f youve ever suffered from acid indigestion, acid reflux, or even heartburn,

you know the symptoms well: a searing pain that shoots from your stomach
up into your throat after a night of overindulgence (maybe that second
helping of lasagna plus a generous slice of tiramisu wasnt a good idea
after all), coupled with an acrid acidic taste in the back of your mouth,
nausea, and sometimes even neck and upper back pain. While your first
inclination is to reach for the Tums bottle, you may want to rethink your
strategy and consider a more holistic approach.
Heartburn, a common problem affecting 1 in 10 Americans every day, is
often a symptom of a more complex condition known as GERD. GERD,
which stands for gastroesophageal reflux disease, is caused by stomach
acid moving up (refluxing) into the esophagus and irritating its sensitive
lining. Heartburn doesnt always show up when you have GERD or acid
reflux; sometimes you experience coughing, hoarseness, and wheezing
instead of pain. When GERD becomes chronic, lasting over a period of
months and years, it can cause erosions, ulcers, and strictures in the
esophagus, and even cancer. Most of the patients I see with GERD depend
on medication to manage their reflux. So theyre relieved, and sometimes
surprised, when I tell them that they can reduce their symptoms, and
eventually resolve them, with natural medicine.
, or cycling, tai chi is a
mind/body practice of the sort that yoga is intended to be, offering benefits that transcend the purely
physical. Intellectually understanding tai chis philosophical concepts leads to a change of mind, and
performing tai chi movements leads to a change of body. When the mind and body engage in a
dialogue of hormones and neurotransmitters, the transformational effects of the practice are
enhanced
in an exponential way. In TCM terms, we can say that as a system, tai chi benefits the level and
distribution of our energy by bolstering some dimension of movement here, some emotional and
intellectual facet there.