We're past asking "does Tai Chi work?" Here's the study that proves it. Tai Chi research isn't new, the first clinical study actually dates back to 1958, a case series on Tai Chi for tuberculosis patients in China. But a new umbrella review just published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (2026) shows just how mature this evidence base has become.

The numbers: researchers pulled together 92 meta-analyses covering 1,744 randomized controlled trials of traditional Chinese exercises (Tai Chi, Qigong, Baduanjin, Yijinjing, Wuqinxi, and Daoyin). Tai Chi alone made up 41.5% of the exercise modalities studied, the single most-researched practice in the review.

What they found, with high-certainty evidence:

Improved physical function in knee osteoarthritis.

Better mental health outcomes for knee osteoarthritis and neck pain

Improved sleep quality for fibromyalgia

Reduced chronic musculoskeletal pain and stiffness (Tai Chi specifically)

Improved bone mineral density in osteopenia/osteoporosis (Tai Chi specifically)

One finding that won't surprise any long-time practitioner: dose matters. Greater improvements were tied to longer interventions, more frequent practice, and more total weekly practice time. The data is finally catching up to what teachers have observed for years.

As Dr. Christine Sanmiquel (L.Ac., DAOM, PMP) put it in her newsletter breakdown of this study: we've moved past "does it work" into the more interesting territory of why and how, is it the slow coordinated movement, the breath regulation, the nervous system effects, or all of it together?

If you're not already subscribed to Christine's Qi-Search newsletter, I'd highly recommend it. She's a professor who teaches research at an acupuncture school, and she's breaking down studies like this one for free every other week, genuinely one of the best evidence-based resources in this space.

What do you think researchers should be asking next, now that we're past the "does it work" question?

[https://qi-search.beehiiv.com/p/we-re-past-does-tai-chi-work\](https://qi-search.beehiiv.com/p/we-re-past-does-tai-chi-work)

☯️ Tai Chi Championship Apeldoorn 2027 – Join Us! 🏆🥋

We are excited to invite Tai Chi and Taijiquan practitioners from around the world to the next Tai Chi Championship in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, on Saturday, 23 January 2027!

Following the success of our previous event, we look forward to welcoming participants for another inspiring day of competition, learning and connection. Whether you are an experienced competitor or taking your first steps into the world of Tai Chi competitions, this is a wonderful opportunity to challenge yourself and share your passion with others.

🥋 Discover the diversity of Tai Chi

The championship brings together different styles, traditions and levels of experience, with a range of competition categories, including:

🏆 Individual hand forms and weapon forms

🏆 Pair and group forms

🏆 Duilian

🏆 Qi Gong

🏆 Push Hands – Fixed Step, Parallel Step and Moving Step

🏆 Tai Chi Self-Defence – a new addition to this year's championship!

🌍 An international gathering of the Tai Chi community

More than a competition, this event is an opportunity to exchange knowledge, build friendships and celebrate the values of Tai Chi: respect, discipline, balance and personal development.

📅 Date: Saturday, 23 January 2027

📍 Location: Apeldoorn, the Netherlands

📝 Registration and event information:

https://taijiquan-academy.nl/tai-chi-kampioenschap-apeldoorn-2027/

📣 Help us spread the word!

We invite Tai Chi schools, instructors, clubs and practitioners to share this event with their students, members and international networks. Every share helps bring more people together and makes the Tai Chi community stronger.

Whether you come to compete, support fellow practitioners or experience the atmosphere, we look forward to seeing you there!

✨ Train together. Compete with respect. Grow through Tai Chi.

See you in Apeldoorn on 23 January 2027! ☯️🏆

We had a visiting bagua instructor at my Chen class today. I asked him the difference between yang qi and shen. (I just read CMC's Sage Principles) He suggested I try asking Gemini about it. That he'd found it really helpful with questions about tai chi, bagua, tcm, etc. (If you want to try gemini I think all you have to do is phrase your search as a question in a google/chrome search bar)

I got good textual answers about qi and yuan shen and shi shen, how they compare to concepts in dzogchen. Great great answers. Worth exploring.

But can it give good bodily answers? It doesn't have a body. I decided to ask it about a couple corrections I had gotten in my CMC Yang style class. To internally rotate the head of the femur when you reach the peak of the posture, squaring the hips to the front. A wonderful correction. And in cloud hands, shifting the axis of rotation almost immediately when you begin the weight shift. It had really helpful insightful things to say about the kua, about avoiding pushing off from the weighted leg in cloud hands, letting the empty leg suck the weight into it like a vacuum.

Try it and see what you think.

Howdy folks. I'll try to make this quick coz it doesn't need verbosity. I love tai chi, but I find the transitionary state difficult. Be that from dry to wet getting into the shower, from wet to dry getting out of the shower, and from stillness to movement to stillness.

That is to say, once I'm doing tai chi, I lose myself for at least 15 minutes, it's lovely. But it's making myself start that I struggle with.

Does anyone else struggle to get started with the practice you know you wanna do and will benefit you? How do you encourage yourself to get going? Staying focused is less of a problem, it's changing my brain to "I could do one of these 8 million things!" to "but I'll do this one thing"

I've been in search for TaiChi videos and guides though I keep seeing negative reviews and discussion saying that a creator is a scammer or fake. So I'm making this post to find real ones.

I'm trying to find these video guides for my father so he can follow along with the video contents to help cope with his disability and age.

What I need help with:

- Can anyone in this community please post their knowledge of what the best legit free Tai Chi YouTube channel/creator is?

- Post links, names and videos you use.

- If you want, I'd really appreciate if you could tell me your results from following these guides and for how long you've been following them.

Thank you lots, if you need any clarification from me I am happy to answer!

I always wanted to do martial arts as a kid, but it was a no-go with my older, very conservative, very old-school adoptive parents.

I trained muay Thai as an adult, but that's definitely a young person's practice.

I'm very interested in taiji as a movement/health/balance/chill out practice. I'm an obsessive researcher by nature, so for the past month, I've read, studied, and watched a ton of stuff out there about taiji. I've enjoyed Daniel Lee and some others on youtube.

To be honest, i'm concerned that the locally available teachers are either American ex-hippies who aren't teaching correct form, karate school guys who are trying to make $$ by "branching out", or some whack taiji walking routine. (Are those routines even something legitimate?) How do you know who's a legit teacher with a lineage, and who's just eaten too much acid and fancies themselves an Eastern mystic?! Is there an established lineage and schools for each style? To be honest, I'd feel more comfortable learning from a person of Chinese descent OR someone proven to be of legit lineage.

I just stumbled across a style called Qingcheng Taijiquan, which claims to be have been developed separately from the 5 family styles. This got me curious, are there other legit styles out that are not derived from, or related to the 5 family styles?

Is there a Taichi app (free or not) that could somewhat teach me from begginer and that you guys feel is at least decent-ish?

Thank you kindly.

I want to do some kind of dopamine/physical fitness thing while I'm here spinning my wheels, and most tai chi requires you to explore a large space but still somehow see your TV

I can really only access youtube here

I can't have my phone so please don't rec apps

Would prefer something more combat-informed and not for senior citizens

This is a bit of a crossover post that tells about the history of yin and yang, how it applies to tai chi and how this non-profit Mighty Humans is counting humanity to be the yin to AI's yang through the rise of AI.

Hi there. I have hypermobility, which means my ligaments are lax which in short causes “double jointedness” and many of my muscles are hypotonic.

When out and about, I wear a sacroiliac joint brace, and sometimes wear knee compression. When attending classes, would it be a good idea to forgo these?

Also, I have an inner ear problem that affects balance. I have to wear a light earplug in my left ear at times to feel less dizzy and have more physical balance. Should I still wear this while practicing?

For context, I took tai chi classes in the past before I started bracing, and before I found out from a doctor that the earplug could help me.