Why should dancers and athletes do tai chi?

Tai chi can help prevent joint, muscle, and spinal injuries and thereby extend an athlete’s peak performance years and prevent lifelong injuries or pain, the practice can also speed up the normal healing time from injuries, so that less training time is missed.

Tai chi increases speed, reflexes, power and endurance.

The slow-motion movements of tai chi calm the mind and help the central nervous system function more smoothly. This improves timing and makes it easier to get what in basketball is termed “being in the zone.” Tai chi’s emphasis on fluidly turning from the hips and waist improves power, balance, and fluidity of motion.

The practice strongly develops whole body coordination, which is key to success to high performance sports and dance. For more details on tai chi and athletics see The Big Book of Tai Chiⁱ.