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September 7-9 2018: Symposium for Integrative Health, Tai Chi, & Qigong

September 23-28 2018: Quantum Qi Conference

October 6-7 2018: National Qigong Association Semi-Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon

YouTube video (4:40)

• The Effects of Tai Chi on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Meta-Analysis. Tai Chi helps patients with Type 2 Diabetes. 
• Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Changing the Paradigm for Chronic Severe Depression? Note that Qigong practice stimulates the vagus nerve and thus has the potential for non-pharmacologically helping to treat depression.
• Making Sense of… the Microbiome in Psychiatry.  "The human gut microbiome has been shown to influence many aspects of host health including more recently the brain.Several modes of interaction between the gut and the brain have been discovered, including via the synthesis of metabolites and neurotransmitters, activation of the vagus nerve and activation of the immune system. A growing body of work is implicating the microbiome in a variety of psychological processes and neuropsychiatric disorders. These include mood and anxiety disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia, and even neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease. Moreover, it is probable that most psychotropic medications have an impact on the microbiome." Note that the vagus nerve is affected by both the microbiome and the practice of Qigong. More on Qigong and the vagus nerve can be found on the Integrative Medicine and Medical Qigong Therapy page on the Qigong Institute website. 
• The effect of movement-focused and breath-focused yoga practice on stress parameters and sustained attention: A randomized controlled pilot study. "Yoga-based practices (YBP) typically involve a combination of movement sequences, conscious regulation of the breath, and techniques to engage attention. However, little is known about whether effects of YBP result from the synergistic combination of these components, or whether a subset may yield similar effects. In this study we compared the effect of a movement-focused practice and a breath-focused practice on stress parameters (perceived stress and salivary cortisol) and sustained attention (response inhibition) in yoga naïve university students. While participants of both programs showed a reduction in perceived stress and salivary cortisol, only the breath-focused group showed improvements in sustained attention." This research is another confirmation of the benefits of Qigong (lowering stress and improving attention span) through movement and breathing practices.
• A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Meditation on Empathy, Compassion, and Prosocial Behaviors. Harvard study urges clinicians and meditation teachers to be aware that meditation can improve positive pro-social emotions and behaviors.
• Which Facets of Mindfulness Protect Individuals from the Negative Experiences of Obsessive Intrusive Thoughts (OIT)?  Individuals who are high in nonjudgment, nonreactivity and act with awareness facets of mindfulness experience fewer OITs. The attentional component of mindfulness (act with awareness) reflects an ability to focus on the task at hand, which would suggest that individuals who score high on acting with awareness may be less prone to intrusions, such as OITs. The authors also make the interesting finding that the observe facet (e.g. ‘I intentionally stay aware of my feelings’) of mindfulness appears to be related to more negative experiences of OITs. This tendency to observe experiences is also related to how individuals respond to their OITs, with a tendency toward negative reactions and appraisals and ineffective strategies. Teaching people how to be more aware of their thoughts and feelings and yet letting them go and changing their habitual reactions to them are a part of the interoceptive component of Qigong practice.
• Efficacy of rhythmic exercise and walking exercise in older adults' exercise participation rates and physical function outcomes. Korean study finds rhythmic exercise designed from music and dance more effective than walking exercise in retaining exercise participation and improving physical function in older adults.
• Tai Chi for Stroke Rehabilitation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Tai Chi has an overall beneficial effect on activities of daily living, balance, limb motor function, and walking ability among stroke survivors, and may also improve sleep quality, mood, mental health, and other motor function.
• The Effects of Movement-to-Music (M2M) and Adapted Yoga on Physical and Psychosocial Outcomes in People with Multiple Sclerosis. Movement-to-music is a useful and enjoyable exercise form for people with MS in improving mobility and walking endurance. 
• The Influence of Breathing on the Central Nervous System. The authors present some detailed information about the diaphragm and breathing in relation to body functions such as movement of the brain mass, oscillation of the neural network, motor coordination, and blood circulation. They note that the movement of the diaphragm affects posture and emotional states. The vagus nerve is one of the main nerves which innervates the diaphragm. "The breath modulates the limbic (the brain's emotional system) oscillations, the cognitive and motor functions of the cortex. This process occurs with greater force when inhalation takes place through the nose; on the other hand, the effect is less forceful if the breath is carried out with an open mouth". "The same respiratory rhythm is recorded differently from specific brain areas, from which the neural oscillations, which allow communication between them, start. The greater the oscillations are coordinated, the greater the function expressed by the different cerebral areas involved." The movement of the diaphragm transmits interoceptive and proprioceptive information that influences neural oscillations and cognitive activity.
• Acupuncture (PDQ®): Health Professional Version. This PDQ cancer information summary for health professionals provides comprehensive, peer-reviewed, evidence-based information about the use of acupuncture in the treatment of people with cancer. It is intended as a resource to inform and assist clinicians who care for cancer patients. It does not provide formal guidelines or recommendations for making health care decisions. This summary is reviewed regularly and updated as necessary by the PDQ Integrative, Alternative, and Complementary Therapies Editorial Board, which is editorially independent of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The summary reflects an independent review of the literature and does not represent a policy statement of NCI or the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
• A Large Randomized Trial: Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for Breast Cancer (BC) Survivors on Salivary Cortisol and IL-6. MBSR aids breast cancer survivors.
• Long-term Tai Chi exercise increases body stability of the elderly during stair ascent under high and low illumination
• Association between Physical Exercise and Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress among Middle-Aged and Elderly Community Residents with Essential Hypertension in China. Frequent Tai Chi effectively decreases hypertension-related oxidative stress biomarker levels.
• Effects of Meditative Movements on Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Meditative movement interventions, i.e. Qigong and Tai Chi, showed significantly improved treatment remission rate and response rate  over passive controls. "Emphasizing the therapeutic effects of meditative movements [e.g. Qigong and Tai Chi] for treating major depressive disorder (MDD) is critical because it may provide a useful alternative to existing mainstream treatments (drug therapy and psychotherapy) for MDD. Given the fact that meditative movements are safe and easily accessible, clinicians may consider recommending meditative movements for symptomatic management in this population.
• The Gut-Brain Axis, the Human Gut Microbiota and Their Integration in the Development of Obesity.
• Investigating the Effect of Mindfulness-Based Training on Psychological Status and Quality of Life in Patients with Breast Cancer. Mindfulness-based training improves psychological status and Quality of Life of patients with breast cancer.
• Effect of Tai Chi Synergy T1 Exercise on Autonomic Function, Metabolism, and Physical Fitness of Healthy Individuals.
• The effect of Tai Chi practice on brain white matter structure: a diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging study. Long-term Tai Chi practice benefits brain white matter, and these impacts were correlated with exercise duration and skill level.
• Falls prevention in community care: 10 years on. Australian study recommends referral to fall prevention programs such as tai chi for at-risk individuals.
• Meditation affects brain networks differently in long-term meditators and novices
• Does tai chi improve brain and muscle function in the elderly? Tai chi training leads to increased levels of neuronal and muscle markers. Tai chi training may promote neuroplasticity and increased recovery in muscles.
• Meditation helps veterans with PTSD.
• How meditation helps with depression. A regular practice can help your brain better manage stress and anxiety that can trigger depression.
• Stress Management. Some individuals have a greater innate, or trait, capacity for mindfulness. These individuals, who have not participated in mindfulness-training interventions, tend to experience better physical health, report fewer physiological symptoms such as pain, and utilize fewer healthcare resources. Trait mindfulness has been associated with lower ratings of anxiety and depression in a variety of medical and non-medical populations. Trait mindfulness may emerge from a genetic predisposition. A recent epidemiological study of adolescent twins revealed that trait mindfulness was 32% heritable. The same study also revealed that 66% of the variance in trait mindfulness was due to environmental factors, suggesting that is also a skill that can be learned.
• A modified 6-form Tai Chi for patients with COPD. Another study confirming the health benefits of simplified forms of Tai Chi.
• Differences in Brain Structure and Function Among Yoga Practitioners and Controls. "Our results suggest an association between regular long-term yoga practice and differential structure and function of specific brain regions involved in executive function, specifically working memory, which has previously shown to improve with yoga practice."
• Short- and long-term mindfulness meditation training positively affect emotional regulation ability.
• The neurobiology of interoception in health and disease. Interoception is a key component of the practice of Qigong. This research explains how "Interoceptive mechanisms ensure physiological health through the cerebral coordination of homeostatic reflexes and allostatic responses that include motivational behaviors and associated affective and emotional feelings...interoceptive processing can contribute to the mechanistic understanding of physical and psychological disorders. We present a neurobiological overview of interoception and describe how interoceptive impairments at different levels relate to specific physical and mental health conditions, including sickness behaviors and fatigue, depression, eating disorders, autism, and anxiety."
• Use of Mind-Body Therapies Among Young Adults Aged 18-24 Years: Findings From the 2012 National Health Interview Survey . UCLA Department of Community Health Sciences recommends mind-body practices for young adults: "Young adulthood is a critical period in the life course when individuals are establishing lifestyle and health behaviors that can be enduring. Because stress is a persistent problem, and many MBTs can be helpful with management of stress and anxiety, young adult may be underutilizing these modalities. Public health and educational strategies for greater engagement in MBT among young adults are warranted."
• Open monitoring meditation reduces the involvement of brain regions related to memory function. Open Monitoring Meditation (OMM) reduces intentional focused attention and increases detachment from autobiographical memory. This detachment may play an important role in non-judgmental and non-reactive attitude during OMM. These findings provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying the contribution of OMM to well-being and happiness.
• Tai Chi provides appropriate physical exercise and opportunities for older persons to enhance their quality of life through interaction of physical, emotional and intellectual wellness.
• Consciousness as an Inhibited Manifestation and Quantum Physics.
• Immediate Effects of Interoceptive Awareness Training through Mindful Awareness in Body-oriented Therapy (MABT) for Women in Substance Use Disorder Treatment. Interoceptive training (e.g. practicing Qigong) improves emotional regulation and related health outcomes and helps treat substance abuse.
• Anti-inflammatory effect on genes expression after four days of Qigong training in peripheral mononuclear blood cells in healthy women. Polish study finds Qigong training decreases inflammatory and increases anti-inflammatory gene expression.
• The Effect of Exercise on Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema: What the Lymphatic Surgeon Needs to Know. For many years, it was considered best practice for patients with breast cancer  to avoid exercise; however, in recent years, research has begun to challenge this belief. Several forms of exercise including Qigong appear to be safe interventions for clinicians to use when treating this population and offer benefits such as improved quality of life, strength, body mass index, and mental health and decreased pain and lymphatic swelling. 
• Biopsychosocial benefits of movement-based complementary and integrative health therapies for patients with chronic conditions. Movement-based therapies including Qigong improved physical and mental health, reduced opiate and psychotropic use, enhanced emotional well-being, and improved social relationships. Changes were attributed to physical improvements, development of coping skills, and increased self-awareness. This VA medical center study also recommends that providers treating patients with complex comorbidities may consider referrals to movement-based therapy programs to address multiple concerns simultaneously, particularly among patients seeking alternatives to medication or adjunctive to an opiate reduction strategy.
• Review finds Tai Chi reduces fear of falling and improves balance confidence in older adults with type 2 diabetes.
• Proprioceptive Training for the Prevention of Ankle Sprains: An Evidence-Based Review. Proprioception is awareness of spatial orientation, sense of balance, center of balance, alignment and posture. This research found that proprioceptive training is effective in reducing the incidence rates of ankle injuries in athletes. Proprioception is enhanced through the practice of Qigong.
• Mindfulness meditation and relaxation response affect brain differently. The Harvard Gazette: A study shows that both mindful meditation and the relaxation response provide benefits, however, the mindfulness program resulted in further improvements in measures such as self-compassion and rumination.
• Study quantifies changes in stress after meditation. "Through a new method of processing HRV [Heart Rate Variability] time series data, the researchers developed a way to measure the change in the level of stress provided by meditation. This measure assigns a number to the level of variability of heartbeat interval time series before and during meditation. This number indicates precisely how much stress is alleviated by control of the heart-brain coupling through meditation...Historically, one purpose of meditation has been to reduce stress, however, the Army's long-term goal is to use it to mitigate the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. West said the potential for this to succeed has been dramatically increased with the new ability to quantify the degree of effectiveness in stress reduction using different meditation techniques."
• Your Strength Routine's Most Important 15 Minutes. Although there are as many recovery techniques on the market as there are exercises, qigong (chee-gong) presents a unique and previously unexplored method to eliminate the negative effects of stress and give you a 25% increase in strength in 8 weeks.
• Interoceptive Awareness Skills for Emotion Regulation: Theory and Approach of Mindful Awareness in Body-Oriented Therapy (MABT). Interoception is a key component of Qigong practice. This article explains how interoceptive awareness is connected to emotional regulation, an integrated sense of self, health, and well-being.
• PDQ Cancer Information Summaries [Internet]. This PDQ cancer information summary for health professionals provides comprehensive, peer-reviewed, evidence-based information about the use of acupuncture in the treatment of people with cancer. It is intended as a resource to inform and assist clinicians who care for cancer patients.
• Systematic review finds Tai Chi produces positive effects on limb motor function, balance function, daily living activity ability and neurological impairment among stroke patients.
• Five-year traumatic spinal cord injury rehabilitation study finds therapies including tai chi and relaxation techniques reduce pain severity.
• Cholinergic modulation of the immune system presents new approaches for treating inflammation. Over the past two decades, there has been explosive growth in the scientific understanding of neuroanatomical, cellular, and molecular mechanisms that affect immune functions through the autonomic nervous system. A major catalyst for growth in this field was the discovery that vagal nerve causes a prominent attenuation of the systemic inflammatory response. Qigong practice beneficially affects the immune system through stimulating the vagus nerve which in turn causes the cholinergic modulation of the autonomic nervous system. This paper presents details on the cholinergic anti-inflammatory response.
• Systematic review finds Tai Chi improves cardiovascular function and flexibility in people living with HIV.
• A review of vagus nerve stimulation as a therapeutic intervention. Qigong practice stimulates the vagus nerve through diaphragmatic breathing, healing sounds, and self-applied massage. As this review explains, vagus nerve stimulation lowers inflammation and helps treat chronic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis as well as fibromyalgia and migraines. Stimulation of the vagus nerve is a major reason why Qigong is being revealed to be so beneficial for so many chronic conditions.
• Acute Physiological and Psychological Effects of Qigong Exercise in Older Practitioners.
• Journal of the American Medical Association: "Tai chi is equally or more beneficial than aerobic exercise for people with fibromyalgia"
• NCCIH recommends Tai Chi for Parkinson's
• Mindfulness Trends in The Workplace. The article discusses the adoption of mindfulness practices by business and the fact that there are more than 1000 mindfulness apps and 30,000 books on mindfulness at Amazon. It also says: 'While there is nothing wrong with using brain "hacks" to enhance human potential, the absence of training in insight and skillful actions in commercial mindfulness compromises the efficacy and integrity of the programs. This trend will continue to grow till it is replaced by the next lucrative management fad.' Clearly, the next "fad" is already here, and it's called Qigong -- the ultimate App-less Mindfulness App. 
• Mindfulness training induces structural connectome changes in insula networks. Mindfulness stregthens interoception. Both mindfulness and interoception are fundamental to the practice of Qigong and Tai Chi. 
• The effects of mindfulness and relaxation training for insomnia (MRTI) on postmenopausal women: a pilot study. Eight weeks mindfulness meditation training improved sleep quality, quality of life, attention levels, and reduced vasomotor symptoms in postmenopausal women with insomnia.
• Broke Your Right Arm? Exercise Your Left. It May Help, Really. Working out the muscles on one side of our bodies can keep the muscles on the other side fit, even if we do not move them at all. 
• Mindful meditation may have health benefits.
• Group based Tai Chi improves health of older Chinese with hypertension.
• Can Tai Chi and Qigong Postures Shape Our Mood? Toward an Embodied Cognition Framework for Mind-Body Research.
• Why Companies Are Embracing Corporate Mindfulness
• Bibliometric Analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine Scientific Production between 1982 and 2016 Indexed in PubMed. The increasing demand for TCM seems to be due to factors such as lower side effects and greater efficacy in some patients not responding well to conventional therapy. As a result, a considerable amount of TCM science-based literature has been produced, supporting the rational integration of these practices in Western healthcare systems and research. Our results show that the quality of TCM research and inherent publications have been increasing over the last decades, with a higher incidence of studies published in well-ranked journals.
• The Yogi masters were right -- meditation and breathing exercises can sharpen your mind. New research explains link between breath-focused meditation and attention and brain health. "...this means that our attention is influenced by our breath and that it rises and falls with the cycle of respiration. It is possible that by focusing on and regulating your breathing you can optimise your attention level and likewise, by focusing on your attention level, your breathing becomes more synchronised."
• Systematic review finds Tai Chi is effective in reducing falls incidence in Parkinson's disease and stroke.
• Schools turn to mindfulness to tackle student anxiety
• Systematic review finds Tai Chi enhances neural plasticity in healthy adults.
• Effectiveness of meditative movement on COPD: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Systematic review recommends Qigong (meditative movement) for COPD.
• Six-year positive effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on mindfulness, coping and well-being in medical and psychology students; Results from a randomized controlled trial.
• Neuroembryology of the Acupuncture Principal Meridians: Part 3. The Head and Neck. Accumulating evidence from anatomical, physiologic, and neuroimaging research shows that Classical acupuncture points stimulate nerve trunks or their branches in the head, trunk, and extremities. The first part of this series revealed that phenomenon in the extremities. Principal meridian distributions mirror those of major peripheral nerves there and Classical acupuncture points are proximate to peripheral nerves there. Overall, the acupuncture Principal meridians can be conceptualized to have a neuroanatomical substrate that is corroborated by developmental neuroembryology. Note that one of the authors is from the Mayo Clinic.
• Ready, set, focus: Finding calm in a storm through the power of breathing. The military is discovering QIgong.
• To treat pain, PTSD and other illnesses, Tennessee vets try tai chi
• Tai Chi Improves Brain Metabolism and Muscle Energetics in Older Adults.
• Neural Mechanisms of Qigong Sensory Training Massage for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Feasibility Study. Qigong Sensory Training (QST) is a nonverbal, parent-delivered intervention recently shown to be effective at reducing these everyday challenges in children with ASD. This study proved its feasibility for larger trials. 
• Hypoglycemic and antioxidant effect of Tai chi exercise training in older adults with metabolic syndrome. Tai Chi has an antioxidative and hypoglycemic effect in the elderly with metabolic syndrome.
• The effect of Chinese martial arts Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) on prevention of osteoporosis: A systematic review. TCC is beneficial to BMD and may be a cost-effective and preventive measure of osteoporosis. This beneficial effect is better observed in long-term TCC practice.
• Review of the Neural Oscillations Underlying Meditation. The most commonly studied specific meditation practices are focused attention (FA), open-monitoring (OM), as well as transcendental meditation (TM), and loving-kindness (LK) meditation. Meditation is one type of mental training that has been shown to produce many cognitive benefits. Meditation practice is associated with improvement in concentration and reduction of stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, different forms of meditation training are now being used as interventions for a variety of psychological and somatic illnesses. The current literature suggests distinct differences in neural oscillatory activity among FA, OM, TM, and LK meditation practices.
• 'Mindfulness' meditation technique finding new fans in Triangle and beyond. "The formal practice of mindfulness meditation is like going to the gym," she said. "You are training your brain toward focus, toward being able to marshal your own attention." Researchers from Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh showed why this works by looking at MRI images of study subjects who had been practicing mindfulness meditation for eight weeks. The images showed a decrease in the size of the amygdala, which is the "fight or flight" center of the brain.
• A Randomized Trial Evaluating School-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Ethnic Minority Youth: Exploring Mediators and Moderators of Intervention Effects. The study provided evidence that mindfulness intervention was beneficial for low-income ethnic minority youth in reducing perceived stress and internalizing problems, and improving emotion regulation outcomes. Furthermore, mindfulness training was associated with reduced mental health symptoms via improvements in emotion regulation.
• The neurobiology of focus and distraction: The case for incorporating mindfulness into leadership. Two main neural circuits are contrasted: the mind-wandering default mode circuit and the attentional central executive system. These two systems act in an antagonistic pairing, where the degree of toggling between systems is associated with the degree a person can sustain focus and filter out unwarranted distractions. Excessive multitasking appears to compromise the neural switch of these two systems, thereby diminishing our focus and concentration. In contrast, mindfulness practice is shown to have the opposite effect by enhancing the neural switch, thereby enhancing leadership focus that can lead to greater flexibility, foresight, regulation, and creativity. To conclude, leaders who are excessively distracted, such as with multitasking, may be compromising cognitive brain functioning, while engaging in mindfulness may replenish the brain and thereby enhance leaders' ability to sustain focus and tap into higher cognitive functioning.
• Tai Chi and the Musician: How This Martial Art Could Help Your Career
• Bioelectric signaling in regeneration: Mechanisms of ionic controls of growth and form (morphology). Levin at the Department of Biology, Tufts University is at the forefront of researching the relationship between physiology and bioenergy. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine the Eight Extraordinary vessels or meridians are the energy template of the body. This energy template or field is affected by the environment and is the fundamental pattern that provides the basis for human growth and morphology. Levin's work expands our basic understanding of morphogenetic processes responsible for the generation and repair of complex anatomy through researching and understanding our endogenous voltage gradients, ion flows, and electric fields.
• Qigong dance helps Parkinson's patients. 
• Cognitive Gains From Meditation May Endure Up to 7 Years
• 10-minute Tai Chi practice improves attention and decreases stress.
• Review finds mind-body practices improve depression, activities of daily living, and mobility of post-stroke patients.
• Tai Chi found as effective as normal pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with COPD but does not require specific facilities.
• Postural awareness and its relation to pain: validation of an innovative instrument measuring awareness of body posture in patients with chronic pain. Postural awareness and adjustment are fundamental to the practice of Qigong. This research confirms the importance of postural awareness for reducing pain over time.
• There’s new evidence that Silicon Valley's favorite mindfulness habit may help defeat a key problem of aging
• Study suggests Tai Chi as low-cost alternative to pulmonary rehabilitation for COPD patients
• Practicing Tai Chi helps improve respiratory function in patients with COPD Tai Chi offers a low-cost, easily accessible alternative to pulmonary rehabilitation, study finds.
• This Harvard Medical School transcriptome research is the first to show at the molecular level how Qigong (which elicits the relaxation response) lowers blood pressure. Qigong Institute founder Dr. Ken Sancier showed that Qigong reduces blood pressure in hypertensive patients in his ground-breaking 1996 paper 'Anti-Aging Benefits of Qigong'. Note that one of the authors of this current paper is Dr. Herbert Benson who wrote the book on the Relaxation Response.
• 7-Year Follow-up Shows Lasting Cognitive Gains From Meditation
• Movement therapies such as Tai Chi more beneficial than manual therapy for adults with arthritis.
• Integrative Health & Wellness Caucus Focuses on Putting Health Back in Healthcare. “This caucus is the start of an important conversation to shift our healthcare paradigm from a reactive model to whole-person preventive outcomes,” said Len Wisneski, M.D., Chair Integrative Health Policy Consortium. “American’s have spent billions of dollars out-of-pocket on complementary and integrative care. It is time that Congress and healthcare payers and systems respond by including all credentialed and licensed providers and evidence-based care approaches into the choices available to all Americans.”
• The effectiveness of mindfulness meditation for nurses and nursing students: An integrated literature review. This review concludes that mindfulness meditation is an effective strategy for preventing and managing the workplace stress and burnout.
• Vagus Nerve as Modulator of the Brain-Gut Axis in Psychiatric and Inflammatory Disorders. Qigong practice stimulates the vagus nerve, mainly through diaphragmatic breathing. This review article reports that vagus nerve stimulation is a promising add-on treatment for treatment-refractory depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and inflammatory bowel disease. Treatments that target the vagus nerve increase the vagal tone and inhibit cytokine production. Both are important mechanism of resiliency.
• Qigong (Baduanjin) helps stroke patients achieve the best possible short-term outcome and should be integrated with mainstream rehabilitation programs.
• WHAT IS THE INTERSTITIUM? SCIENTISTS 'DISCOVER NEW ORGAN'
• Newfound 'organ' had been missed by standard method for visualizing anatomy
• The Relationship between Heart Rate Variability, Psychological Flexibility, and Pain in Neurofibromatosis Type 1. Psychological flexiblity is related to pain.
• Tai Chi more beneficial than aerobic exercise for fibromyalgia.
• Tai Chi found superior to physical exercise and psychological support for cancer-related fatigue.
• Mindfulness is associated with psychological health and moderates pain in knee osteoarthritis.
• The Bioelectric Code: Reprogramming Cancer and Aging From the Interface of Mechanical and Chemical Microenvironments. Cellular membrane voltage (Vm), has been documented to exert control over cellular behavior both in culture and in vivo. Manipulating this fundamental cellular property influences a remarkable array of organism-wide patterning events, producing striking outcomes in both tumorigenesis as well as regeneration. These studies suggest that Vm is not only a key intrinsic cellular property, but also an integral part of the microenvironment that acts in both space and time to guide cellular behavior. As a result, there is considerable interest in manipulating Vm both to treat cancer as well as to regenerate organs damaged or deteriorated during aging.
• Tai chi recommended to fight fibromyalgia
• American College of Physicians strongly recommends non-pharmacological treatment including meditation, tai chi, and yoga for low back pain.
• Korean study highlights importance of proper posture while doing Spontaneous Qigong (whole body vibration).
• Spiritual Fitness: An Essential Component of Human Performance Optimization.
• Yoga Therapy and Polyvagal Theory: The Convergence of Traditional Wisdom and Contemporary Neuroscience for Self-Regulation and Resilience. It's interesting that the authors of this paper associate yoga with eudaimonic well-being. Yoga thereby gains approval as a mind-body therapy that can be studied and utilized in western medical research and clinical contexts because it can be treated as a practice distinct from its historical origin and framework.
• On happiness and human potentials: a review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Qigong is a eudaimonic approach to well-being.
• Revealing the Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Beneficial Effects of Tai Chi: A Neuroimaging Perspective. This review identifies possible links between the alterations in the brain and beneficial effects of Tai Chi, such as improved motor functions, pain perception, metabolic profile, cognitive functions, mental health and sleep quality.
• Brainless Embryos Suggest Bioelectricity Guides Growth. Researchers are building a case that long before the nervous system works, the brain sends crucial bioelectric signals to guide the growth of embryonic tissues. Levin at Tufts is the main researcher.
• Daily mood and chronic caregiving stress are associated with mitochondrial functional capacity. Mitochondrial health may represent a nexus between psychological stress and health. This research suggests how stress directly affects the body's production of energy.
• Mindfulness training benefits high school students.
• fMRI during Transcendental Meditation practice. The study found a pattern of heightened blood flow in attentional areas and decreased blood flow in arousal areas.
• Mindfulness helps MS patients.
• Systematic review finds that Qigong helps Type 2 Diabetes patients.
• Inflammatory biomarkers responses after acute whole body vibration in fibromyalgia. A single acute session of mild and short whole body vibration (one form of Spontanous Qigong) can improve the inflammatory status in patients with fibromyalgia, reaching values close to those of matched healthy adults at their basal status. The neuroendocrine mechanism seems to be an exercise-induced modulation towards greater adaptation to stress response in these patients.
• Tai Chi for older adults with chronic multisite pain: a randomized controlled pilot study. Tai Chi significantly lowered pain severity and pain interference, reduced fear of falling, and improved several single-task and dual-task gait variables, while light physical exercise in the control group did not change these measures.
• Insight Meditation and Telomere Biology: The Effects of Intensive Retreat and the Moderating Role of Personality. UC Davis study finds that meditation training in a retreat setting has positive effects on telomere regulation, which is moderated by individual differences in personality and meditation experience. Perhaps more interesting, multilevel analyses revealed an apparent telomere length increase in the retreat group, compared to a group of experienced meditators, similarly comprised in age and gender, who were not on retreat.
• Harvard Medical School recommends Tai Chi in another new book.
• Proper posture the tai chi way. Harvard Medical School recommends Tai Chi (again).
• Fibromyalgia Related Chronic Pain Reduced with Meditation Therapy
• Physical Therapy vs Tai Chi for Knee Osteoarthritis: Dose-Response Effects of Interventions. Tai Chi as effective as physical therapy for knee osteoarthritis.
• Prescription for mindfulness: Non-profits and hospitals use new practices for healing
• Study Shows Efficacy of Mindfulness Meditation in Treating Adults With ADHD
• Mindfulness Is Going Mainstream Because of Science
• Mindfulness decreases emotional reactivity and improves well-being of older adults in long-term care.
• NIH recommends Qigong for hypertension.
• More researchers discover Walking Qigong.
• Acupuncture 'dose' (number of treatments) and insurance benefits in the USA. An adequate treatment dose, including a sufficient number of acupuncture treatments, is important for the clinical effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for common conditions. Nationally, most people who use acupuncture do not receive a full treatment course. Considering evidence of effectiveness, low risk and relatively low cost of delivery, acupuncture could play a larger role in non-pharmaceutical treatment of common conditions such as pain. Policymakers should consider that, without insurance benefits for acupuncture, people are less likely to complete a full treatment course, which may contribute to disparities in use and health outcomes.
• VA Promotes Tai Chi as a part of its new Whole Health initiative. The VA describes Whole Health as providing a personalized health plan for veterans, encouraging them to practice "self-care," and providing a comprehensive care that "considers the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental elements that work together to provide the best quality of life."
• Systematic review finds Tai Chi and Qigong (Ba Duan Jin) helpful for people with type 2 diabetes.
• Another study showing the physical performance benefits of whole-body vibration (a form of Spontaneous Qigong) for older people.
• Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting-The beneficial effects of Tai Chi Qigong and self-defense Kung-Fu training on psychological and endocrine health in middle aged and older men. Tai Chi Qigong training provides a promising prevention strategy against age-related physical and mental deterioration in aging men.
• Building Sangha in the American Healthcare Setting for Persons With Chronic Disease. This research shows how self-led groups can be so beneficial for people with chronic diseases. Guo Lin Qigong is an example of the benefits of self-led group practice for people with cancer.
• Auricular Vagus Nerve stimulation helps treat depression. This research explains why techniques like Qigong self-massage of the ear are so beneficial and how they work.
• Effect of Meridian Acupressure on Aerobic Performance of Healthy Young Population: A Randomized Controlled Study. Turkish study finds that finger-tip acupressure increases aerobic performance of young healthy males more than 10%.
• Spontaneous Qigong (whole body vibration) as effective as Pilates on bone mineral density in postmenopausal women.
• Systematic review finds Qigong reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety in people with physical or mental Illnesses. Baduanjin is one of the older forms of Qigong.
• The Impact of Combined Music and Tai Chi on Depressive Symptoms Among Community-Dwelling Older Persons: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.
• Yoga in Print Media: Missing the Heart of the Practice. Representation of yoga in articles contained in the most popular yoga magazine is heavily biased in favor of physical practices. Recommendations are offered about how to shift media representation of yoga to make the heart of the practice more accessible to individuals who could experience health benefits but currently feel excluded from the practice.
• Non-Pharmacological healing with Mind-Body practice. Dr. Roger Jahnke. video. 1:03:01.
• Teach Kids About Mindfulness With These Everyday Objects
• Yoga found effective for veterans with PTSD symptoms.
• Physical activity and disability outcomes in multiple sclerosis: A systematic review (2011-2016). Physical activity including tai chi was associated with measurable benefits on ability outcomes, but continuation is likely required to maintain benefits. This research confirms what the Qigong community knows so well: you have to keep practicing to maintain the benefits. 
• Systematic review finds acupuncture affects brain networks and connectivity.
• Major Medical School Announces First Dedicated Mindfulness Division. The Division of Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School aims to introduce mindfulness into medical care.
• Tai Chi enhances cognitive health and function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment.
• 12-week Tai Chi program as effective as physical therapy for knee osteoarthritis.
• Systematic review finds mindfulness-based interventions improve quality of life, acceptance of situation, and reduction in depression and anxiety in adults with advanced cancer. Mindfulness is fundamental to Qigong. The authors also recommend simplified and briefer mindfulness sessions which is exactly what Qigong has to offer.
• Substituting Meditation for Detention Apparently Works Wonders For Kids. For years a Baltimore school has sent more difficult students to their "Mindful Moment Room" instead of detention. The result has been zero suspensions.
• 7 Myths About Meditation Preventing You From Grasping The Amazing Benefits of Mindfulness. If you're focused on the wrong things, you won't get the true benefits. The number one way to get the benefits of mindfulness is to practice Qigong.
• UCLA Medical School study finds mindful movement therapies including tai chi are effective therapies for management of common older adult mood, sleep, and cognition disorders.
• An Introduction to Tai Chi. A new special health report from Harvard Medical School. Mind-body exercises, such as tai chi and yoga, have been gaining popularity over the past few decades. This is not surprising, given the increasing number of studies on the positive effects of these gentler forms of exercise—everything from lowering blood pressure and managing depression to building strength and improving balance. There is even evidence that tai chi may help you live a longer, more vital life.
• Teaching meditation and yoga in high school.
• Affective Responses to Acute Bouts of Aerobic Exercise, Mindfulness Meditation, and Combinations of Exercise and Meditation: A Randomized Controlled Intervention. A single bout of brisk walking or meditation, as well as a combination of walking and meditation, may positively influence affect. There is some evidence to suggest that affective benefits may be greater following meditation or a combination of meditation and walking, when compared with walking alone
• Yoga as effective as physical exercise for cardio-respiratory fitness.
• Qigong alleviates musculoskeletal pain and improves overall sleep quality in people with chronic illness. Unfortunately, in the abstract and title they call Baduanjin "mindfulness", and do not mention that Baduanjin (8 pieces of Brocade) is Qigong. Fortunately, Qigong is mentioned multiple times in the article text. "Contemporary concept Qigong practices like Baduanjin enhance physiological proprioception by combining a special state of awareness with posture, movement, and breathe control, and thereby improve and strengthen the overall state of vegetative regulation (homeostasis) [66]. Compared to first line treatments (drugs, cognitive behavioral therapy) and other effective treatment alternatives (e.g., aerobic exercise for insomnia), there are a lot of advantage to use Baduanjin exercise as an adjunctive treatment for patients suffering from pain and from insomnia. It is accessible to people of all ages and physical strength, easy to learn, and has few known side effects."
• Registration is now open for the next National Qigong Association Conference. Friday–Sunday, April 27–29, 2018 DoubleTree by Hilton, Asheville-Biltmore, NC. Three days of workshops, lectures, seminars, and demonstrations presented by over 20 leaders in the fields of Qigong, Taijiquan, and the Energetic Arts, plus networking with friends in the Qigong community, distinctive vendors & products, and a silent auction.
• Tai Chi and Qigong May Improve Motor Function, Depression and Other Symptoms in Lyme-Related Parkinson's Disease
• Qigong practice affects brain alpha and theta activity.
• Tai Chi improves memory and cognition in older adults.
• Tai Chi improves cardiorespiratory fitness for coronary disease patients.
• The acute Effect of “White Ball” Qigong in Perceptual auditory Attention. The correlation between body-mind techniques, practice, and better cognitive performances is a current topic of public interest. Benefits in attention, multi-task management, stress- coping, well-being and general health improvements are documented. Qigong is a therapeutic technique from TCM with great clinical success on cognitive and emotional management. One of the problems with Qigong research is the lack of adequate controls. We recently developed a placebo Qigong and adopted this methodology to the current research study. We were interested whether a single five minutes practice of the White Ball Qi Gong exercise improved the Perceptual Auditory Attention or if a minimum of training is necessary to obtain potential effects.
• Self-healing Retreat for Cancer Patients. May 13-19, 2018. Baltimore, Maryland.
• Move Your Way to a Mindful Meditation Practice. Another yoga teacher discovers Qigong.
• Tai Chi Chuan as Physical Therapy for Knee Pain.
• Easing Ills through Tai Chi. Harvard Magazine. Researchers study the benefits of this mind-body exercise.
• Fundamentals and Benefits of Qigong. Discover the power of this ancient health care practice, and its variety of movement exercises.
• Planning a World Tai Chi and Qigong Day Event for 4/28/18? Here is some helpful information from founder Bill Douglas on how to gain support and sponsorship for your event.
• Defeating Diseases with Energy. Healing with qi. A change in body energy can have a profound effect upon function. “My belief is that mitochondrial dysfunction underlies the etiology of most common complex diseases, as well as aging,” the author says. He explains that a person suffering from chronic headaches might see a neurologist, but there’s also the possibility that “there’s a systemic energy defect causing the headache. There’s nothing wrong anatomically with the brain.” Wallace believes the same can be said for problems with the heart, muscles, renal and endocrine systems. "We've completely ignored energy in Western medical philosophy," the author says.
• Rheumatoid arthritis pain? Tai Chi could improve symptoms in the knee, hip and hands. RHEUMATOID arthritis pain is a condition that causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints - the knees, hips and hands are the most common effected areas. While there is no cure, there are a number of remedies which have been found to ease the pain, including Tai Chi.
• Breathing to Relax and Release Deeply Bound Tension.
• Study finds tai chi significantly reduces depression symptoms in Chinese-Americans. A 12-week program of instruction and practice of the Chinese martial art tai chi led to significantly reduced symptoms of depression in Chinese Americans not receiving any other treatments. The pilot study conducted by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry enrolled members of Boston's Chinese community who had mild to moderate depression.
• Exercise Alters Our Microbiome. Is That One Reason It’s So Good for Us? Researchers found increases in certain microbes due to exercise that help to produce substances called short-chain fatty acids. These fatty acids are believed to aid in reducing inflammation in the gut and the rest of the body. They also work to fight insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes, and otherwise bolster our metabolisms. Almost all of the changes in people’s guts dissipated after six weeks of not exercising. By and large, their microbiomes reverted to what they had been at the study’s start. These results indicate that exercise must be part of one's lifestyle in order for the benefits to last as they do in the life-long practice of Qigong. 
• The Effects of Stress and Meditation on the Immune System, Human Microbiota, and Epigenetics. Psychological stress typically triggers a fight-or-flight response, prompting corticotropin-releasing hormone and catecholamine production in various parts of the body, which ultimately disturbs the microbiota. In the absence of stress, a healthy microbiota produces short-chain fatty acids that exert anti-inflammatory and antitumor effects. During stress, an altered gut microbial population affects the regulation of neurotransmitters mediated by the microbiome and gut barrier function. Meditation helps regulate the stress response, thereby suppressing chronic inflammation states and maintaining a healthy gut-barrier function. The current research team recommends the integration of meditation into conventional health care and wellness models. More information on Qigong and the Microbiome: Food Is Medicine.
• Overview of Systematic Reviews of Mindfulness Meditation-based Interventions (MMI's) for People With Long-term Conditions. Pain acceptance and coping were improved. MMIs are potentially beneficial to people with depression and a range of long-term physical conditions, particularly in improving psychological well-being.
• Want a Better Workout? Just Breathe. Breath work, fundamental to Qigong, is being rediscovered as a way to enhance health, athletic performance, and speed muscular recovery after a workout.
• When You Meditate, You Might Also Be Regulating Your Genes. The article should state that you are definitely regulating your gene expression when meditating (e.g. while doing Qigong). For more information see https://qigonginstitute.org/category/15/epigenetics-and-psychoneuroimmunology#QigongGeneExpression.
• Brief 60-second mindfulness practice aids people with musculoskeletal pain.
• Effects of mindfulness exercises as stand-alone intervention on symptoms of anxiety and depression: Systematic review and meta-analysis. This is the first meta-analysis to show that the mere, regular performance of mindfulness exercises (e.g. Qigong) is beneficial, even without being integrated in larger therapeutic frameworks.
• China reconnects with the religion of Daoism, under the watchful eye of the Communist Party
• Daisy Lee - FREE National Qigong Association Qi Talk. "To start the year off right, we [the NQA] would like to share with you a free link to our recent one-hour Qi Talks interview with Daisy Lee with Vicki Dello Joio. The Qi Talks archive is an exclusive member benefit, but we are sharing this audio recording for all to enjoy."
• Tai Chi for the homeless.