According to a twenty-year study by Kaiser Permanente,

between seventy and eighty-five percent of illness is

caused by stress, meaning that in the U.S. alone stress is

costing us about one-trillion dollars per year in

healthcare costs. Since most absenteeism is due to stress,

US business is losing upwards of $300 billion per year.

On a more personal level, it is disturbing to realize that

aging is accelerated by stress, and stress is a growing

issue with all of us. Studies show that change is

stressful, even "good" change. So as we computer jockeys

settle into the saddle of a new age of rapidly changing

information, we need an edge that can help us stay healthy,

sane, “younger” and more vibrant, even as we are often at

the very center of the hurricane of modern change, such as

keeping up with new hardware and software.

Ironically an ancient mind/body tool provides the perfect

balm for our generation's modern problems -- it is called

"Tai Chi" (pronounced tie-chee). T'ai Chi is a gentle

series of relaxing motions that cleanse the body's tissue

of accumulated stress and, by doing so, boosts all aspects

of our health systems. According to emerging research

boosting the immune system’s strength dramatically, while

reducing the incidence of depression, anxiety, and even

reducing chronic pain conditions, are just a few of T’ai

Chi’s myriad benefits.

What makes ancient T’ai Chi the perfect modern balm is that

it doesn't require special facilities or clothing, and

doesn't even make you break a sweat, meaning you can do it

in office attire in an empty boardroom just by kicking off

your heels. Yet, it provides the same euphoria of a long

run, the cardiovascular benefit of moderate impact

aerobics, and burns nearly as many calories as downhill

skiing.

Our time is filled with paradox. A problem in this modern

age stems from the great promise of the information age --

a tidal wave of data being created by and offered to our

"left brain"; that part of our minds that is analytical,

calculating, and categorizing the world. Of course, this is

a powerful and important part of who we are. This is the

part of the mind that gets things done, pays the rent,

builds the houses, and makes the cars. Our "right brain,"

however, is getting left behind in our rapidly changing

techno-world, and this imbalance of thought processes is at

the heart of modern stress.

Our right brain is the feeling, smelling, sensing . . .

enjoying part of the mind. This is the part of the mind

that smells the flowers, not to analyze the smell, but to

be filled with its beauty -- and this is the part that has

been left behind in the digital world. When we go to the

cyber mall, for example, our right brain doesn't get to

play. The cyber mall is a wonderful thing that saves us

time, money, and gas for our cars (and thereby saves the

environment), but there are no Auntie Anne's Pretzels to

smell in cyberspace, or warm sunlight streaming in through

the big skylights.

So what do we do? We get the best of both worlds. T'ai Chi

is a series of exercises to balance the mind. T'ai Chi

teaches us to experience life for sheer pleasure, thereby

creating balance in our busy "get things done yesterday"

world. If you learn T'ai Chi and practice in the morning

before you sit down at your computer, your right brain (the

sensing and enjoying brain) will be turned on more. You

will feel the texture of your computer keys. You will

remember to take the time to get a nice cup of green tea or

herbal cinnamon spice tea, and you'll interrupt your

staccato keyboard occasionally to smell the tea's rich

aroma, feel the warmth in your hands, and breathe the

breath of life deeply into your lungs.

Although you are at the cutting edge of the information age

revolution, you are also in the garden of life. This will

give you an edge in the long run. Why? Because chronic

stress diminishes our cognitive skills and therefore, our

creativity.

Einstein said, "Creativity is more important than

knowledge." Even if we have the world's knowledge at our

fingertips, if we are too stressed out to use the knowledge

"creatively,” we are much less effective. Plus, we're not

as much fun!

The bottom line is T'ai Chi is a set of exercises to

practice enjoying life. It's not enough just to say, "I'm

going to enjoy life more." We actually have to practice

mind/body tools that can positively affect our brain wave

activity, in an integrative way, as T'ai Chi is proven to

do.

T'ai Chi is an extremely sophisticated mind/body science

that evolved over millennia, and is now being made

available to all of us after centuries of being closely

guarded secrets in China. Even though the practices are

ancient, they are in many ways just as cutting edge as the

multi-gigabyte computer.

Don't just be "cutting edge" with your left-brain. Go all

the way and stretch the envelope with your right brain,

too, by weaving T'ai Chi into your life. You will be

forever glad you did, as you discover balance and calm in

the eye of the modern world’s ever accelerating storm of

changes rushing at us.