Vol 9, Issue 3/2002

Qigong and Taijiquan as »Mind Softeners«

Thoughts on sensory integration and the ability to adjust to life’s ups and downs. By Christian Auerbach

Our perceptual abilities go far beyond the normally cited senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch when it comes to perceiving both our surroundings and the processes within our bodies. Stimuli can be received and processed through several »reception channels« simultaneously. Christian Auerbach conducts an intensive study of these processes and of the further processing of sensory stimuli by the nervous system and the brain. The findings of the neurobiologist Prof. Dr. Gerald Hüther lead him to the conclusion that stress reactions play a central role in the development of diverse and complex connections in the brain. He believes that in order to master these creatively it is useful to develop both stability and the ability to deal with new information; these are areas in which Taijiquan and Qigong provide rich opportunities.

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