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On Fri, 23 Aug 1996, Jerry Di Lauro ([log in to unmask]) asked whether there were any others practicing Tai Chi. Jerry: My wife (who has been diagnosed with PD for 6 years) and I have been practicing Tai Chi for 6 years now. Actually it is not a co-incidence that the duration of her diagnosis and the length of time we have doing Tai Chi are the same! When my wife was first diagnosed, her neurologist pointed out that many of his patients swear that Tai Chi has helped them considerably. We started going to the Taoist Tai Chi Society right after that. I posted a message several years ago on the subject. The main points I want to add to what you wrote are as follows: 1) To get the most benefit from Tai Chi it is best to take "formal" classes. By doing it from videotapes, etc you do not gain the benefit of the instruction needed to do it properly. Tai Chi requires individual instruction/correction to do it right. Only by doing it properly do you gain the maximum benefit of stretching, flexibility, and strength. 2) There are many forms of Tai Chi. Some emphasize the martial arts beginnings of Tai Chi while others such as the Taoist Tai Chi Society emphasize the stretching and flexibility more. 3) My wife finds that with Tai Chi she is less "achy" than when she has neglected it for awhile. She is finding that she now gets quite tired in the evenings and therefore has more difficulty in taking an evening class (she still works full time during the day as a teacher). During this summer she has taken morning classes and this has helped considerably. I have taught a Special Needs class for Tai Chi and these people are among the strongest advocates of the benefits of Tai Chi. Many of the members of this class are stroke victims, people with MS, advanced arthritis, etc. The stroke patients in particular have found that the Tai Chi has increased their ability to control their muscles better than from the physiotherapy they had received. For the special needs class we have developed a variation of the normal Tai Chi "standing" set which the special needs class can do sitting in chairs. There are Tai Chi organizations in most major cities. If you are interested give them a try! Norm Ichiyen (P) Ruth Ichiyen, 48, 6 Mississauga, Ontario, Canada