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Tai Chi Research at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
The field of Tai Chi research is rapidly growing, and Peter is an internationally recognized contributor in this discipline. Peter's Tai Chi research takes place at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, jointly based at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Other Tree of Life instructors also regularly teach in clinical trials. However, the Tree of Life Tai Chi Center LLC is not formally involved in research and receives no research support. As research director of the Osher Center, Peter oversees a portfolio of studies related to integrative medicine, including a number of Tai Chi and mind-body studies. To date, researchers from the Osher Center have engaged in more than 15 studies of Tai Chi (some of which are ongoing), the majority funded by the National Institutes for Health. These studies include evaluation of the clinical benefits and physiological basis of Tai Chi for:
- Chronic heart failure
- Obesity and cardiovascular risks
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Vestibular (inner ear) balance disorders
- Osteoporosis (low bone density)
- Depression
- Parkinson's disease
Summaries of completed research can be found in peer-reviewed scientific publications and in The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi.
"Tai Chi has a relatively stable nucleus of movement principles and internal energetics, but has a cell membrane that interacts with great fluidity to its environment."
Douglas Wile
Tai Chi historian and scholar
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