but the calm that comes with doing Ai Chi has been in the background~ until now. A new participant joined us whose main focus was finding centering and grounding and her enthusiasm as she experienced Ai Chi for the first time set the tone for the class. By this time the other class members were pretty adept at the steps we’d been practicing, and we hit that “sweet spot” of Ai Chi where everyone experienced the amazing calm that Ai Chi can bring~ that centering that automatically compelled us to turn to one another and say “ahhhh” and “Namaste” as the class concluded. 

Yes, it always comes back to Ai Chi…

Do you want to share Ai Chi with others? Check out learning opportunities at upcoming conferences and education days through ATRI.

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Writen by mpierce

MS PT, Northwestern University; BS PT, St Louis University; CEEAA; ATRIC; Ai Chi Trainer since 2015; De-Mystifying Mindfulness by Universiteit Leiden on Coursera, Certificate earned on November 4, 2017;

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