I discovered the other day that one of my fellow Tai Chi teachers, who is also an executive coach, did his Ashridge Masters thesis on the linkages between Tai Chi and coaching. It made me realise that, although Tai Chi is a very big part of my life and certainly supports my coaching, I have until now never blogged about it. So let me pick out one linkage I make right now - Tai Chi and management of the limbic response. And in future I may share some of his insights.
In many other posts (and on my website) I have explained the neurobiology of the limbic response. Stong negative emotions (eg fear) limit our ability to respond. We simply react - typically with "fight", "flight" or "freeze". We get rigid (inflexible) and lose the ability to empathise or to act "intentionally". When we are stuck like this, one way to free ourselves up is to change our perception of the situation and thus reduce our limbic response - that is the goal of a lot of coaching.
But it also works the other way around. If we can relax the body's reaction we can directly reduce the linbic response, which in turn can change our perception. Which is where Tai Chi helps. Tai Chi is all about relaxation. When we practice our solo form we seek to eliminate tension and maintain relaxation throughout the exercise. And when we practice Tai Chi as a martial art (ie the two person exercise of "Pushing Hands" or "Sensing Hands") we are directly training our body not to react with fight, flight or freeze, even under the actual physical threat of another's contact (their push). When we stay relaxed, we continue to sense where the other person is coming from (equivalent to empathising) and we use our connection with them to re-direct them - not fight, not flight and not freeze.
In the longer term, confidence in the power of staying relaxed actually changes your habitual fear response - the world and other people become less threatening. The corresponding reduction in fear (ie stress) in your life is clearly one of the health benefits of Tai Chi. But in the context of business leadership, the true benefit of Tai Chi (like other mindfulness practices) is in improving your ability to manage your limbic response - a huge advantage in almost any situation.
