Function Over Form: What Your Walk Reveals About Your Health

There's something you can learn about a person just by watching them cross the street.

Not their posture or whether their spine looks perfectly stacked or their shoulders are squared.

What you're actually watching for is whether the whole thing moves together, whether there's a quiet rhythm to it, a coordination that happens without them thinking about it.

Some people have it, even if their structure looks far from perfect on paper. And some people don't, even though they look completely fine standing still.

That gap, between how the body looks and how the body actually works, is at the heart of what these ancient Chinese practices like Qi Gong, Ba Gua and Tai Chi are designed to address.

The Insight That Changes Everything

I've been spending time recently assisting at an acupuncture clinic upstate, working alongside a colleague who has been in clinical practice for close to two decades. We're treating patients back to back with acupuncture, Tui Na, Qi Gong, herbs, and qi gong exercises sent home with people as their physical therapy homework. It's a busy, thriving practice, and watching him work is amazing.

At one point during a session, he said something to a patient that stopped me mid-thought.

Function over form.

Three words. And they cut through about ninety percent of the confusion people carry about their bodies, about pain, about why certain things have stopped working the way they used to.

We've been conditioned, by fitness culture, by medicine, even by the way we talk about the body, to measure health by how things look. If a spine looks straight, it must be healthy. If posture looks good, the body must be working well. If an injury looks healed on an MRI, the problem must be gone.

But the body doesn't actually work that way, and these practices have always known it.

What My Teacher Tom Bisio Teaches About Integration

Tom Bisio, whose work sits at the foundation of everything I teach, addresses this directly in A Tooth from the Tiger's Mouth.

When he talks about recovering from injury, the goal isn't simply getting a body part to look right again, it's getting it to function in harmony with the rest of the body.

He makes the observation that injuries often create a break in the connection between the injured area and the whole. An injured knee becomes "my bad knee," something separate, something other. And that separation, even after the tissue heals, is where dysfunction lives.

Real recovery, real rehabilitation, stops that separation and it restores integration.

That's a fundamentally different way of thinking about the body than most people are used to. It's not about fixing a part- It's about restoring the whole.

This’s exactly why Qi Gong, Nei Gong, Tai Chi and Ba Gua Zhang take the approach they do.

Instead of simply targeting individual muscles or correcting isolated structural problems, these arts work to restore the inner coordination that should be running quietly in the background every time you move.

In one of Toms programs, Tian Gan Nei Gong he teaches that physical therapy and massage can relieve pain and restore movement potential, but they often don't restore the neuro-muscular wiring that generates proper internal movement. Without that restoration, some of the dysfunction remains.

This can go on for a lifetime, and often does.

Your Gait Is a Window Into Everything

Of all the ways to observe whether that integration is actually happening, gait, the simple act of walking, is one of the clearest.

Think about what a single step is supposed to involve. When the body is working correctly, a step isn't just a foot touching the ground. The whole spine rotates gently with each stride. The tissues breathe, blood and fluids move through areas that would otherwise stagnate, circulation reaches into the corners of the body that sitting all day has cut off.

There is, when everything is communicating, a symphony of movement that unfolds with every step, and you don't have to think about it at all.

But when that integration breaks down, whether from old injury, chronic tension, years of compensatory patterns, or simply from the disconnected way most of us have learned to live in our bodies, the step becomes mechanical. Parts move, but the whole doesn't.

You can see it, and more importantly, you can feel it.

What Ba Gua Zhang Research Actually Shows

In The Art of Ba Gua Zhang, Tom cites research comparing longtime Ba Gua practitioners to healthy non-practitioners doing the same exercise. Twelve minutes of quick walking.

The results were impressive. The Ba Gua group walked faster, with lower heart rates and lower blood pressure. Not because they were more fit in the conventional sense, but because decades of practice had cultivated a different quality of movement at the deepest level.

The research also found that Ba Gua circle walking burns significantly more calories than normal walking, because the rotational, spiral nature of the movement engages the entire body in a way that ordinary linear walking just doesn't.

Tom also describes how the slow, deliberate Mud Walking Step of Ba Gua (similar to Tai Chi walking) practice fully engages the body in controlling weight shifts from foot to foot, aligning the joints of the lower leg, and forging a connection all the way up through the body's energy centers in the Dantian and Mingmen (the lower basin of the torso.)

The body isn't just moving, it's communicating with itself.

That's function from the inside out.

Why Form So Often Follows Function (Not the Other Way Around)

Here's the thing that surprises people when they first start working with these practices..

You don't need your body to already look a certain way to benefit. You don't need perfect posture going in. You don't need a structurally ideal body, or a clean bill of health, or anything resembling what "correct" is supposed to look like.

What the internal arts work on is the restoration of coordination, of inner communication, of the self-organizing intelligence the body has always had access to.

Through self-observation, through breath, through the kind of relaxed, focused attention that Qi Gong and Nei Gong cultivate, the body begins finding its way back. Not because you forced it into the right shape, but because you gave it the conditions to remember how to work.

As an example, the Tian Gan Nei Gong system works specifically with the natural spiral movement patterns that run throughout the body. Injury and aging can reduce or even eliminate these spirals, leading to dysfunctional movement that both creates and maintains patterns of pain, reduced flexibility, and reduced range of motion. Tian Gan exercises restore those patterns, not by overriding the body, but by teaching it to move correctly again, from the inside.

And when function returns, form often follows on its own.

Posture improves because the body is actually integrated, not because someone told it to stand up straight. The gait becomes fluid because the whole system is communicating, not because any single part was corrected. The symphony returns.

This Is Original Functional Medicine

There's a lot of talk today about "functional medicine," and most of it is fine. But the principles these Chinese arts operate on are the original version, refined over centuries of clinical observation and practice. The idea that the body is an organic whole, that no part can truly be treated in isolation from the rest, that restoring function is both the goal and the measure of health, none of that is new. It's just that we drifted away from it.

Watching patients move through that upstate clinic and the people I work with in my classes and teaching one on one, watching them arrive guarded and leave lighter, watching the body respond to intelligent, integrated care, it's a reminder of what these practices have always been about. Not perfection or performance but function.

If something isn't working the way it should, the question isn't always what does it look like? The better question is, is it connected? Is it communicating? Is the whole thing moving together?

Start Working With This

If any of this is ringing true, the good news is you don't have to wait until something breaks down to start. Qi Gong, Nei Gong, Ba Gua Zhang and Tai Chi are all accessible practices that meet you where you are and build from there.

My classes at in Greenwich Village, New York City are a good place to begin. Private sessions are also available if you want more personalized attention.

Jonathan is the founder of Root of Movement Internal Arts and teaches Ba Gua Zhang, Qi Gong, and Internal Martial Arts at The Qi Center in New York City. He studied under Tom Bisio, whose books A Tooth from the Tiger's Mouth and The Art of Ba Gua Zhang are cited throughout this post.

1,744 Clinical Trials Later, Science Finally Has an Answer About Tai Chi

This is pretty cool, and I think it's worth talking about in detail.

A study was just published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine and it's the largest review of its kind ever conducted on traditional Chinese exercises. Here's what it actually looked like - 92 meta-analyses, data from 1,744 randomized controlled clinical trials, 547 unique outcome measurements across 10 categories of musculoskeletal conditions.

Researchers called it an "umbrella review," which is the highest level of evidence synthesis that exists in research. You're not looking at one study, you're looking at a study of studies, of studies.

It's about as thorough as it gets!

Their conclusion was that traditional Chinese exercises like Tai Chi, Qigong, Baduanjin, Yijinjing, and Wuqinxi, produce what researchers call "high-certainty evidence" of real benefit.

That's the top rating in the GRADE framework, the gold standard for evaluating medical evidence.

High certainty means the evidence is strong enough that further research is very unlikely to change the conclusion.

So what did that high-certainty evidence actually show?

• Tai Chi significantly reduced pain across multiple musculoskeletal conditions.

• It improved physical function in people with knee osteoarthritis, measured on two of the main clinical tools used in orthopedic medicine, the WOMAC scale and the SF-36.

• It improved mental health in people with knee osteoarthritis and neck pain.

• It improved sleep quality in people with fibromyalgia.

• And it increased bone mineral density at multiple weight-bearing sites in people with osteopenia and osteoporosis.

Overall, 72% of the 547 associations studied showed statistically significant benefit. More than half of those were significant at the highest statistical threshold.

That's not a trend, that's a pattern!

The researchers also found some things that I think are really worth noting.

• Tai Chi outperformed aerobic exercise for fibromyalgia.

• It offered quicker pain relief and better patient adherence than education-based approaches for knee osteoarthritis.

• And the mechanisms they identified for why this works are interesting: the slow, controlled movements build lower-limb strength, balance, and proprioception through neuromuscular adaptation, while the breathing and meditative components actually reduce inflammatory markers, specifically TNF-α and IL-6, and modulate the stress response.

• The body and mind aren't being trained separately. They're being trained together, which is why the effects show up across physical, psychological, and sleep-related outcomes at the same time.

Now here's the thing about dosage, because this is where people often fall short…

Maximum benefits came from practicing at least 3 times a week, 150 or more minutes per week, for 6 months or longer. But the subgroup analyses also showed that even short-term, lower-frequency practice produced real, clinically meaningful results. Even 1 to 2 sessions per week showed significant improvements for knee osteoarthritis.

So there's essentially no excuse not to start. The practice compounds and starting matters more than starting perfectly.

The paper concluded that these exercises represent "a safe, accessible and cost-effective strategy" that should be formally integrated into clinical guidelines and rehabilitation programs worldwide.

The truth is, studies like this, although maybe not at this scale, have been showing the efficacy of these practices for decades. This one just happens to be the most comprehensive synthesis ever done, and it lands at a moment when 1.69 billion people worldwide are living with musculoskeletal conditions.

Low back pain alone is the leading cause of disability in 160 countries. These aren't fringe problems, they're the most common chronic conditions on planet earth.

And for most people dealing with them, the options they've been given are medications, procedures, and physical therapy focused on isolated mechanical fixes.

What this research confirms is that a practice rooted in whole-body integration, breath, and movement produces real, measurable clinical outcomes across a remarkable range of conditions.

I came to these practices through wrist pain that nothing else could touch. Two surgeries, years of treatment. What finally changed things for me wasn't another procedure, tt was learning to move in a way that made sense to the whole system. That understanding came from these arts, from the Chinese medicine principles that underlie everything we do at Root of Movement.

This is what we do. Not just as a supplement to real healthcare, as a real, evidence-based healthcare strategy.

If you want to explore what that looks like in practice, in your body, for your specific situation, that's what we're here for.

Why Ba Gua Zhang, Qi Gong, and Nei Gong Have No Ceiling

Last month I had a realization about a movement I've done thousands of times. Something I technically "learned" in my very first year of practice.

Except I didn't really learn it then. I just scratched the surface of it. And last month, after all these years, I finally caught a glimpse of what's underneath that surface. And there's more underneath that. And more underneath that.

I've been practicing internal arts for almost 20 years. My teacher has practiced for over 40. His teacher longer than that. None of them ever arrived at a point where they said, "Okay, I've got this. Time to move on." Because that moment doesn't come. Not because you're not progressing, but because the practice doesn't have a ceiling.

The Cycle Most People Are Stuck In

Most hobbies and activities have a ceiling. You get good at them, you plateau, you've learned what there is to learn, and then you're either maintaining or getting bored. So you quit, or you go looking for something new to chase. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does mean most people are always starting over.

I've watched this happen with students who come to class from other backgrounds. They're used to that cycle of learning something, getting decent at it, hitting the wall, moving on. So when they start Ba Gua Zhang or Qi Gong, they keep waiting for the moment when they've "got it." When they can check the box and feel like they've arrived somewhere.

The truth is that box never gets checked. And once you understand why, it changes everything.

What the Tradition Actually Teaches

This isn't a limitation of the practice, it's a feature, and the tradition has been pointing at it for centuries.

In Ba Gua Zhang, the foundational practice of circle walking is described as continuously tapping an inexhaustible potential for transformation and change, with cyclical revolutions that have no beginning or end. Each circle builds on the last. The basic skills of stepping and turning are said to create "1,000 changes and 10,000 transformations." That's not poetry. That's practitioners across generations documenting what actually happens when you commit to going deep into something rather than wide.

In the Tian Gan Nei Gong manual writen by my teacher, Tom Bisio, is equally direct about this. It instructs students to view their practice as an evolutionary process, where your understanding on any given day might be completely different than your understanding a week, a month, or a year later. Even the masters kept changing. Chinese teachers would make subtle adjustments to the same exercises over 15 to 20 years, not because they'd been doing it wrong, but because their internal perception of the exercises kept deepening and evolving. They encouraged students to evolve right along with them.

There is no external standard of perfect performance you're measuring yourself against. The practice lives inside you and it keeps growing with you.

The Russian Nesting Doll Problem

Think of it like those Russian nesting dolls. You open one, there's another inside. Open that one, another inside. Except in these practices, you never get to the last one and find it empty. There's always something more.

This is exactly what happened to me last month with that movement. What I thought I understood about it in year one was real, but it was the outermost layer. What I understand now is real too, but it's just the next (or several) layers in. And I can already sense that there's more beyond where I currently am.

That's not frustrating. It's genuinely one of the most exciting things about this work. The depth is inexhaustible.

Depth Over Width

Most of us have been conditioned to accumulate. More skills, more knowledge, more certifications, more things. Always going wider, and there's a place for that. But there's another way of growing that our culture almost never talks about, and that's going deeper into the same thing.

Qi Gong, Ba Gua Zhang, Nei Gong, and Tai Chi are all built on this principle. These aren't practices you master and move past. They're practices that keep meeting you where you are, at every stage of life, and keep revealing more the longer and more sincerely you practice.

The tradition says this kind of practice method may seem slow, but in reality it is fast.

Natural development, like a plant growing, happens in small steps at the right time. You can't pull on the rice shoots to make them grow faster. You just show up, practice sincerely, and let the thing develop the way it's meant to.

Why This Makes It Sustainable for a Lifetime

This is also what makes internal arts different from almost anything else out there when it comes to longevity. You're not constantly chasing new things or burning energy starting over. You're going deeper into the same thing, and the deeper you go, the more you realize how much is actually there.

Once you stop expecting the ceiling you can start appreciating the depth. Because you realize you've found something that doesn't expire, something that will keep challenging you, keep rewarding your attention, and keep giving back as long as you keep showing up.

Most people spend their lives going wider, this is an invitation to go the other direction.

Come check out a class or start training with me privately. You're not looking for something to master - you're looking for something that grows with you.

Talk soon,

Jonathan

Root of Movement Internal Arts

Root of Movement Internal Arts offers weekly classes in New York City and private 1-on-1 sessions in person and online. Jonathan teaches Ba Gua Zhang, Qi Gong, Nei Gong, Tai Chi and Internal Martial Arts, making ancient Daoist longevity practices accessible to everyday people.

How Posture, Movement, and Breath Affect Your Body, a Beginner's Guide to Qi Gong & Nei Gong

I want to talk about something that I think gets overlooked way too often. How you carry yourself through this world is pretty much the foundation of everything. How you feel day to day, how your body functions, and honestly what you're even capable of doing.

If you've ever wondered whether practices like Qi Gong or Nei Gong could actually help you feel better in your body, this is for you.

And you don't need any experience to start!

You're Not Broken, You Might Just Be Disconnected

Here's the thing that took me a long time to really understand…

Posture and movement and breath aren't things you practice for thirty minutes and then stop and go on with your day.

They're things you're already doing all day long whether you're thinking about them or not.

You're standing, you're moving, you're breathing, every single moment, so the question I like to ask is this.

What if instead of treating your body like it's broken and needs to be fixed in some appointment once a week, you started to see that you're not broken at all.

You're likely just a little disconnected, and the good news is that connection can be relearned.

What Makes These Practices Different

What I teach comes from Traditional Chinese Martial Arts and Chinese Medicine.

One of the things that drew me to these practices in the first place is that they're principle based.

Meaning you're not just memorizing a bunch of exercises and movements that you'll forget the second you walk out the door.

You're actually learning how your body wants to move.

How to find your center(s) and move from it/them.

How to feel more balanced and more mobile and more at home in yourself.

And once you understand the principles you can apply them to everything you already do.

A Quick Look at Qi Gong, Nei Gong, Tai Chi, and Ba Gua Zhang

If you're new to all of this the names can feel a little intimidating, so let me break them down simply.

Qi Gong is a gentle practice of coordinated movement and breath that helps you build energy and calm the body.

Nei Gong goes a little deeper into the internal work, training the connections inside the body that most of us never learned to feel.

Tai Chi is the slow flowing practice a lot of people have seen in the park, and it teaches balance, relaxation, and moving from your center.

And Ba Gua Zhang is a profound internal martial art that builds mobility, coordination, and an intrinsic, grounded kind of strength.

They all live under the same umbrella of internal arts, and they all come back to the same foundation, how you stand, move, and breathe.

Who This Is For

I think that's the part that gets me excited. Because whether you're somebody who's dealing with pain right now and looking to heal, or somebody who feels good but wants to stay that way and prevent injury down the road, or somebody who just wants to keep cultivating strength and vitality for the long haul so you can keep doing the things you love for as long as you choose, it all comes back to the same place. Your center, and how you stand and move and breathe.

Come Practice With Us in NYC

If any of this resonates with you I'd love for you to come check out the schedule and find a class that feels right. We teach Qi Gong, Nei Gong, Tai Chi, and Ba Gua Zhang right here in New York City and online. There's a few different options and they all live under the same umbrella. You don't need any experience and you don't need to know anything about these arts going in. You just need to show up and be willing to listen to your body a little more closely than you're used to.

Come stand tall, move freely, and breathe deep with us.

New Research Confirms: Qigong Is the Most Effective Mind-Body Practice for Depression and Sleep Quality

I've been teaching Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and Ba Gua Zhang for over a decade here in New York and online.

And I can't tell you how many times someone has asked me: "Does this actually work? Or is it just... relaxing?"

It’s a fair question.

Especially when you're dealing with real issues like chronic insomnia, anxiety that won't quit, depression that makes getting out of bed feel impossible.

You want evidence, not just anecdotes.

Well, now we have it!

A major study just published in Frontiers in Public Health (March 2026) analyzed 27 randomized controlled trials with nearly 3,000 participants.

The researchers compared five different mind-body therapies - Qigong, Tai Chi, Baduanjin, Yoga, and Yijinjing - to see which ones were most effective for anxiety, depression, and sleep quality.

The results?

• Qigong ranked #1 for depression (SUCRA score: 95.0%)

• Qigong ranked #1 for sleep quality (SUCRA score: 90.5%)

• Yoga ranked #1 for anxiety (SUCRA score: 89.0%)

But here's what really matters:

All of these practices, including Tai Chi and Ba Gua, showed significant benefits across all three outcomes.

And this isn't just about college students (though that's who the study focused on).

Research has consistently shown these benefits extend across age groups, from young adults to people in their 70s and 80s.

And I see it every week in my classes.

What This Study Actually Measured

Let's get specific.

The researchers didn't just ask people "do you feel better?"

They used standardized clinical assessments:

• Depression: Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), symptom checklists

• Anxiety: Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SRAS), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)

• Sleep Quality: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)

These are the same tools doctors and psychologists use to diagnose and track mental health conditions.

And the results were clear:

For depression, Qigong was significantly more effective than the control group.

It was also significantly better than both Yoga and Baduanjin.

For sleep quality, both Qigong and Baduanjin significantly outperformed the control group.

For anxiety, Yoga led the pack, but Qigong, Tai Chi, and Baduanjin all showed significant improvements.

Why Qigong Works (And What Makes It Different)

Here's what I tell students when they ask what makes Qigong different from other exercise:

Most exercise is about external force, lifting heavier, running faster and pushing harder.

Qi Gong is about integration.

You're not isolating muscle groups or trying to "work hard."

You're learning to move as a connected whole, breath, structure, intention, and movement all synchronized.

The researchers in this study pointed to several mechanisms:

1. Nervous System Regulation

Qi Gong modulates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This is your body's stress response system.

When this system is dysregulated (which happens with chronic stress, anxiety, and depression), your cortisol levels stay elevated, your sleep suffers, and your mood tanks.

Qigong helps reset this system.

2. Neurotransmitter Balance

The slow, controlled movements combined with focused breathing affect monoamine neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine.

These are the same pathways targeted by antidepressant medications, but without the side effects.

3. Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)

BDNF is like fertilizer for your brain. It helps neurons grow and form new connections.

Low BDNF is associated with depression. Exercise increases it, but Qigong, with its combination of movement, breath, and focused attention, appears to be particularly effective.

4. Inflammation Reduction

Chronic inflammation is increasingly recognized as a factor in depression.

Mind-body practices like Qi Gong and Tai Chi have been shown to reduce inflammatory markers like TNF-α and IL-1β which are are essentially your body’s fire alarms. Kind of like loud emergency sirens that go off to warn everyone there’s trouble and call in help.

They’re great when there’s a real fire (like an infection), but if they keep ringing too long, they can cause chaos.

Now, here's the important part:

None of the studies in this meta-analysis actually measured these biomarkers.

The researchers are pointing to these mechanisms based on other research, offering a theoretical explanation for why Qigong works so well.

But you don't need to understand the neuroscience to benefit from the practice.

You just need to do it!

What I See in My Classes

The research validates what I see every week.

One student came to me dealing with chronic insomnia and anxiety. Doctors had prescribed sleep medication, but she didn't want to rely on it long-term.

After about a year of daily Qi Gong practice she said.

"I finally understand how to breathe and my breathing is so much deeper. In just a year, so much has changed in my body and my relationship to my holding patterns."

Another student had been dealing with depression for years. Medication helped, but he wanted something more.

"I was in constant pain from an old neck injury. Acupuncture and Western doctors gave me some temporary relief. But now after practicing Qi Gong for the past few months, I rarely think about my neck. Beyond that, it released tension I didn't know was there."

Notice what he said at the end: "released tension I didn't know was there."

That's the thing about these practices.

You don't realize how much you're holding on to physically, mentally, emotionally, until you start to let it go.

Tai Chi and Ba Gua: Different Expressions, Same Principles

The study looked at Qigong, Tai Chi, and Baduanjin as separate practices.

And technically, they are.

But they're all rooted in the same principles:

• Whole-body integration

• Breath connection

• Internal alignment

• Mind-intention (where your mind goes, your energy follows)

Tai Chi emphasizes flowing, continuous movement. It's often described as meditation in motion.

The study showed Tai Chi significantly improved all three outcomes, anxiety, depression, and sleep quality compared to control groups.

Ba Gua Zhang (which wasn't included in this particular study, but has been validated in other research) uses circular walking and constant directional changes.

It's particularly effective for people who need something more dynamic, more engaging.

One student described it this way:

"My relationship to my body has changed immensely. I feel stronger, more resilient, and have greater awareness of my body's structural integrity, balance, and my connection to my center of balance."

The practice that works is the one you'll actually do!

Some people resonate more with Tai Chi's flowing forms. Others prefer Ba Gua's circular footwork and constant change. Some need the stillness of standing Qi Gong to start.

But the underlying mechanisms, the nervous system regulation, the breath work, the whole-body integration are the same.

Why This Matters Beyond College Students

The study focused on college students aged 18-29.

But the benefits aren't limited to that age group.

Other research has shown these practices are effective across the lifespan:

A Beijing study found elderly Ba Gua practitioners had better bone density, joint mobility, lung capacity, muscle strength, and balance than healthy retirees who just walked regularly.

Multiple studies have shown Tai Chi reduces fall risk in older adults by improving proprioception (your sense of where you are in space) and leg strength.

Qigong has been shown to improve symptoms in people with chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and other conditions that often include depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances.

I've worked with students from their 20s to their 80s.

And the 70 and 80-year-olds often progress faster than the 30-year-olds.

Why?

Because they're not trying to force anything. They're not in a rush. They understand that this is a practice, not a performance.

What Makes These Practices Different From Other Exercise

Here's what the research makes clear:

Mind-body therapies like Qigong, Tai Chi, and Ba Gua aren't just gentle exercise.

They're fundamentally different from conventional fitness.

Conventional exercise:

• Focuses on isolated muscle groups

• Emphasizes force and intensity

• Often increases cortisol (stress hormone) in the short term

• Can be hard on joints and connective tissue

Mind-body practices:

• Focus on whole-body integration

• Emphasize efficiency and alignment over force

• Reduce cortisol and regulate the stress response

• Protect and restore joint function

One student who works an extremely demanding job told me:

"I'm constantly busy and my mind is always racing. The way the material is presented allows me to focus on my movements and breath, which carries over to the rest of my day. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to feel better, more focused, and more balanced."

That carryover effect is what makes these practices so valuable from my perspective.

You're not just exercising for 30min and then going back to your stressed-out life.

You're retraining your nervous system, changing your relationship to stress and learning to move and breathe in a way that supports mental and physical health.

The Problem With "Just Try Yoga"

Now, the study did show yoga ranked #1 for anxiety.

And that's great. Yoga is obviously a unbelievably valuable practice.

But here's what I want you to understand:

The study compared these practices in isolation. Yoga vs. Qigong vs. Tai Chi.

In reality, the best approach is often integrative.

I teach Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and Ba Gua because they complement everything else people are already doing.

They build a solid foundation of breath work, internal alignment and energy cultivation.

Students often start with one practice and naturally gravitate toward the others as their practice deepens.

The research shows all of these practices work.

The question isn't ,which one is best for you?

The question is, which one will you actually practice?

What to Expect When You Start

If you're dealing with anxiety, depression, or sleep issues, here's what you can realistically expect:

Week 1-2: You'll probably think "this looks easy" and then be surprised when your legs are shaking after 10 minutes of standing practice.

Week 3-4: You'll start to notice you're breathing differently, deeper and more naturally.

Month 2-3: Sleep starts to improve and you may fall asleep faster and wake up less during the night and feel more rested.

Month 3-6: Anxiety and depression symptoms begin to shift. Not overnight, but consistently you notice you're less reactive and more grounded.

6 months+: The changes become integrated. It's not that you're doing a practice to feel better, but you've changed how you move, breathe, and relate to stress.

The study showed significant effects, but most interventions lasted 8-12 weeks.

In my experience, that's just the beginning.

The real transformation happens when this becomes part of your life.

Why You Need a Teacher (Even Though the Research Used Standardized Protocols)

One limitation of this study: most of the trials used standardized protocols that could theoretically be learned from videos or written instructions.

But here's what I see in practice…

People think they're "sinking their weight" when they're actually leaning forward.

They think they're "breathing deeply" when they're actually holding tension in their chest.

They think they're "relaxed" when their shoulders are up around their ears.

Your proprioception, your sense of where your body is in space, isn't as accurate as you think.

You need feedback.

Someone who can see what you can't feel yet.

That's not a sales pitch, that's just reality.

The research shows these practices work. But they work better when you're doing them correctly.

The Bottom Line

New research confirms what practitioners have known for centuries:

Qigong is the most effective mind-body practice for depression and sleep quality.

Tai Chi, Ba Gua, and other internal arts all show significant benefits across anxiety, depression, and sleep.

These aren't just relaxation techniques.

They're comprehensive practices that address the root causes of mental health issues, nervous system dysregulation, chronic stress, inflammation, and disconnection from your body.

I teach Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and Ba Gua here in New York (in-person and online).

If you're dealing with anxiety, depression, or sleep issues, or you just want to move in a way that actually gets better with age, this might be what you're looking for.

Check my weekly class schedule here.

You'll learn:

• The foundational Qi Gong practices that regulate your nervous system

• How to connect your breath to your movement (not just "breathe deeply)

• Why your sleep improves when you learn to sense inside your body

• What whole-body integration actually feels like

No overpromising and no quick fixes.

Just practices that have been validated by both centuries of use and modern research.

See you in class!

Jonathan Breshin

Root of Movement Internal Arts

New York City

P.S. The study analyzed 27 randomized controlled trials. That's not anecdotal evidence, that's rigorous science confirming what my students tell me every week. This works!

Reference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41938920/

The Unexpected Cure: How Chinese Martial Arts Healed My Chronic Pain

Ever felt like your body's in a constant state of struggle?

That was me with my chronic wrist and back pain. It felt like a relentless shadow over my shoulders, day after day - for almost a decade.

But then, I stumbled upon an unlikely hero: Chinese martial arts.

Pain, as I learned, is like a beaver dam blocking a creek—Chinese medicine sees it as an obstruction.

Clearing this blockage isn't always straightforward though, especially with chronic conditions. It's not just about removing the obstruction; it's about understanding and addressing the underlying issues.

My journey into martial arts wasn't just about learning to punch or kick; it was about mastering the basics: body mechanics, balance, alignment, rotation, and shifting.

These fundamentals brought my imbalances and dysfunctional patterns front and center.

I've been honing these skills for 14 years, starting every session with the same basics. Because without them, my movements lacked power and opened me up to injury and more pain.

Slowing down and focusing on each movement taught me to calm my nervous system on demand, reducing inflammation and promoting healthy blood flow and energy circulation—especially beneficial for my wrist and back.

These practices didn't just support my physical health; they prepared me mentally to stay present and composed during stress.

It was seriously a revelation: movement, balance, alignment, and stress were intertwined, fueling a cycle of pain I couldn't get out from under.

My 2 wrist surgeries failed because they never tackled these root causes.

Martial arts have become my self-applied rehab and therapy, teaching me daily how to realign and rebalance.

I'm still a work in progress, but I'm leagues ahead of where I started, and my wrist and back?

They've never felt better!

This journey has taught me that healing is about more than just treating symptoms.

It's about understanding and adjusting the fundamentals of how we move and live. And for me, Chinese martial arts and Eastern medicine was the key to unlocking that door.

How To Do What You Want For As Long As Your Want

I have friends and colleagues in their 50's and 60's who move and feel better than some of my clients in their 20's and 30's. Here’s what they do different.

In fitness these days most people think exercise means going as hard, fast and intense as possible.

The "No Pain, No Gain!" mentality.

The fixation on burning calories or pushing yourself beyond measure tends to damage and deplete the body and organs in ways that aren’t always so obvious.

And most think that feeling sore, tight and achy is “normal” - it’s what it takes to be “healthy”.

But unless you’re a competitive athlete, it’s a short sighted way of staying fit for most adults.

You really need to ask yourself what’s your end goal?

Is it simply to live in a state of pain and discomfort just to​ look good, or is it to be able to do what you want, when you want for as long as you want?

The older people I train with who display power, control, balance and agility work out hard sometimes, but mostly they focus on refined strength that’s built over time.

They’re training for today but considering how they’ll feel tomorrow and decades from now.

Refined strength and freedom of movement is something that’s cultivated using focus, patience and consistency.

They’re not just focused on their body and how it looks but how it’s connected to every other aspect of their life experience.

They’re aware that how they move is a reflection of their mental state, and how their mental state also reflects how they move.

They study the relationship and harmony of their body mind & spirit, everyday.

The latest and greatest exercise routines out there are oftentimes not a recipe for longevity and true health and fitness.

Taking some time out to consider what you truly want for your future self is worthwhile investment of your time.

Because having a body mind that functions and performs well, and with more control and freedom into your 60's, 70's, 80's and beyond is done in a nurturing way, not a violent and aggressive way.

Here are a few things to consider as you go into your next workout or activity:

1. Can you feel your whole body contribute to the movement/exercise you’re performing. (This will require focus and global awareness of your body)

2. See if you can perform the movement while keeping the breath slow, deep, even and without force.

3. Look for quality and precision over quantity and intensity.

If you apply these ideas consistently, and observe your results, you’ll find clarity on how to make the movement better, and you’ll experience more longevity and comfort as you continue to move forward in your life!

The path to true health and vitality lies not in pushing our bodies to the limit, but in nurturing them with mindful, balanced practices that serve us today and preserve our well-being for the years to come.

Listening to the Body: Embracing Modern Approaches in Ancient Arts

Within the world of Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Nei Gong, and Ba Gua Zhang, there are lots of traditional styles and lineages that exist.

And having trained in authentic Qi Gong, Nei Gong, and Ba Gua Zhang since 2010 and taught professionally since 2016, I understand the importance of maintaining the authenticity of your lineage.

It's from this position of understanding and respect for the traditions that I've sometimes found it cringe-worthy to see people on the internet modify or fuse these arts and market them under their traditional names.

When I’d see someone seemingly just swing their arms around and label it Tai Chi, devoid of any authentic connection, it was hard to stomach.

But hearing a personal experience of a new client recently, led me to having a profound epiphany.

This person, plagued by various physical ailments, got tremendous value from a fairly popular online Tai Chi youtube page.

To me, sure, this account seemed to be 'Tai Chi-ish'.

Their method took Tai Chi movements and made them more accessible to the masses, without delving deep into the principles and alignments of the art, which in my understandting is what makes the internal arts unique.

But with these videos, the focus was less on correct form and internal alignments, and more on simplistic follow-along routines.

Now, even though I might have criticized this before, hearing about its value firsthand changed my perspective.

My client, after following along with these videos for the past few months, felt real relief for a few hours after he’d practice. But then, on a friend's recommendation to switch to a more 'authentic' teacher, he began to experience discomfort and lost that sense of relief.

I told him, "Forget what your friend said. Your body is the most honest critic. Listen to it."

My client's main goal wasn’t about attaining mastery as a martial artist, it’s just to live with more comfort and improve his quality of life. So, while the teachings might not be 100% traditional, what truly matters is the persons intentions, goals, and how they resonate with the practice.

I've come to realize that much of the criticism towards more accessible teaching styles might stem from a place of competition.

As skilled practitioners, especially those from renowned lineages like the one I come from, in my humble opinion, we need to rise above such sentiments.

Embracing different methods will not only enrich our understanding but also help us attract students genuinely meant for our teachings.

With all of that benign said and just to be clear, I do not condone people taking a few classes or workshops and then going out and trying to teach the masses. But when a dedicated practitioner chooses to modify what they’ve learned, I’ve come full circle and can see the value.

Does Your Back Hurt Because You’re Getting Old?

I just had a long talk with my barber about how his back has been hurting for the past few years, and he doesn't know why.

He tells me, "Jonathan," (in an Italian accent, he's from Sicily), "I used to play soccer every week, I used to go to the gym, then during COVID, I gained about 15 lbs, and now I'm in my mid-50s, and at the end of the day, my back is in pain."

He says it's not that bad, but it does hurt.

I said, "Anthony, this ain't rocket science. You used to do all those things, and now you don’t, and now your back hurts. Do you think if maybe you got back to being more active and lost a few pounds, things might start to feel differently?"

In my experience, people love to blame age. Maybe because it's convenient. But if age were the reason, then literally everyone would have the same issues as they got older.

And even if it seems like everyone over 40 that you know is struggling with something physically, it's not everyone.

But staying out of pain is not always convenient, although with practices like Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and Ba Gua, it can be.

It takes a committed effort to start something new. And then to keep it going!

The key is to find something that's enjoyable for you, so at least on those days you REALLY don't want to do it, once you get started it's not so bad.

It's also helpful to find something that can check off several boxes at once. It should be efficient and convenient.

That's why I love the internal arts like Qi Gong and Ba Gua.

I think a few of the main reasons why a lot of my clients love it are: you don't need to go anywhere to practice, you don’t need any equipment, you can knock out your daily session in under 20 min if that's all the time you have, it integrates with the rest of your life so normal activities become opportunities for therapy, it feels good and makes you feel more balanced, aligned, and decompressed, it both energizes me and calms you down, it helps improve physical aptitude, increases agility and sharpens your mental focus to name a few.

It's hard to find another physical therapy approach that even comes close to that. And those aren't even all of the benefits.

If you’re thinking you're getting old and that's the reason you're experiencing orthopedic pain, you're mistaken. I mean, age is a factor, but it's literally the only one you can't control.

There are a plethora of other things you CAN control, and I highly recommend getting started on them so the next 10, 20, 30 years plus of your life aren't riddled with more discomfort.

If you want more information on a movement therapy approach like Qi Gong in New York City, Ba Gua in NYC, or Tai Chi in NYC, or if you're interested in online training, schedule a call to speak with us today.

Qi Gong: A Vital Practice for Professionals Who Depend on Their Bodies

As someone who worked in a physically demanding job for years as an electrician, I get it. Over time, your body begins to protest. You wonder - is this just a function of aging?

I thought so too, until my own journey led me to discover a unique practice known as Qi Gong (pronounced 'chee gong').

If aging were the only culprit, everyone growing older would be in constant pain, right? But that's not the case. Not everyone in a physically demanding job lives with pain. A secret to this? Good body mechanics combined with a balanced and aligned skeleton.

A few years ago, I was introduced to Qi Gong, a practice that forever changed my understanding of the body and my approach to physical well-being.

This practice not only gave me a unique perspective on how I was holding and moving myself throughout the day but also helped me suss out the root of my chronic wrist pain.

Qi Gong creates a new level of awareness that helps you identify what's misaligned before it turns into pain.

And if you're already struggling with unresolved pain - be it back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, or wrist pain like me - it can be a game-changer.

Most people living with chronic pain don't get the lasting relief they hope for from conventional therapies like physical therapy, cortisone injections, chiropractic adjustments or even surgery. It's because these modalities don't always educate the person about the origin of the issue.

Building strength and creating space are essential, sure, but without understanding why things have become weak or imbalanced in the first place, it's a band-aid solution.

This is where Qi Gong shines.

It's not just a practice; it's a daily ritual for self-calibration and rebalancing. A timeless technique that's been evolving for thousands of years, Qi Gong brings your body back to a state that feels familiar, one you might have lost due to years of injury, bad habits, and lack of awareness.

Qi Gong shows you how to move in accordance with your body's natural design.

Most tension and pain result from muscles not firing sequentially in the right order. Qi Gong helps you reconnect with the different areas of your body and understand how they should connect.

It's as simple as it sounds and feels like a massage from the inside out. It doesn't need to take long. I noticed significant improvements in a few weeks, and you could too.

If you're like me, having tried everything but still not where you want to be, Qi Gong could be your missing link.

As a professional instructor and coach now, my greatest joy is empowering others to take control of their physical well-being, just like Qi Gong did for me.

New York City Qi Gong - The Practice You Need to Survive NYC

Clearly, NYC isn’t your average city. Living here is like nothing else, anywhere else.

We're basically piled on top of each other, living in a shared bubble of personal space.

The city noises - streets, subways, shops, neighbors - they sneak into your world whether you're on the clock or just kickin' back at home.

As you know, the smells, they're something else. Some will stop you dead in your tracks (not always in a good way) and they come from everywhere - weed, restaurants, bakeries, trash, you name it.

The streets? A circus of phone-gawkers, cyclists, grumpy walkers, loonies, and clipboard-wielding folks trying to sell you something.

This is where Qi Gong steps in. If you translate it (very) roughly, it means 'energy work.' It's like a daily reset button for the stress of city living, and it helps you become teflon to the everyday grind.

The crazy thing is, when you're swimming in all this chaos day in, day out, you start to tune it out. Your mind and body cover it up so well, you might not even realize the impact it's having.

You know when you finally escape the city for a vacation? It can take days to fully shake off the city's imprint.

I remember one night, my cousin had just moved back to NYC from LA. This guy bleeds NYC pride, he loves this city like a second skin. But, as we walked to the subway after dinner, he winced at a passing ambulance siren. His brother and I just shrugged; we hadn't even registered it.

We'd become city zombies, immune to the chaos. Not exactly the recipe for long-term wellness.

That's where a NYC Qi Gong practice can help. It’s like an ongoing tune-up for your senses so you don't get bogged down by the unnoticed craziness.

Qi Gong is like giving yourself a daily massage. It feels awesome, it’s super relaxing and yet reviving. It brings you back to the 'now,' centering your mind while you focus on your body alignment, movement, and breathing. It’s a full body tune-up promoting harmonious blood and energy flow.

It’s something you can squeeze into as little as 10 minutes per day. The more you practice, the more potent the benefits. It's infinite and intended to be a lifelong journey. That’s why it's seen as a longevity practice.

Plus, it's a powerful method of physical therapy and injury prevention.

So, whether you're a bustling professional, an ex-athlete, performer, or a new parent living in NYC, Qi Gong is the self-care ritual you didn’t even know you needed.

Dive in today and trust me, you won't want to look back!