During Tai Chi movements, our fascia, the thin sheath of covering just under our skin and pervasive throughout our body, glides and turns across our body. These movements stretch and recede the fascia, gently massaging the fascia into more suppleness. With this action, our fascia glides more readily, sending nutrients throughout our body, reconstructing, healing, and reorganizing. Tai Chi stimulates our fascia to produce a marvelous elixir of healing responses in our cells.
Tai Chi movements seem particularly designed to move efficiently move the fascia along diagonal lines across the body and with the fullest, but gentle, excursion between fascial points. Think of each Tai Chi movement as a gentle massage to your hidden gem in your body--your fascia. These are the magical healing powers of Tai Chi!
In fact, the fascia is gaining more and more recognition within the medical community. Fascia was once thought of simply something to cut through and disregard. Now there are discoveries of how important the fascia is for maintaining and restoring our health and, specifically, in healing.
Fascia is a connective tissue that responds to mechanical stress and vibration. When we do Tai Chi, we are applying gentle mechanical stress to the fascia as we stretch it along those diagonal lines of movement. If you are able to generate "Qi" or the electrical current in your body, it is recognized as a high frequency vibration and thus also stimulates the healing properties in your fascia.
So just as with Tai Chi, what you see is not what is the most important mechanism. Rather it is the internal aspects that provide the richness, value and healing powers of Tai Chi. So is true of our body and its mechanisms. What we perceive on the outside is not what is most important. We see the muscles and external movements and we think it is beautiful.
But what is more important is that which we can not see....the fascia and all of its hidden healing powers.
Next time you are doing Tai Chi. Think of how you are massaging your Fascia and that through these movements, your Tai Chi is creating healing powers in your own body!