Freedom from muscular tension gives us health and happiness. Our posture has a direct effect on our mental and emotional states, and serves as an indicator of our psychological state.
In 1973, a Hollander named Tinbergen won the Nobel Prize for studying how posture affects every system of the body. Such as, an imbalance in leg length can change the actions of jaw muscles, causing TMJ. Misalignments can cause depression and other disorders. Since our muscles attach to bones, our skeletal system is only as healthy as the muscle tissues that move it.
The total health of the body depends on the balanced health of all its parts. Despite common perception and practice, even minor chronic aches and pains are not to be ignored. Each piece of the body is custom designed to not only fulfill its own role, but to perfectly complement each piece to which it is connected, and each connected piece in turn to its connections. In this way, the bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and etc. of the body act as a tensegrity model, in which a disturbance in any one area ripples like a wave throughout the whole and affects the health and function of the entire structure.
It is for this reason that it becomes so vitally important to ensure that the whole body is well maintained and kept as balanced as possible. Seemingly inconsequential excess tension in one extremity can tug the whole skeleton out of alignment, and in turn negatively influence the internal organs and systems, which can lead to degeneration and disease.
More medical doctors are now recommending natural healing sciences such as therapeutic bodywork, yoga, and tai chi to prevent and treat imbalances in body systems. These are all powerful and effective treatments to decrease stress, improve circulation, encourage lymphatic flow, improve posture, and help with many chronic diseases.
Tai Chi and other internal martial arts are rooted in the concept of balance. Every movement made takes into consideration not only the obvious motion itself, but also the opposing forces which balance it. When we practice, we learn to be mindful of the entire body as each part works in harmony to create our total being physically and energetically. As we progress, we create within ourselves an ever more perfect tensegrity model from which we gain increasing benefits.
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