Tai Chi - Health Insurance You Can Afford
/Catchy title huh? I listened to California's Insurance Commissioner on the radio for about 3 minutes this morning. He said California doesn't sell health insurance anymore. The only products available are pre-paid-medical-treatment packages. There are 55 state mandated components of anything sold as health insurance, which sort of makes the insurance part of the package fade into the mist.
I'm not big on selling Tai Chi as a cure-all, but if you practice everyday you've done something positive for your health, something which the health insurance companies have yet to calculate the value of. By practicing everyday you create a standard by which you can measure changes in your experience. Most people don't pay much attention to their health until it is a problem, and they are convinced that paying attention to health is a waste of time and effort. But practicing Tai Chi automatically makes you sensitive to small changes in your health. Of course you can try to ignore them, awareness itself is not a cure, but you are way ahead of the game if you notice small changes in health because the best time to deal with big problems is when they are small.
Something on the order of 2/3rds of all health problems are self-induced by inappropriate conduct. Those problems disappear when you decide not to "go the extra mile," whatever that mile might be. For the other 1/3 of problems, most can be wiped off the list by catching them when they are small. The list of potential health problems got a lot shorter.
The list of things that Tai Chi is supposed to be "good for" will probably grow from time to time, and shrink too. It's probably like the stock market in that way. This week "balance" is up, last week "vision" was up, and next week "mental health" may be down. I can't predict it. As a "stock" Tai Chi will always be a good long term investment but in the short term it's vulnerable to market fluctuations.
Right now my local weekly paper has an ad selling medical marijuana as a cure for anxiety. Somehow I don't believe that. Can you say paranoia? I thought you could!
And Newsweek did an article on the uselessness of anti-depressants. We knew that didn't we?
When I injured my knee a few years back. I never stopped practicing Tai Chi. My knee was bad, so swollen I had to keep it elevated as much as possible for months. I was hopping around on crutches or a cane for weeks. But the whole time I was still able to do Tai Chi. It is easier than walking!
Of course that's only true if you have been studying it for years when you have your injury, or accident, or illness. If you have to learn Tai Chi after you have a problem, that's a whole different can of worms. It still might be a good idea, but it isn't like having insurance. Tai Chi Insurance, that is.
I think we are a long way out from having catastrophic insurance specifically for people who practice Tai Chi everyday, but while I'm waiting for it--I think I'll just keep practicing.
I'm not big on selling Tai Chi as a cure-all, but if you practice everyday you've done something positive for your health, something which the health insurance companies have yet to calculate the value of. By practicing everyday you create a standard by which you can measure changes in your experience. Most people don't pay much attention to their health until it is a problem, and they are convinced that paying attention to health is a waste of time and effort. But practicing Tai Chi automatically makes you sensitive to small changes in your health. Of course you can try to ignore them, awareness itself is not a cure, but you are way ahead of the game if you notice small changes in health because the best time to deal with big problems is when they are small.
Something on the order of 2/3rds of all health problems are self-induced by inappropriate conduct. Those problems disappear when you decide not to "go the extra mile," whatever that mile might be. For the other 1/3 of problems, most can be wiped off the list by catching them when they are small. The list of potential health problems got a lot shorter.
The list of things that Tai Chi is supposed to be "good for" will probably grow from time to time, and shrink too. It's probably like the stock market in that way. This week "balance" is up, last week "vision" was up, and next week "mental health" may be down. I can't predict it. As a "stock" Tai Chi will always be a good long term investment but in the short term it's vulnerable to market fluctuations.
Right now my local weekly paper has an ad selling medical marijuana as a cure for anxiety. Somehow I don't believe that. Can you say paranoia? I thought you could!
And Newsweek did an article on the uselessness of anti-depressants. We knew that didn't we?
When I injured my knee a few years back. I never stopped practicing Tai Chi. My knee was bad, so swollen I had to keep it elevated as much as possible for months. I was hopping around on crutches or a cane for weeks. But the whole time I was still able to do Tai Chi. It is easier than walking!
Of course that's only true if you have been studying it for years when you have your injury, or accident, or illness. If you have to learn Tai Chi after you have a problem, that's a whole different can of worms. It still might be a good idea, but it isn't like having insurance. Tai Chi Insurance, that is.
I think we are a long way out from having catastrophic insurance specifically for people who practice Tai Chi everyday, but while I'm waiting for it--I think I'll just keep practicing.
