Research
Interests and Current Projects
A Model of Martial Arts as Public School Curriculum:
Improving Health, Fitness, and Standardized Test Scores
Numerous studies have indicated a strong
link between learning traditional martial arts and increased test scores,
modification of behavioral problems, improvement in self-responsibility, and
overall positive student development (click on resources at the end of
this section for an excellent review of literature). Martial arts have also
proven successful in developing total body fitness. With the need for schools
to improve test scores, many schools have cut into funding for physical
education programs. By instigating a holistic martial art program, districts
can address growing health and fitness concerns, while simultaneously improving
test scores. The difficulty comes in establishing a model for effectively
bringing traditional martial arts into the schools as an adjunct to traditional
sports.
The usual course, if a school is interested in offering martial arts to
their students, is in the format of an after school program, either voluntarily
run, or contracted with a commercial organization for a fee, often quite high,
paid by the parents. There are many shortcomings to this approach. If the
program is taught by a volunteer, it becomes impossible for a person to invest
large amounts of time, money and education to teach an effective, consistent
and organized program. Many talented individuals offer their time to teach on a
voluntary basis, but not enough to be effective on a state-wide basis, and
results in an even greater shortcoming – it becomes impossible to make
the teaching of martial arts an educational profession similar to art, English,
math, history, or any other traditional subject.
Programs offered by
commercial for-profit and non-profit organizations are similarly lacking in the
inability for the teaching of martial arts to be a long term profession in the
field of education. Relatively high class fees are paid by the students, yet
the actual instructors are paid relatively little as a livable and professional
wage. Both situations result in the ineffective implementation of martial arts
in education on a wholesale basis. To this end the current project is to create
a model that makes possible the offering of martial arts on a district-wide,
and ultimately state and nation-wide basis free to all students, as a fully
employable profession, and present this model at the various educational
conferences throughout the nation.
Tai Chi as an Effective Treatment of
Cancer
Over the past
three years I have had several students with various stages of cancer who have
taken Tai Chi in the hopes that it will affect a cure. Two students experienced
complete remission, and the third, although her cancer did not disappear, had
in certain respects the most dramatic effects. Cancer had spread through most
of her body, and doctors at this point had given her about a month left to
live. She was taking massive doses of pain pills to control the pain, and
conventional treatments were having no effect. So she decided to try Tai Chi.
Within weeks she was able to cease taking all pain pills, and continued to take
the course with great results for another two semesters, before moving to
Montana. Although she did not experience complete remission, she still has
hopes, and has made tremendous improvements beyond what doctors believed
possible for her current state when she began taking the class. Below are some
of the findings and research on cancer and the possible effects of Tai Chi, as
well as many of the other health benefits attributed to Tai Chi practice.
Health benefits of Tai Chi as Related to Cancer and Overall Health
(*The below is taken from “Tai Chi
– Mind, Body and Spirit.”)
Links to supporting research is provided at the bottom of this article.
Tai Chi may have more
health benefits than just about any other exercise. Many of these health
benefits are linked to the flow and usage of oxygen (a.k.a. “chi”)
in the body. Increased oxygen flow results from relaxing the tension in the
body, which constricts blood flow. Increased oxygen flow helps all the organs
in the body to operate more efficiently, including the brain. Increased oxygen
in the body can also help to fight off a variety of diseases, including cancer.
Nobel Prize winner Otto
Warburg found that cancer cells occur in areas of oxygen deficiency, and that
when the body is rich in oxygen cancer cells die. He found that a prime cause
of cancer is the replacement of respiration of oxygen (oxidation of sugar) in
normal body cells with fermentation of sugar. Normal body cells meet energy
needs by respiration, as opposed to cancer cells which are partial anaerobs,
meeting their needs by fermentation. Also significant is that carcinogens (a
growing concern in modern society, and seemingly unavoidable in many facets of
life) impair cellular respiration directly or indirectly, damaging capillary
circulation, further indicating the importance of good respiration in
preventing and fighting cancer. This is promising news in regard to Tai Chi
practice, since one of the specific focuses of Tai Chi is to maximize oxygen
flow in the body. By learning to relax the tension in our bodies, muscles relax
and blood vessels dilate, increasing oxygen flow to all parts of the body.
During the practice of the Tai Chi form this is often felt as a tingling
sensation or warmth in the hands and arms as blood vessels dilate and oxygen
floods the extremities. The increased circulation also helps remove toxins that
have built up in the body. Relaxing muscle tension can also help lower blood pressure,
without using medication or risking side affects.
Dr. Roger Jahnke, a
medical doctor who has done extensive research into the health benefits of Tai
Chi, found that the extra oxygen demands of the muscles in regular aerobic
exercise not only uses any extra oxygen generated by deeper breathing but can
actually result in a deficit. Furthermore, the beneficial healing chemicals
created by the body to repair muscle damage typical of most aerobic and
anaerobic exercise is primarily used by the muscles. Tai Chi as an exercise
differs in that the slow relaxed movements permit the increased oxygen from
deep breathing to be utilized by the whole body, with no deficit, while at the
same time generating the same healing chemicals that can be used to repair damage
tissues other than muscles.
Tai Chi practice has
been shown to increase T-lymphocytes, boosting the immune system, according to
a study cited in Prevention Magazine. T-lymphocytes help the immune system to
destroy bacteria and possibly even tumor cells. Tai Chi can help to strengthen
bone mass and connective tissue, particularly when combined with various chi
kung vibratory exercises. In an exciting study with paralytics featured in the
L.A. Times, a special machine was used to vibrate and cause low impact jolts to
the body to increase bone density in paralyzed people. Not only did the
subjects gain increased bone density, but they actually experienced an
unexpected side effect – signs of nerve re-growth, some patients
experiencing feeling returning in arms and legs. Many of the auxiliary
exercises of Tai Chi and Qi Gong replicate the effects of the machine in the
study.
Tai Chi also
increases breathing capacity, which in turn lowers the heart rate. Although Tai
Chi may not seem to be an aerobic exercise, the energy needed and generated
from 30 minutes of slow movement with low stances raises the heart rate 50%
during practice, and burns approximately 280 calories per hour, more than
surfing and almost as much as downhill skiing. Tai Chi practice can also serve
to reduce the buildup of lactic acids in the body. The gentle movements,
relaxation, and increased blood and oxygen flow of Tai Chi cleans the body of
lactic acid and other harmful toxins, as well as clearing the lymph glands.
Since Tai Chi moves the joints of the body through about 95% of its possible
range of motion, it serves as a “pump” for our joints, slowly
moving fluids about, lubricating the joints and removing calcium deposits,
preventing stiff and frozen joints. I regularly pass seniors at donut shops on
the way to a park popular for Tai Chi practice. The older people at the donut
shops hobble about with canes or walkers, bent with age. This contrasts
dramatically with the 60 to 90 year old Tai Chi practitioners I see in the
park, moving with the freedom and grace of a child. Daily practice keeps them
young and supple, fighting the tendency to become stiff and brittle that
results so often from the sedentary lifestyle of modern society. The following
is a list of benefits many people have experienced from practicing Tai Chi on a
regular basis, documented in a variety of studies:
* Boosts the immune
system * Reduces asthma & allergy reactions * Slows the aging
process * Improves balance & coordination * Reduces
anxiety, depression, & overall mood disturbance *
Helps ensure full range of mobility far into old age.
* Lowers high blood pressure * Increases breathing capacity *
Enhances body’s natural healing ability & speeds recovery * Provides lowest
impact weight bearing exercise known *
Alleviates stress responses
(From “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Tai Chi and
Qigong” by Bill Douglas)
Neuropeptides are chemicals in the body that help to communicate
our emotions and can affect the entire body. Every time you get angry,
frustrated and stressed out these chemicals flow through the body affecting
your heart, brain, circulatory system and organs, which can over time cause a
breakdown of bodily systems, from kidney failure to hardening of the arteries.
Recent studies have demonstrated that reaction to stress can damage the entire
body. It can cause Hypertension, or high blood pressure, which can cause
hardening of the arteries, kidney damage and an enlarged heart. Stress limits
our ability to think and can even cause the hypothalamus and hippocampus in the
brain to shrink. Now that you know that, if you weren’t stressed out
before you are now! Which leads you to two choices. Continue getting stressed
out in your life, or just Relax. Be calm, centered, and trust in the process of
your life and life in general. A state that long term practice of Tai Chi can
help generate. No wonder Tai Chi means “the grand ultimate!”
One Duke University study found that reducing stress in you life can
control heart disease even better than exercise. Combining stress management
and exercise can give you the best of both worlds, and Tai Chi may effectively
do both at the same time. Tai Chi practitioners, in psychological studies, have
reported less tension, depression, anger, fatigue, confusion and anxiety.
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a chemical in the body important for good
health, is exhausted by stress. Low levels have been directly linked to cancer,
diabetes, obesity, hypertension, allergies, heart disease and autoimmune diseases.
Stress causes the body to exhaust itself of this chemical. If stress can be
reduced by Tai Chi then the health benefits are obvious. Tai Chi practice has
been shown to boost superoxide dismutase (SOD), an enzyme that protects cells
from free radicals called super oxides which causes the body to age. Super
oxides cause wrinkling, age spots, as well as weak cartilage and joints, and
may even be a factor in cancer. Tai Chi masters are well known for their smooth
skin and youthful appearance, even well into old age.
Women under stress are also subject to greater bone loss. In one
study of chronically depressed women it was found that these 40 year old women
had the bones of a 70 year old. Combine this with the tendency to lose our
sense of balance as we age and you have a recipe for disaster. Tai Chi again
can come to the rescue, three fold – as a weight bearing exercise it
increases bone mass in the lower extremities, increases balance even better
than the most expensive machines, and of course lowers stress.
People already experiencing health problems may experience an even
greater advantage in Tai Chi practice than those in perfect health. If you have
inherited a family trait of a bad back, bad knees or other ailment, rather than
being a curse this might be seen as a blessing. “Healthy” people
have no external motivation to begin or continue a practice, and as they age
they develop problems. People who have had a history of a physical ailment
early on however, are motivated to practice no matter what, for every time they
stop they suffer. And so over time develop a daily habit of Tai Chi that keeps
them young and healthy even into old age. Tai Chi lore abounds with the
examples of famous Tai Chi practitioners that developed high levels of skill out
of the necessity of illness or poor health. Chen Man Ch’ing, one of the
most famous, was told he had only months to live as a result of T.B. Sickly as
a boy he was not expected to live. Out of desperation, he began Tai Chi –
eight hours a day seven days a week! He lived to age 78 and attributed his poor
genes to his mastery. Every time he ceased practice he lapsed into illness.
Death can be a great motivator.
Ideally, inner wisdom, discipline and a desire to be pain free and
mobile even into old age will motivate you into the practice of some form of
daily exercise. But since human nature is often less than perfect, when you
start feeling the twinges of age, your blood pressure or weight is rising, or
any physical ailment arises, see this not as a curse but as a blessing. We all
grow old, and sooner or later your body will send you warning signs. Listen to
them, respond to them, not with drugs (taking into account a doctors advice and
medical needs) which often covers up the symptoms, but with Tai Chi, which can
both alleviate and prevent many of the problems of old age. Thomas Edison
predicted over a hundred years ago that care of the human frame would come to
replace the use of medicine in human ailments. His invention of the electric
light bulb is in every house and business in the modern world. Hopefully one
day his prediction of health giving exercises such as Tai Chi will one day
become as prevalent, solving the current health care crisis and dependence on
drugs. If you would maximize your own health now and head off disabilities
before they start, begin a daily dose of Tai Chi today and everyday.
Most of the above information was
taken from studies listed in the following sites:
