5 benefits of stress management and reasons to do tai chi before you draw your pension

You know you lead a stressful life in Leeds, you have been thinking about adopting a mindfulness practice to manage your stress but you are not sure what method would suit you? Your friends are recommending yoga but you feel bending into strange shapes it is not for you after trying it? You feel intimidated by the idea of sitting meditation because you think you are not allowed to have thoughts or feel you need more movement in your life? Have you thought about trying a form of Tai Chi Qigong?

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Movement is more important than exercise. -Revelation!

Did you know Movement is essential to keeping your body healthy? Pumping of body fluids aids in removal of waste and delivery of nutrients to all tissues, including organs and glands. With lack of movement the body becomes stagnant and toxic. Although you would hope going to the gym after work would keep you healthy, research has shown that taking an exercise class once a day does not suffice in keeping your systems pumping and your body healthy.

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PART-2, tried and tested tips for getting restful sleep and reducing morning stiffness when living with ankylosing spondylitis

Why we need to work on getting better sleep For people with AS it is even more important to be able to sleep because the body needs the time between 10pm/ 2am to repair physically and to sort out thoughts and emotions between 2am and 6am. I generally do not advocate taking any medications, but when things get really bad, an aspirin can save the night allowing a fresh start the next day.

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I didn’t like tai chi…

You go hard in the gym, you party hard and spend more time than 9-5 at work, it is likely that your body is sending you signals pleading for stress management and me time on a regular basis. You think stress management is a waste of time, boring or too spiritual? You haven’t tried the Leeds Tai Chi Body Flow class yet. It works whether you believe in chi/ qi which is described as life energy or vital force or not. All you need to do is join in and breathe you will increase your vitality or chi automatically.

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PART-1, tried and tested tips for getting restful sleep and reducing morning stiffness when living with ankylosing spondylitis

If you suffer with AS, you will be well aware that sleep is essential. Patients with ankylosing spondylitis would probably pay for sleep if you could buy it… Now I am not suggesting taking sleeping pills but it is worthwhile to look at ways of making sleeping more comfortable. I would like to share my personal sleep tuning practices that have helped me get through difficult AS pain times.

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