Whether you’re considering trying out a t’ai chi class for the first time or you’re a veteran of t’ai chi, you may be familiar with the idea that t’ai chi helps with mental clarity. It’s something I’ve experienced myself in decades of practicing t’ai chi, and it’s a phenomenon many of my students have reported as well. 

Beyond the anecdotes of mental clarity during and after a session of t’ai chi, there are also various physiological reasons why t’ai chi brings about mental clarity. In this blog, I’ll share several reasons why t’ai chi helps with mental clarity from both a Western and Eastern medicine perspective.

T’ai Chi Promotes Relaxation and Decreases Sympathetic Output

It’s becoming more and more widely accepted and understood that any kind of regular physical activity is vital for mental health. Movement decreases depression, increases endorphins and dopamine, and just generally distracts people from their daily concerns, getting them out of their minds and into their bodies.

While all this is certainly true about t’ai chi, an interesting study published in the National Library of Medicine demonstrated that there might be something special about t’ai chi that elevates practitioners beyond what others experience with other types of activity. 

The study shared, 

“Electroencephalography (EEG) studies of participants undergoing Tai Chi and Qigong exercise have found increased frontal EEG α, β, and θ wave activity, suggesting increased relaxation and attentiveness. These changes have not been present in exercise controls.”

And perhaps the reasons why t’ai chi or qigong practitioners experience more relaxation than other types of exercise include the focus on the breath, slow and controlled movements, and—as we know to be true—the regulation of qi. But more on that later.

The study reported that t’ai chi practitioners experienced decreased sympathetic output. If you need a quick review, your sympathetic nervous system is the part of your nervous system that is in charge of many of the body’s functions that we don’t have to think about, including our fight or flight response. So a decreased sympathetic output as the study showed would certainly allow for more mental clarity.

The study also went on to say, in layperson’s terms, 

“Given the relationship between physical and mental health, general improvements in physical health or reductions of chronic disease symptoms may help to improve mental health. Chronic physical health problems are associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and poor mood.”

So when we practice t’ai chi, we have less stress and anxiety cluttering our thoughts, as well as a decrease in our quickness to have a fight or flight response. All this leads to increased mental clarity.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Explanation for Mental Clarity and T’ai Chi

The mental clarity we experience when we practice t’ai chi doesn’t really need to be explained! If you’re experiencing something good, it’s okay to accept and embrace it. But for those who are curious and want to dive deeper, a Western perspective explains what we experience in the way that I laid out in the previous section. 

However, Traditional Chinese Medicine has its own way of explaining how t’ai chi produces mental clarity. TCM speaks of yin and yang energies, yin being the more passive and accepting energy, and yang being the more action-oriented energy. 

In t’ai chi, we experience a movement of  of yin and yang energies within the body, which is one of the reasons why it is so effective. For mental clarity, yang energy must rise upwardto the head, in the right amount, unimpeded.  The slow, graceful movements of t’ai chi enable this proper flow to take place. This is why students often report feeling refreshed and clear of thought when they complete a round of t’ai chi.

Increase Your Mental Clarity With T’ai Chi and Qigong Classes in Greeley

If you’re craving mental clarity in your life, come check out a t’ai chi or qigong class with me, Sifu Fred, in Greeley, Colorado. Check out the upcoming classes I have taking place at the Family Fun Plex, the Greeley Active Adults Center, and the Greeley Senior Activity Center. In person, you’ll learn even more about the cultivation of qi, yin and yang energies, and experience the benefit of mental clarity yourself!