CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Taiji master Yang Yang, an adjunct professor of kinesiology at the University of Illinois, is featured in a new, permanent exhibit that opened Oct. 8 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Yang Yang is the author of “Taijiquan: The Art of Nurturing, the Science of Power,” which was recommended this month by the authors of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter.
Yang, who also is the director of the Center for Taiji and Qigong Studies in Champaign and New York City, is one of 11 people selected nationally to be featured in biographical videos that are part of the exhibit “YOU! The Experience.” The exhibit showcases connections among the human body, mind and spirit, and explores topics related to personal health and well-being.
The videos focus on the personal stories of people who have overcome physical limitations to stay active.
Also appearing in the video featuring Yang, titled “Taiji for Life,” are Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, the head of the department of kinesiology and community health at Illinois, and former department head Alyce Cheska. Additional footage in the film features many of Yang’s students from the Champaign-based taiji center practicing taiji and qigong, a related form of mind-body-enhancing exercise.
The video, which was taped at the Activities and Recreation Center on the U. of I. campus, documents Yang’s life history and includes an interview with him. In it, he explains the physical and mental principals of the traditional Chinese exercise practice known alternately as taiji, or tai chi, and talks about how its practice saved his life.
The video narration explains that as a boy, Yang was chronically weak as a result of a congenital heart defect, and that doctors indicated he would not survive without surgery.
However, at the suggestion of an uncle who was a taiji master, Yang began to practice the traditional art, which he credits with restoring his health.
As a young adult, he went to college, won national martial arts championships and studied with several 18th-generation grandmasters of the Chen style. He later earned a doctorate in kinesiology from Illinois, where his research focused on the efficacy of taiji and qigong practice for older adults.
Yang, who lives and works in Champaign and in New York City, is the author of “Taijiquan: The Art of Nurturing, the Science of Power,” which was recommended this month by the authors of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter.
He has presented his evidence-based taiji and qigong programs at a number of prominent medical/health centers and organizations, including the Mayo Clinic, the Hospital for Special Surgery, National Institutes of Health, American Public Health Association, International Council on Active Aging and other prominent medical/health centers and organizations. Yang recently hosted a training session during a roundtable meeting for leaders of the World Bank at the organization’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
For more information on “YOU! The Experience” at the Museum of Science and Industry, visit www.msichicago.org/you.
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