FREE YOUR MIND: YOGA, TAI CHI HELP PEOPLE RELIEVE STRESS

Clear your mind, breathe and focus on what is happening within your body. Now add motion or a few methodic positions and you have an oriental stress-reduction method.

Yoga and tai chi, oriental ways of calming the mind through the motions of the body, are becoming more popular as stress-relievers in the West.

Yoga, which is a meditating device created by Hindu practitioners, entails the use of more than 840,000 different body positions. "Of course, no one knows all of them," said Linda Vogelsang who periodically teaches yoga to Southeast Missouri State University students, faculty and staff.

Vogelsang said the body positions, called postures, are actually a small portion of what yoga is all about. She rarely does postures anymore but performs yoga every day.

Yoga, which means discipline in Sanskrit, the classical language of India, has eight levels of control including body positions, breathing, positive values, control of senses and meditation. Hatha-yoga is the practice that stresses difficult body postures and breathing techniques for better health.

Vogelsang uses the breathing techniques and meditation practiced in yoga every day. When she does postures, she has favorites she does more than others. "Sometimes just taking a good stretch makes you feel better," she said.

Some of the postures in yoga can be physically strenuous. They require flexibility and the ability to hold a position for an extended length of time. Vogelsang said when she is in the mood to get in shape she will perform a yoga routine every morning called Sun Salutation. Other than that, she has postures for relaxation and said there are even positions that are used to cure ailments.

"One thing I teach is if it hurts, don't do it," Vogelsang said of the postures.

Randy Babb, a tai chi instructor in Cape Girardeau, said yoga and tai chi are only separated by the amount of movement involved. Tai chi also requires meditation and proper breathing techniques.

But instead of finding a position and holding it, tai chi is the performance of a series of motions that flow smoothly and slowly. Babb begins every tai chi session by doing a standing meditation posture to build his internal energy.

The rest of the session is a rhythmic rechanneling of this energy.

Babb said the purposes of tai chi are to improve breathing, center the body's natural energy and improve balance. The exercises can improve circulation, digestion, structural alignment and overall health.

T'ai chi chuan was started around 1500 B.C. in southern China. It emphasizes circular motions and intricate foot patterns, gentle force and inner harmony.

Derived from kung fu, it started as an aggressive mode of self-defense.

"There are basically two kinds of martial arts," Babb said. "There's the kind that is designed to overwhelm and dominate your opponent. Tai chi is different. It's used in harmony with what your opponent is doing until there is an opportunity to move your opponent off balance."

Jim Maginel, who teaches tai chi as a part of lifestyle enhancement at Southeast, practices his postures twice a day, morning and night. He goes through the basic 64 moves in eight minutes.

Lifestyle enhancement deals with, among other things, stress management. "During that section, we're looking at different tools that we can use as individuals to enhance our own stress management," Maginel said. Some of those techniques are progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, massage, acupuncture and tai chi.

"The neat thing about tai chi is it ties all these things together," he said. "You have the meditative component with the stretching component. Meditation is clearing the mind of all the stuff that generates stress."

Tai chi also incorporates athletics because it can be physically taxing, Maginel said.

Because it is performed slowly, many people see it as being easy. "It's slow because it helps to focus on the meditative compound and to feel balanced," Maginel said. "That's really an important component of tai chi is to feel rooted to the earth, to feel balanced and to recognize the strength that comes with being supple."

While both techniques can help to reduce stress they both require dedication. Babb loses a lot of students after a few weeks because tai chi is not as easy as it looks.

"A lot of them leave after they find out it requires work," he said.