Tai Chi for Anxiety: The Value of Holistic Mental Health Therapies

Everyone feels anxious at some point in their lives. According to the Mental Health Foundation, anxiety is a very common emotional state where one might feel various types of unease, from mild to intense, such as feeling worried or fearful.

When anxiety begins to interfere with a person’s thoughts and day-to-day behaviors and functioning, it could lead to the start of an anxiety disorder. Increasingly prevalent, anxiety disorders of many variants impact millions of people every day around the world. 

And though mental health treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy are proven effective at helping anxiety disorders, holistic methods such as tai chi for anxiety help to heal anxiety disorders naturally. Combining gentle movements, deep, controlled breathwork, and mindfulness practices, tai chi is meant to train the mind, body, and spirit how to manage anxiety. 

What Is Tai Chi? 

If you’ve ever seen a tai chi session in a park on a bright, sunny day, it’s quite a sight to see everyone’s super slow, synchronized, and choreographed movements and wonder what it means. Tai chi exercise originated in China around the 17th century as a self-defense martial art and evolved through the centuries into a widely recognized, popular wellness practice. 

Today, about 250 million people around the world practice tai chi. Many forms of meditation involve remaining in a seated position, but tai chi exercise is actually dubbed “meditation in motion.” The low-impact exercise, where you perform several moving physical postures in tandem with deep breaths in a meditative state of mind, is designed to harmonize your qi. 

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), qi (pronounced “chi”) is considered the vital energy that flows through the body, supporting spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical well-being. Central to TCM is the concept of yin and yang — complementary yet contrasting forces that create harmony in life and the universe.  

Tai chi is deeply rooted in this philosophy and is believed to promote the balance of yin and yang in anyone who practices it by facilitating the smooth, unobstructed flow of qi throughout the body — integral to reducing and releasing stress and anxiety. 

What Is Anxiety? 

Anxiety is a natural, normal human response to stress that can stem from a major life change, school or work pressure, a divorce or the end of a meaningful relationship, financial strain, health issues, or a traumatic event. It’s essentially the mind and body’s way of triggering our fight or flight mode, providing a boost of energy to focus and react to a potential threat. 

When anxiety becomes excessive, chronic, and all-consuming, it can take shape as an anxiety disorder when worrisome feelings and fears become so severe that they negatively impact your day-to-day life. In contrast to everyday anxiety, which is temporary and fleeting, an anxiety disorder is persistent, where symptoms, if left untreated, may compound and worsen. 

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America says that anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults a year. There are several types of anxiety disorders, including Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which affects 6.8 million adults, and panic disorder, impacting 6 million adults.  

Common signs and symptoms of anxiety include: 

• Persistent worry 

• Feelings of nervousness, restlessness, or tension 

• Rapid heartbeat or hyperventilation 

• Muscle tension 

• Fatigue 

• Trouble concentrating or focusing on worries 

• Difficulty sleeping 

• Strong urge to avoid anxiety-provoking situations 

Tried, accurate, and proven anxiety disorder treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy can help reframe negative thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors, even in the most serious or debilitating cases of anxiety. However, tai chi for mental health is a holistic option for anyone looking to diminish their anxiety. 

Tai Chi for Mental Health Treatment  

When you stay present, grounded, patient,t and mindful through all the fluid movements it offers, tai chi — which is also an art form unto itself — remains a powerful therapy for one’s overall mental health and well-being because it fully embraces and emphasizes the connection of mindfulness and body awareness. 

What are the tangible results? How does your mental clarity feel after a tai chi session? Studies have shown that the meditative movements of tai chi in tandem with its breathwork impart benefits to one’s psychological well-being, reduces stress and helps to minimize symptoms of anxiety and depression. As a form of meditation for anxiety, tai chi also promotes relaxation and emotional balance, making it an ideal self-remedy for not only anxiety but also making you feel more complete, centered, and whole if you struggle with depression, loneliness, addiction, or other mental health matters. 

Using Tai Chi for Anxiety  

On its own as a mind-body practice or to treat anxiety or as part of an anxiety disorder treatment plan, treating anxiety with tai chi is unique since it offers a blend of qualities not often found together in other modalities, combining the mindfulness and controlled breathing of meditation with the movement of yoga.  

As such, it becomes both a complementary therapy and one that delivers its own valuable benefits to help manage symptoms of anxiety and take charge of your own personal growth. 

How Does Tai Chi Reduce Anxiety? 

Tai chi is powerfully effective at assuaging anxiety because it encourages its practitioners — from beginner to expert — to remain focused on the present moment, paying attention to their precise movements and breathing in every second. 

Anxiety is often rooted in our preoccupations with what has happened in the past and concern over what might or might not happen in the future — but hardly ever about what’s happening in this present moment.  

After one tai chi session, notice how engaged you remain in the current moment. Notice how your mind and body feel refreshed and calmed. Notice how, at least for a while, your anxious feelings don’t have a grip on you.  

There are many reasons why the art of tai chi makes this possible, but here are a few ways it helps to mitigate symptoms of anxiety: 

• Tai chi promotes mindfulness. By redirecting your attention — through movements and breathing in unison — away from anxious thoughts, you become clearly conscious, aware, and free of anxiety, even if temporarily. 

• Tai chi regulates the nervous system. The slow, rhythmic movements of tai chi activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which counteracts that “fight or flight” response often triggered by anxiety. (Studies show that the slowed movements and breath in tai chi may alter the autonomic system and restore homeostasis or internal stability.) 

• Tai chi reduces physical tension. Anxiety often manifests in physical symptoms like muscle tension, shallow breathing, rapid heartbeat, trouble sleeping, and a weakened immune system — all of which can pose further health issues. Tai chi’s gentle movements help to counteract and release some of the pent-up tension from anxiety and lessen some of the outward symptoms you may feel. 

Tai Chi Poses for Anxiety  

Tai chi for anxiety disorders is typically practiced as a flowing sequence of movements, but there are certain distinct poses and techniques effective at relieving anxiety. A typical beginner’s class might involve some of these poses: 

• The commencing form: This foundational pose — arms relaxed at side, feet shoulder width apart — involves slow arm movements, up to shoulder height and then down, with controlled breathing to promote relaxation. 

• The “ward off”: In this pose, you’ll extend one arm forward in a defensive posture, as if to confront your anxiety standing in front of you, followed by a body turn and weight shift to symbolize pushing away negative energy. (This pose can be repeated right and left.) 

• Grasp the bird’s tail: Also called grasp the swallow’s tail, this tai chi movement symbolizes capturing balance and control in the face of challenges. Starting with the defensive ward-off posture, align and connect your hands to represent unity and focus. This signifies letting go of tension or negativity, followed by a deliberate push outward to release and expel anxious energy. 

The Importance of Breathwork and Meditation During Tai Chi 

One key aspect of Chinese medicine is iQigongng (pronounced “chi kung”), and in fact, tai chi is a part of Qigong for its use of integrated movements and controlled breathing. Qigong actually translates to “breath work,” with the goal of calming the busy mind and mobilizing one’s physical energy.  

Combining these aspects of qigong and tai chi offers a full-body approach to holistic treatments for anxiety, as slowing and following one’s breath helps cultivate calm and stability, nurturing qualities that are lost when anxiety makes one’s breathing rapid and heartbeat race.

Concentrating on your posture, movement, grace, and breath during tai chi is to remain mindful and self-aware of your pure self as you ward off and push away anxiety before returning to the center. It is, in essence, a way to remain meditative on the nature of your anxiety, acknowledge it, deflect the energy, and keep moving forward. 

Other Holistic Anxiety Treatments  

Find relief from anxiety through other holistic options for anxiety, either independently as self-remedies for anxiety or in unison with a tai chi practice: 

Yoga 

Like tai chi, yoga, which means “join,” is a Hindu series of exercises intended to promote tranquility, insight, and spirituality, combining posture and poses, gentle stretches, breathing exercises, and mindfulness meditation. Yoga therapy can help you develop more awareness of your thoughts and emotions so you can better cope with the environmental stressors and life circumstances that can contribute to anxiety. 

Massage Therapy  

Another holistic treatment that can help manage anxiety, massage therapy — whether with a certified massage therapist or seated in a zero-gravity massage chair — is used to treat anxiety, helping to relieve muscle tension and promote relaxation to support your overall well-being.  

Find Professional Therapy for Anxiety 

Tai chi, yoga, and other meditative practices handed down for centuries and millennia are highly effective holistic remedies for treating anxiety. As part of a comprehensive treatment plan, find that professional therapy is often necessary if you suffer from severe or chronic anxiety.  

Inpatient Treatment for Anxiety 

Inpatient treatment programs provide a structured, live-in environment where you can devote your full energy and focus on healing and recovery. It’s suited best for those whose addictions or mental health disorders may prevent them from living a functional, independent life. A residential treatment program at a safe, embracing facility may include a combination of evidence-based and holistic therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation, and tai chi, to address both the physical and emotional aspects of anxiety. 

Outpatient Treatment for Anxiety 

Once inpatient treatment comes to a close or, if one’s anxiety disorder doesn’t call for residential treatment, outpatient treatment offers flexibility if you need support but wish to maintain your daily routines, allowing you to return home after treatment during the day so you can tend to work school and family responsibilities. Outpatient treatment includes many of the same programs as a residential inpatient, such as group therapy, individual counseling, and other holistic therapies like activity and adventure therapies. 

Anxiety can make it feel like the world is closing in — like there’s no end in sight to the symptoms of a panic attack or the stress that can invade every aspect of enjoying life or lead to other depressive disorders or addictions linked to anxiety. 

Know that anxiety is something you can control. Honor the power of your voice and begin your journey with us today. If you feel it’s time to get a hold of your anxiety, contact Royal Life Centers by calling directly into admissions or filling out our secure contact form.