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6 Tips for Longevity, Happiness and Better Fitness in The Year of The Ox
A Guide to Chinese Exercise and Wellbeing

The Year of the Ox begins tonight! The Chinese New Year is a wonderful opportunity to honour Chinese contributions to fitness and celebrate cultural traditions. Sort out your chi, slurp up some noodles and exercise your inner monkey to ensure a healthy and happy year to come.

1.

WORKOUT: Wushu
Want a group exercise that's new, athletic and fun? Try Wushu! It's the martial art in the cool style of Jet Li that you've secretly wanted to do, but never had the courage or opportunity. Full-contact sparring includes fearsome stances, high-flying kicks, spins and flips while developing the explosiveness of a 100-metre sprinter and the elegance of a ballet dancer. Few fitness classes let you use weapons, so here's your chance to try both graceful and deadly wielded at break-neck speeds (once you get good). You'll find excellent coaching helps so you won't look like the bloopers at the end of Jackie Chan movies.

Or...

Tai Chi
Known as the graceful, soft martial art, Tai Chi is famous for its slow, low-impact and precise movements. The poses enhance balance, body awareness and unlock deep reserves of energy as they promote regeneration of the nervous system. The name Tai Chi refers to the interplay between two opposing energy forces popularized by the black & white symbols: yin (receptive) and yang (active). Tai Chi students first learn yin's gentle, mediative moves before yang's fast, high-impact sparring style with open hand strikes and lower-than-hip kicks. Feeling centered and achieving a calm balance within yourself when encountering various energy forces is the goal of all Tai Chi exercises. Students of any age and fitness level are taught one movement at a time, mastering it before moving on to the next to create a sequence. Explore Tai Chi via a DVD, book, or by joining a class held most mornings.

2.

SIP: Green Tea
Researchers speculate that substances in green tea known as polyphenols, specifically the catechins, are responsible for the herb's fat-burning effect. Sipping four cups of green tea daily also plays a role in reducing high cholesterol, risks of cancer and controlling diabetes. Whether in capsules, smoothies or brewed cold, green tea can offer powerful antioxidant benefits and even one half cup of ice cream counts toward health goals as it spoons up exquisite taste.

3.

COOK: Chow Mein
It's a given you're passing up Peking Duck, but you can safely tuck into a big dish of noodles tonight. Shirataki noodles are a blend of yam and tofu, which makes the, um, mein health difference, if looking to celebrate New Year's with chicken, beef, shrimp, tuna or tofu dishes. With just 20 calories and a measly half gram of fat per serving, Shirataki noodles are the world's best kept secret. For the same amount of calories, you can eat 10 times as much of these noodles as regular pasta! That means you won't be celebrating The Year of The Pig. Low in sodium (15mg), these noodles come in three different styles: Fettuccine, Spaghetti and their newest (and some say best) style, Angel Hair. Find them at Whole Foods.

4.

WEAR: Slippers Tradition has it that wearing something new tonight encourages good fortune all year, so after the Dragon Parade or The Firecracker Run sport massage slippers (they aren't glam enough to wear outdoors) to relieve tired legs. Although the original concept seems inspired by pebbles caught in sandals (and how comfy can that be?), reflexology slides can help your body organs to function optimally. The slipper's bumpy insole acts as pressure points on your foot to stimulate zones of electrical energy along your nervous system to promote healing, improve circulation and reduce stress.

5.

USE: Balls
Chinese exercise hand balls are famously used to improve health through pressure points and sound (it's said the hand ball stimulates vital organs and unblocks energy to relieve fatigue). But put your hands (and body) to better use with a Bosu ball. This apparatus' unique combination of stability and instability shifts you in and out of balance, which requires activation of your core muscles. With dome side up, the ball provides an unstable surface while the platform remains stable. That's why it's part of athletic drills for multidirectional sports like soccer. Flipped over, the board offers excellent training for skate and snow boarders who need conditioning that effectively works multiple muscles in the manner they're e used for sport. Everybody part can be exercised on the Bosu trainer, all the while enhancing coordination. Even compound movements that involve many muscles groups at once, like shoulder press and squat, can be performed with a Bosu resulting in an express workout which cuts down time spent in the gym.

6.

FOLLOW: Scott Davis
If you're feeling not-quite-right, integrate the healing benefits of yoga and traditional Chinese medicine to provide a holistic platform for overall health. Boost your energy (chi) the Chinese way to treat depression, anxiety and a general lack of verve with acupuncture and herbs. An hour-long session in Davis' soothing Annex office, listening to chimes with needles in your bod, is surprisingly relaxing. In no time you'll be unstuck when healing arises spontaneously to restore balance and health.