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plus they build up over time. Knowledge, ability and skill are cumulative with time and effort. This is known as one’s “gong Fu.”
Six ways Tai Chi and Qigong Effect Brain Function Rhythmic and synchronous movements train the brain:
The first two, rhythmicity, and second, synchronicity, have been linked to brain activation during memory acquisition and learning, as well as neural information coding, growth and development, states of consciousness, perception and awareness, locomotion, autonomic function, neural repair, and rehabilitation. That’s a long list, but all you really need to know in order to begin is Tai Chi and Qigong movements are repetitive and rhythmic and slow motion. Slow, precise motion trains the brain for fast motion.
One of the hallmarks of Tai Chi is the practice of “silk reeling” which is a training where all the joints of the body are coordinated to perform in a spiraling synchrony. The biomechanics at each joint are integrated with all other joints, and the force is generated from the ground. Practice trains the bone, tendon, ligaments, joints to be “connected” like a single snake. And through a special form of stretching in Tai Chi, the combined muscle force/activation patterns produce whole-body superior power without muscle.
Communication between distant brain areas is important for integration of complex information to adapt to changes in the environment and to generate appropriate responses necessary for successful behavior in daily life. Through numerous experiments, it has been established that cortical neurons strengthen their connections by repeated stimulation and synchronous activation — this is called ‘Hebb's Rule,' commonly stated as “neurons that fire together, wire together.”
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