
Corporate
Tai-Chi

Art-of-Energetics
offer qualified instructors to teach Tai-Chi and Chi-Kung in the
workplace. Instruction can fit within an organization easily. A class in
the morning before work or lunchtime is recommended.
The
class is one-hour duration and the charge is £50.
A wise company knows that its success is dependent upon its most
valuable resource: its employees. The number of wellness programs
springing up throughout our country’s corporations today is a
testimony to this fundamental truth.
Ironically, the timeless holistic fitness system of Tai-Chi (Taijiquan - T’ai Chi Ch’uan) meets the modern
criteria for keeping all employees healthy in mind, body, and spirit. At
the same time Tai-Chi, translated as “Supreme Ultimate”, complies
with the needs of the bottom line of a company. Taijiquan can be
inexpensively implemented while keeping employee productivity levels
high.
Stress
One of the main problems that companies deal with in the competitive
marketplace is stress on the job. A Newsweek magazine cover story was
devoted to this insidious problem of stress. The article stated that in
the USA stress is costing the “economy as high as $150 billion a
year-almost the size of the federal deficit. “Within the same article
they mentioned that the “Cambridge Research Lab in Boston offers a
class in the oriental art of Taijiquan to help its workers blow off
steam.”
Stress can be a killer and a culprit for disease. It is responsible for
much waste and devastation in our society. Stress also robs us of other
important factors on which companies need to thrive, such as innovation,
flexibility, motivation, endurance, and creativity. The principles of
Tai-Chi are an embodiment of the essentials for achieving success, but
not at the cost of tension or anxiety.
With the reduction of stress, the practice of Tai-Chi has proven to
reduce high blood pressure. In a low bent knee position, Taijiquan has
shown to be a cardiovascular stimulating exercise without stress or
strain on the joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
Ideal for the Workplace
Tai-Chi makes the most practical of choices for fitness in the
workplace, because you are practicing important principles needed for
making clear thinking decisions while at the same time securing a
complete and sensible workout. Taijiquan is based on natural law. The
dynamics of a healthy productive organization incorporates these laws
also. You can avoid burnout through balanced, well thought through
procedures and good defensive and offensive strategies while keeping the
mind and body in a responsive mode.
Tai-Chi and especially Chi-Kung is so simple to incorporate that it is
surprising that more companies have not instituted this sensible program
for keeping their employees fit. On a practical note, there is no need
for expensive gymnasiums, equipment, showers, or uniforms. An employee
can come dressed to work in easy to move in clothing and low flat shoes
the day of Tai-Chi class. A forty-five minute to an hour-long class
refreshes, relaxes, and re- energizes you without the pain or strain of
more bombastic kinds of exercise programs.
In the Organization
An organizational environment is like a microcosm of life. Tai-Chi is
performed solo, but often practiced in-group unison. The company that
has harmony, yet respects the individual, is a desirous place to work.
This “soft martial art” provides a safe activity that promotes these
important aspects for an organization and its people to thrive. There
have been a growing number of places over the last number of years that
have successfully implemented Tai-Chi into their employee wellness
programs. Even the army has joined the act. In the USA The Walter Reed
Army Hospital’s Wellness Centre in Bethesda, MD has taught Tai-Chi
exercises to staff and patients. The goal was “to demonstrate the
importance of using the mind as a therapeutic tool to soften the impact
of stress on the immune system and other body functions. The American
Health magazine article went on to say “the main mission of the Army
corps is to maintain a healthy fighting force. The more we stress
prevention, the closer we get to that goal. “The concept of a strong
self-defence organization parallels the workforce of a company”.