Hi, my name's Alex Converse and I'm an associate scientist in the brain imaging core of the Waisman
Center, and I'm also affiliated with the center for investigating healthy minds
I'm studying tai-chi as a potential therapy for ADHD. Tai-chi is a Chinese
mind-body practice that's a combination of exercise martial art and moving
meditation it's now practiced by many people all over the world including more
than two million Americans. There are benefits claimed for mental and physical
health due to tai-chi. Recently there have been publications in the New
England Journal of Medicine showing that tai-chi is helpful to patients with
fibromyalgia and in another study that's helpful to patients with Parkinson's
disease. There have been a lesser number of studies looking at the effects of Tai
Chi in adolescents and young adults and in mental health effects and I'm
particularly interested in the effects of Tai Chi on mental health in
adolescents and young adults and the question that I'm asking is whether tai chi
training might help with symptoms of ADHD in young adults and we're about to
start on a small child with college students with ADHD to examine the
effects of tai chi training. So now I'd like to introduce Robert L. Yu he's a
senior lecturer in the department of kinesiology here at the University of
Wisconsin and he's going to demonstrate a portion of the yang 24 form and also
lead you in some simple exercises
mister Yu studied under master Hung I-Hsiang in Taiwan from 1969 to 1972 he's
taught many hundreds of students since then. Tai-chi reflects elements of traditional Chinese
medicine as well as Daoist philosophy, and so for instance there is an emphasis
on the notion of Yin and Yang
There are precursors of Tai Chi, there are texts that are over 2,000 years old
that describe
movements inspired by animals that are practiced for health. Traditionally Tai
chi forms were passed down within families which trace their lineage to
around the year 1600. There are several popular styles from divergent lineages which still
include common core elements so for instance emphasis on breathing
relaxation and mindfulness. >> Well Tai-chi is standing and moving meditation, so the
first thing you want to do is make sure that you're aligned, that your back is straight and your
head is held erect. Your breath should enter into the belly as you inhale.
and exhale. So the opening sequence is the Yin so the hands of pointed towards heaven and you
inhale. And then its Yang towards Earth exhale and sink. Let's do that again
inhale
exhale, keeping the back straight, feel the breath move the hands once more. Inhale. Exhale.
The opening move, transfer weight
And this is called ward off, stepping forward.
this is called roll back, press, and this is called push
and then we do it to the other side. Ward off
Roll back, press, and push
now you want to be sure that when you're doing Tai Chi
you're transferring weight from the back foot to the front foot
you're not moving your arms and shoulders as much as transferring wait
again you're standing on one leg throughout Tai-chi. Now we're gonna do the ward off
and this is called rollback this is called press, and this is called push
>>Thank you for joining us, I hope you enjoyed this brief taste of tai-chi. If you're interested in learning more about tai-chi
we urge you to find a teacher in your community and there are also many videos and
books available