In the ongoing absurdity of our culture department, Peloton stock took a steep dive when the Sex and the City reboot had a main character suffer a fatal heart attack after working out on one of their high-end exercise machines.
While Peloton doesn’t need me to defend it. I will say that its trials in the stock market speak to multiple serious issues in our money centered, self-indulgent culture. This relates to Tai Chi because you can learn Tai Chi inexpensively and practice it for the rest of your life with quite literally just the clothes on your back. No special equipment needed or even desired. Sure subscribe to a class to learn the principles and moves. But Tai Chi works when you break away from your screen. It’s best practiced alone in nature.
In what world does an exercise machine get blamed for a heart attack? How does the medical advisor to that exercise company even have to defend exercise? Dr. Steinbaum, a cardiologist and member of Peloton’s Health & Wellness Advisory Council, said that “more than 80 percent of all cardiac-related deaths are preventable” through “lifestyle, diet and exercise” changes.
The Cleveland clinic puts the percentage at 90%. Tai Chi won’t change your diet on its own but it promotes self-awareness, the kind of awareness that helps you feel the emotions that drive your urges. That can help you eat better, eat less and eat right. Since weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise, in many ways Tai Chi is best way to lose weight for the rest of your life.
Tai Chi is also well known to be a very gentle and moderate exercise – exactly the kind of exercise that sustains longevity and heart health.
Learning Tai Chi takes discipline and dedication. It requires patience both when learning and in the everyday practice. Tai Chi is counterintuitive to our fast-paced world. That’s exactly why I have practiced it every day for over 30 years. It’s why I created Tai Chi Chuan For Everyone at taichiclass.org. It’s free to try.