Gentle Exercises for Optimal Health

“By a wide margin, the biggest threat to our nation’s balance sheet is the skyrocketing cost of health care.”
President Barack Obama, March 2009 (reported in The New Yorker, “The Cost Conundrum”, June 1, 2009)

The World’s Population is Getting Older

An article from the Associated Press on June 23, 2009 states that the population of over-65 people in the world will triple by 2050. The estimate is that there will be over one and a half billion people 65 years old and older.
By 2030, 20 percent of people in the U. S. A. will be over 65.

How can we get people to be 65 yet younger?

I learned a long time ago this simple formula

Movement equals health
Stagnation leads to disease
Movement is life

Or as a Haiku

Stagnation is death
Move at every level
To flow is to live

Or as a limerick

There once was this guy on earth
Who, confused of health’s true worth
Refused to train his body
Which was always shoddy
From the movement dearth

Qigong Can Help Solve the Health-Price Crisis

Qigong practice is not just a good idea or a fine practice for those that are into it. It is a super-inexpensive health regimen. The world is going to need it soon. There is no way  the developed world can continue to pay the gigantic amounts of money we currently do for disease care.

Get Healthier by Getting Back to Nature

We will need to allocate our resources of money better. There will be fewer expensive doctor’s visits, costly machine-produced tests, long hospital stays, or high-priced medications.

Society won’t be able to afford them.

We will need cheaper—much cheaper—alternatives.

I suggest Qigong practice as an important and effective piece to solving this monster-sized money puzzle.

Qigong Works

One of the safest, most reliable, and most amazing method of retraining and maintaining healthful movement is the practice of Qigong.

Qigong is good for everybody but it is particularly apt for seniors (older folks, not those finishing high school or college.)

For instance, Qigong practice can help seniors in the following ways:

Qigong is Good for the Joints

Qigong is not only easy on the joints, it helps articular function, bringing more full range of motion, easier movement, more space, and better relationships between bones. With good joint health older people (and younger) will use their body more, moving in more ways and for more miles.

Qigong Enhances Breathing

Qigong teaches the supra-important skill of how to keep breathing. Qigong breathing has the potentially to literally add years of health to one’s life.

Some Ways Qigong Enhances Breathing:

–Deepening the breath
–Drawing the breath lower in the torso
–Strengthening the correct breathing muscles
–De-training (untraining) incorrect methods of respiration
–Fostering the ease and smoothness of breath
–Equalizing inhales and exhales

Qigong Helps Ease Pressure on the Heart

More blood is pumped through one’s body with greater ease by simply relaxing the blood vessels. Instead of forcing the blood to plow through tight arteries and veins, Qigong practice opens these vessels through internal relaxation.

Qigong is a Dementia Preventia

The many sequences of movements train the mind, build new synapses in the nervous system and strengthen the focus power of your brain. Qigong also teaches the amazingly important skill of centering your energy and consciousness low in your torso instead of in your brain; by doing this you build body wisdom and avoid jagged, jolting thinking habits.

Qigong Fosters Equilibrium

With the gentle and slow movements that much of Qigong consists of Qigong can build leg strength, increase walking confidence, and reduce the number of falls. Studies of Tai Chi–the brother of Qigong– show that in just 10 weeks of practice a senior citizin can decrease falls by 40 percent.

Qigong is Good for the Lymph System

Qigong has magnified effects on lymph flow and lymph gland function. You want this so as to clear out the body and prevent disease.

Thirty to forty minutes of Qigong can increase white blood cell count by 40 to 200  percent and keep it there for a day or two.

Qigong is Pleasant and Pleasurable

Wouldn’t you rather engage in some pleasant exercises in your yard or living room— or down at the Park or local rec center with some friends—rather than need endless medical procedures.