Tai Chi is good therapy for arthritis; improves strength, balance and flexibility

And the answer is quite simple: because the human body needs to engage in movement in order to be healthy. Tai Chi is simply one way to get people to move their limbs and joints. You could achieve the same effect from any sort of whole body movement, regardless of its name.

Of course, there's far more to real Tai Chi than body movement, but most Americans never get past the body movement part. True Tai Chi isn't about the body, but rather the mind and the spirit. It is fundamentally an energetic art, and the body simply follows the flow of energy. But getting western societies to understand the depth of Tai Chi is simply premature -- most U.S. doctors are still skeptical about the benefits of the physical movement, since they don't seem to believe anything that isn't promoted by the FDA or the American Medical Association. And Tai Chi is definitely not "mainstream medicine."

But it's good medicine. In fact, regular body movement is the foundation of good health. If you don't move it, you'll lose it, and Tai Chi keeps it moving.

Want proof that Tai Chi is good for you? Just look at any 80-year-old who practices Tai Chi on a regular basis. They frequently look decades younger, and they rarely suffer from chronic disease. You don't need a scientific study to see, with your own eyes, that Tai Chi practitioners are the healthiest folks around.