Best Tai Chi set for mental health?

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Training and Health
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Hello,
Its been about 2 years since I posted on here. I have been studying martial arts for oh about 17 years now, but I’m still not teaching any. I would like to start teaching a basic Tai Chi set at work - I work as an Occupational Therapy technician in a community mental health setting.

So, I have studied Tai Chi for about 7 years, mostly Yang style but also Cheng Hsin (if you are happy to call that a style of Tai Chi). I am aware of the Sun style Tai Chi being supposedly good for people with Arthritis, I am wondering if anyone has any advice on the best styles for Mental health.

I would have thought that a basic small set is best to begin with as it will be easier for me to learn and thus to teach, also I want to do something which is simple for people to pick up and not a whole load of movements. Although people with Mental Health problems can generally move just like anyone else, it should also be something without ambitious moves that might daunt someone with low confidence. having said this it does need to be something which will inspire confidence and self esteem. The martial aspects could be played down and my employers would probably prefer for me not to teach these. Also, I am wondering about any contraindications with moving energy around the body in people who are anxious, depressed, suffering from PTSD etc.

Thanks in advance for your ideas and thoughts.

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i am studying in a parallel field basically. check out hunyuan taiji and hunyuan qigong. excellent system IMO.

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You will find that you will have to break down the movements into much smaller components to seek your goals. Since the objective is building gong, you will have to simplify more than you realize because too many perceived difficult patterns will cause the individuals to lose interest.

4

I agree that too much complexity will limit the number of interested students. Why not offer something like the 8 pieces of brocade first, Simplified Yang 24 next, and then whatever you want your “advanced” training to be after that?

5

A lot depends on the type of disorders that are predominant in your target population.

For example, due to the “stillness” and inward looking aspect, I would tend to avoid teaching any form of still Qi Gong to a group of psychotic or schizophrenic patients. Not a good mix - telling a group that often has delusions or may hear voices to quiet the mind…

Moving Qi Gong (not combined still/moving where you assume a posture and hold it) would be the closest I would get to that - and then I would suggest very close monitoring of the patients.

As for Taijiquan - keeping it short and simple would be best - teaching something that can be learned in a short time but that also can be a building block for other things. This points to using the newer standardized routines. There is the 8 Posture and then the 16 Posture routine that then lead to learning the standardized 24 Posture set. Each builds on the previous set and is short enough to teach to a varied group.

I would advise against pursuing the mental aspects of Taijiquan at first unless the assigned therapist (psychiatrist, psychologist, social-work therapist, etc…) is working in that direction.

Now, if your population is more in line with mental retardation, again, the 8, 16, and 24 are good.

For a population of folks in for drug abuse - just about anything is good… they are substance abusers and have a different set of issues totally unlike psychosis and schizophrenia.

For those suffering from things like adolescent or adult adjustment reaction, again, pretty much any practice is good.

For depression, movement - and avoiding the quieting of the mind at first is a better approach. It is also good to know if their depression is chemically based or (physiological) or not. With a person being put on anti-depressants - holding off a little until their chemistry is stable…and then teaching them like a normal student would seem a better approach.

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[QUOTE=GLW;971099]For example, due to the “stillness” and inward looking aspect, I would tend to avoid teaching any form of still Qi Gong to a group of psychotic or schizophrenic patients. Not a good mix - telling a group that often has delusions or may hear voices to quiet the mind…[/QUOTE]
exactly - and don’t do any supine relaxation exercises with them where you have them visualize things like their body melting into the floor…:eek::eek::eek:

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[QUOTE=KTS;971023]i am studying in a parallel field basically. check out hunyuan taiji and hunyuan qigong. excellent system IMO.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, I will have a look.. what field are you studying? I googled Hunyuan and found the British Hunyuan Association, they list their syllabus as

  1. HUNYUAN NEIGONG - Qi-Gong
  2. Traditional Chen-style Taiji First Routine - 76 Form (LAOJIA)
  3. Traditional Chen-style Taiji Second Routine (PAOCHUI)
  4. HUYUAN TAIJI 24 Form
  5. HUNYUAN TAIJI 36 Broad Sword
  6. HUNYUAN TAIJI 48 Sword
  7. Taiji 32 Elbow
  8. Chen-style Push hands

I was looking for something perhaps a bit more simple, maybe you can tell me more?

[QUOTE=mawali;971061]You will find that you will have to break down the movements into much smaller components to seek your goals. Since the objective is building gong, you will have to simplify more than you realize because too many perceived difficult patterns will cause the individuals to lose interest.[/QUOTE]

Hmm, I dont want people to lose interest, but dont want to simplify too much as it still should be recognisable as Tai Chi..

[QUOTE=Xiao3 Meng4;971074]I agree that too much complexity will limit the number of interested students. Why not offer something like the 8 pieces of brocade first, Simplified Yang 24 next, and then whatever you want your “advanced” training to be after that?[/QUOTE]

8 pieces of brocade is a Qigong set right? I know it is only a few movements.. it is something I should consider I think but I am interested in Tai Chi more than qigong for reasons GLW states below:

[QUOTE=GLW;971099]A lot depends on the type of disorders that are predominant in your target population.

For example, due to the “stillness” and inward looking aspect, I would tend to avoid teaching any form of still Qi Gong to a group of psychotic or schizophrenic patients. Not a good mix - telling a group that often has delusions or may hear voices to quiet the mind…

Moving Qi Gong (not combined still/moving where you assume a posture and hold it) would be the closest I would get to that - and then I would suggest very close monitoring of the patients.

As for Taijiquan - keeping it short and simple would be best - teaching something that can be learned in a short time but that also can be a building block for other things. This points to using the newer standardized routines. There is the 8 Posture and then the 16 Posture routine that then lead to learning the standardized 24 Posture set. Each builds on the previous set and is short enough to teach to a varied group.

I would advise against pursuing the mental aspects of Taijiquan at first unless the assigned therapist (psychiatrist, psychologist, social-work therapist, etc…) is working in that direction.

Now, if your population is more in line with mental retardation, again, the 8, 16, and 24 are good.

For a population of folks in for drug abuse - just about anything is good… they are substance abusers and have a different set of issues totally unlike psychosis and schizophrenia.

For those suffering from things like adolescent or adult adjustment reaction, again, pretty much any practice is good.

For depression, movement - and avoiding the quieting of the mind at first is a better approach. It is also good to know if their depression is chemically based or (physiological) or not. With a person being put on anti-depressants - holding off a little until their chemistry is stable…and then teaching them like a normal student would seem a better approach.[/QUOTE]

I remember hearing warnings about teaching Qigong to people with Psychosis before so I am glad to have had you mention this. This is part of the reason why I wanted to teach something very physical, almost ‘external’ or at least something which has detail in terms of structure and body positioning but doesnt focus on mind states or qi too much.

I have a better idea now about what I might be looking into in more detail.

8

ahh, i c.

well, first, you would start with a simple 24 form, as the 83 form actually extends from the 24 form.

the qigong is, basically a 12 set system. it can be done almost as just nearly physical exercise, and individual exercises alone have many benefits, whereas advanced levels seem more into the taoist neigong realm and intermediate levels deal a bit more with martial application and refined body control, etc. this qigong/neigong set comes from hu yaozhen, who is acknowledged as the father of medical qigong in it’s current state.

i have 5 years in xingyi and bagua, but about a half year into taiji, so it is still fairly new to me in a sense. from what i can tell, the actual form of hunyuan taiji has many overlapping circles and spirals, that naturally flow into the next movement - the next set of movements just sort of naturally feels like it is created by the last movement. it is a pretty soothing form, and is done nicely with both the extremely slow speed of a very soft yang style or the more brisk pace of sun style. the form is a balance between movement and stillness; after each set of movements within the form the practitioner returns back to neutral/wuji state both physically and mentally. and, i generally see it performed at a slow but not stagnant tempo. so, it does not have to be practiced at extremely slow paces. i could ask my teacher for you about this issue as he is a senior disciple and extremely knowledgeable about the health aspects of chen shi xinyi hunyuan taiji.

btw, that syllabus is missing a few things such as the taiji ruler, shorter 18 elbow form, hunyuan cannon fist(which i believe is part xing yi, part taiji with a touch of tongbei), extensive silk reeling, and of course free sparring.

so, the hunyuan system as an exclusive system will start with the 12 step qigong and 24 form. and some silk reeling thrown into there as well.

hope that helped.