According to a study by the German Society for Neurology, people with Parkinson's move more safely if they practice Tai Chi twice a week.

The German Society for Neurology reports on an American study that for the first time showed the positive effects of Tai Chi exercises for Parkinson's patients. 194 people with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease took part in the study.

The researchers trained tai chi for an hour twice a week with a third of the patients over a period of six months.

In this Chinese martial art, soft, flowing movements are the focus.

Another part of the participants did strength training instead and the rest did stretching.

In terms of posture security, Tai-Chi did the best, stretching exercises brought no improvement. During the six months, a total of 76 patients fell - least often in the tai chi group, most frequently in the stretching group.

Numerous Parkinson's self-help groups now offer Tai Chi courses. I took my first steps with Tai Chi with the help of YouTube videos.

What I liked best was the online courses from Leia Cohen, which I present here in 4 modules.

Leia Cohen is a gifted Tai Chi teacher and her exercises were not difficult to learn, especially for me as a Parkinson's patient, and they are still part of my daily training program today.

Meanwhile I am also active every Monday in a Tai Chi group of the German Parkinson's Association in Munich. On (almost) all other days, I do a 20-minute short program that I put together from Leia's videos.

Attention:

Be sure to adapt the individual forms of movement to your constitution.

If necessary, practice sitting down or leaning against a table.

Smooth, fluid movements and breathing are more important than perfect execution.

Leia speaks English in the 4 videos and I have deliberately left it at that in order to maintain the authenticity. You understand the exercises very well even without their commentary.

Have fun at TAI CHI with Leia Cohen.