Agenda

Promoting a Healthy Brain into Old Age: Making Brain Health a Lifelong Habit.

Thanks to advances in medicine and public health, we are living longer lives. However, more years of life are currently associated largely with more years of disability, not with more years of health and well-being. Brain disorders are the leading cause of disability across the lifespan, greater than disability due to cancer or cardiovascular diseases combined. The challenge is to reduce the impact of brain disorders and the disabilities they cause. Treating neurological and psychiatric diseases is a necessary strategy, but it is not sufficient. It is essential to maintain brain health throughout the entire lifespan, making the brain more resilient to changes or diseases that may arise. This requires understanding human life as a continuous process of development, in which certain capacities are gained and others are gradually lost, and in which it is possible to promote resilience and cognitive (brain) reserve. In addition, the brain monitors and promotes the health of the body, and a healthy brain is essential for overall health and well-being. Therefore, promoting brain health is crucial, but it needs to be done in the context of the full person and their circumstances. Each individual needs to be empowered to define and pursue their brain health goals. To address this major challenge, we need a different approach: a “Pit Stop Model for Brain Care”, focused on Population Screening, Early Detection, Early Intervention, Empowering of Patient and Family, Considering the Whole Person and Their Circumstances, Longitudinal Monitoring, and Leveraging of Mobile / Digital Technologies. We need to rethink public health, health policy, education, and individual habits and lifestyles. Recent advances in neuroscience make it possible to inform and recommend an evidence-based approach, including mind-body therapies such as Tai Chi and Qigong, and the identification and modulation of spatiotemporal patterns of brain activity offer a personalized and transformative therapeutic approach. The use of mobile technologies makes it possible to empower individuals to define their brain health goals, monitor progress, and achieve them. The goal is to promote brain health and resilience to prevent brain diseases, and in the presence of disease minimize the risk of disability and optimize function.

Dual-Task Gait: A Dynamic Measure of Mind Body Health and Intervention Effectiveness

The ability to walk while simultaneously performing additional cognitive tasks (i.e., dual tasking) relies on a complex control system that integrates multiple sensory modalities, spinal and supraspinal neural networks, and the peripheral neuromuscular system. Accordingly, assessments of dual-task gait offer unique and valuable insights into mind–body health across the lifespan. These assessments are also particularly sensitive to the beneficial effects of Tai Chi and other mind–body interventions. Traditionally, dual-task gait testing has required specialized equipment and trained personnel to administer assessments in laboratory or clinical environments. As a result, such tests are performed infrequently and are often inaccessible to many vulnerable populations. To address this limitation, we developed and validated a smartphone app that enables self-administration of normal and dual-task walking by leveraging the phone’s ability to deliver multimedia instructions and record motion while placed in the user’s pants pocket. A series of studies have since demonstrated the app’s usability, as well as the validity and test–retest reliability of several gait-performance metrics in younger adults and in older adults both with and without physical or motor impairments. This talk will provide a brief overview of these developmental studies, discuss the advantages and limitations of this new gait-assessment tool, and highlight several successful examples of its implementation in clinical research involving vulnerable older adults.

The Neuroscience of Mind-Body Therapies for Brain Health

Mind-body therapies (yoga, meditation, tai chi) improve brain health by enhancing the connection between cortical networks, which manage thought and planning, and bodily control centers, along with reducing stress and improving psychological resilience and mental and physical health. These mind-body practices promote neuroplasticity, reverse cellular aging, reduce chronic stress, modulate autonomic functions via vagal tone enhancement, and reduce inflammation, thus improving the Whole Person Health and boosting resilience and well-being.
This presentation will review the evidence supporting the use of Tai Chi for treatment and prevention of neuropsychiatric, physical and mental disorders of aging, and its contribution to brain health. Participants will learn about neurophysiological changes that occur with Tai Chi and other mind-body practices, as well as clinical applications of these practices for treatment and prevention of the neuropsychiatric disorders of aging.

Mind-Body Interventions in the Age of AI: Balancing Opportunities and Threats, Today and Tomorrow

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies into the science and practice of mind–body interventions such as Tai Chi and Qigong is reshaping how we understand, deliver, and evaluate prevention and treatment. Mind–body interventions engage complex multisystem physiology that can now be explored through wearable, in-home, and ecological sensing technologies. To translate this wealth of data into meaningful insight, new digital and data competencies are needed across disciplines and professions. AI-driven tools create opportunities for interprofessional and human–AI care teams to collaborate in prevention and personalized care. Yet realizing this potential requires inter- and transdisciplinary participation — linking clinicians, researchers and patients in the co-design of tools that are user-centric, trustworthy, and inclusive. Participatory approaches ensure that innovation aligns with the lived experience of both patients and practitioners, preserving the human connection that defines mind–body practice. Trust, transparency, and ethical stewardship are essential to guide this transformation. As digital twins — a virtual replica of a patient using real-time clinical and physiological data. — emerge, they promise unprecedented precision in understanding and optimizing Tai Chi and Qigong interventions. At the same time, they raise critical questions about data ownership, equity, and the role of human expertise. This talk will also explore how inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration can shape a responsible digital future for mind–body interventions: one where data, technology, and human wisdom converge to advance prevention and treatment for the whole person

Safeguarding the Gift of Movement: Technology for Preventing and Treating Motor Impairment

Movement is fundamental to independence, health, and overall well-being, yet many older adults experience motor impairments that significantly limit daily function. Conditions such as osteoarthritis, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, peripheral neuropathy, and age-related muscle weakness are among the most common contributors to loss of motor abilities. As the population ages, preventing motor decline and providing effective, accessible rehabilitation have become urgent priorities.
This talk explores emerging technologies designed to safeguard motor abilities by enabling both proactive prevention and responsive intervention. Advances in wearable technology, digital biomarkers, robotics, and AI-driven data analytics are transforming our ability to detect early signs of motor deterioration, often before clinical symptoms are evident. These tools provide continuous, real-world assessment of gait, balance, physical activity, and joint function, allowing clinicians to identify risks for falls, functional decline, or worsening of chronic conditions.
Equally important are new models of home-based rehabilitation that bring personalized therapy beyond the clinic. Intelligent exercise-coaching platforms, remote monitoring systems, and rehabilitation robots support engaging, adaptive training that can be delivered in the comfort of an individual’s home. These technologies extend the reach of clinicians, promote long-term adherence, and provide older adults with interventions tailored to their goals, abilities, and daily environments. For individuals recovering from stroke or managing chronic conditions like osteoarthritis and stroke, such home-centered solutions can dramatically improve access to therapy and support sustained functional gains.
By integrating insights from biomechanics, neuroengineering, and clinical rehabilitation, this presentation highlights how technology can help preserve the “gift of movement” across the aging continuum. We will discuss the current state of innovation, barriers to widespread adoption, and a vision for future systems that seamlessly detect risk, deliver timely intervention, and empower older adults to maintain mobility and independence throughout life.

Showcase Speaker: Tele-Tai Chi: Use of Wearable Sensors and Machine Learning to Monitor Tai Chi Proficiency in the Home Environment

Showcase Speaker:Tai Chi Monitoring with Motion Capture: A Comparative Analysis and XR Integration Background

Showcase Speaker: The Use of Home Sleep Monitoring and Mind-Body Apps in Insomnia

Whole Person Cancer Care

Whole person cancer care involves learning what matters most to patients and engaging them in health and wellness behaviors that influence their quality of life and longevity as the cancer is treated. Such care explicitly addresses mind-body-behavior-social and spiritual aspects of a person’s life. This helps oncology teams manage the fear and confusion that come along with the disease, helps patients become empowered in their own care, helps oncology teams find greater joy in their work by connecting more deeply with patients, and reintegrates healing into medicine.
In this talk we will define whole person cancer care and illustrate how this type of care can be advanced oncology. We summarize the science behind whole person care and the evidence that supports its application. With case studies and data, we will describe how it’s being done from small clinics to large institutions. Finally, we will introduce some tools and resources available that oncologists, cancer care teams, and people with cancer can incorporate into their own healing journey.

Integrative Oncology: Whole Person Care for People with Cancer

Dr. Mao's presentation on integrative oncology will delve into the definition of this holistic approach to cancer care and the therapeutic interventions it encompasses. By emphasizing the significance of research in developing evidence-informed practices, Dr. Mao will underscore the importance of integrating complementary therapies with conventional cancer treatments. Specific highlights will include the benefits and efficacy of Tai Chi as well as the role of digital health interventions in enhancing patient outcomes. Through this presentation, attendees will gain insights into the evolving landscape of integrative oncology, the role of evidence-based practices, and emerging concept of whole person care for people with cancer.

Integrating Mind-Body Movement into the Cancer Journey

Connective tissue and interoception: emerging links and potential impact on understanding whole person health.

Interoception is a fundamental biological interface between brain and body that is central to whole person physiology, while connective tissue forms a body-wide network interfacing with all body organs and systems. Research advances in both interoception and connective tissue are gaining momentum as exciting new techniques and research methods are being developed. Although so far the two fields are mostly separate, exciting links are beginning to emerge between connective tissue and interoception that could have a profound impact on our understanding of whole person health.

Mitochondria, Energy Resistance, and the Healing Process

This presentation will describe the Energy Resistance Principle (ERP). This principle reveals how similar to the way in which resistance is required to convert electricity into power within physical systems, biological transformation requires resistance to energy flow through the biological and metabolic circuitry of our body. However, excessive resistance to energy flow drives the molecular signals, biochemical recalibrations, and behavioral phenotypes of common chronic illnesses. Health, then, is the fine-tuning of energy resistance through mitochondria and other elements of the body-mind unit. Over time, the healing process emerges from the regular, rhythmic shifts between low and high energy resistance.

Energy Therapies in Oncology: Mechanistic Insights and Implications for Cancer Care

External Qigong and other biofield therapies such as Reiki, Healing Touch, Therapeutic Touch, and Bengston Cycling are increasingly used in integrative oncology, yet remain controversial due to the absence of widely accepted mechanisms. This presentation will review the state of science on these interventions, focusing on preclinical and translational research that explores their biological plausibility. Evidence from rigorous cell and animal studies suggests that biofield therapies can influence cancer-relevant processes, including proliferation, invasion, and metastasis, while modulating cell cycle regulators, membrane voltage potential, and cytoskeletal dynamics. These findings point to possible bioelectrochemical and signaling pathways involved in tumor progression.
The session will also highlight novel approaches using simultaneous electrophysiological recordings in practitioners and targets, revealing reproducible changes in EEG patterns during treatment and intriguing correlations with cellular markers and mouse EEGs. While these results suggest complex practitioner–target interactions, they underscore methodological challenges. Discussion will focus on emerging hypotheses involving electromagnetic fields, biophotons, and consciousness-based models. Attendees will gain insight into why this research matters for integrative oncology and the steps being taken to strengthen scientific rigor, paving the way for future studies that bridge traditional practices like Qigong with modern biomedical science.