Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) is a traditional Chinese exercise that aims to promote the coordination of the body, mind, and spirit through a slow sequence of movements (e.g., deep breathing and pushing hands). TCC is also regarded as a mindfulness-based exercise emphasizing physical balance and mental concentration to maintain an attentive presence (La Forge, 2016). Currently, TCC is being promoted in many Chinese communities as an aerobic exercise with mild-to-moderate intensity. Existing studies have proved the beneficial effects of TTC for people of all ages, but only small-to-moderate effects on mental health were observed (see Yin et al., 2023, for a meta-analysis). This could be because some training programs teach TCC as a purely physical exercise regimen and do not emphasize the mindful aspect of the process (Henning et al., 2021). Simply imitating movement without understanding TTC from the perspective of meditation and mindfulness will weaken its health benefits, especially for beginners of TCC. Therefore, we developed a mindfulness-enhanced Tai Chi Chuan (MTCC) intervention, which involves traditional TTC training with a unique emphasis on mindfulness, to maximize the benefits of TTC for beginners.

TCC is a form of mild-to-moderate aerobic activity often recommended for the elderly to attenuate the decline of physical and psychological functions (Leung et al., 2022). However, TCC may also provide an exercise alternative for young adults who live a sedentary lifestyle and are at risk of preventable diseases but lack the motivation to engage in more conventional exercise (Lin et al., 2022). Additionally, TCC can help individuals attain a meditative state of mind, which allows them to concentrate on the present moment and counteract daily stresses by activating the parasympathetic nervous system (Yeung et al., 2018). This can be particularly beneficial for young adults who are at risk of experiencing chronic stress and the resulting higher likelihood of developing mental health problems. A systematic review including 9,263 participants from 76 studies proved that TCC is likely to benefit college students by increasing flexibility, reducing symptoms of depression, decreasing anxiety, and improving interpersonal sensitivity (Webster et al., 2016). Considering these benefits, more and more Chinese universities have begun offering TCC training programs as part of physical education courses.

However, previous studies on the effects of TCC among young adults have produced conflicting results, particularly regarding its mental health benefits. For instance, one RCT reported no significant improvement in psychological outcomes such as mindfulness, stress, and mood among college students after TCC exercise (Zheng et al., 2015). Research also revealed that the effectiveness of TCC was not as good as other mind–body exercises such as Yoga, Mindfulness, and Yi Jin Jing (Hua and Sun, 2021; Shen et al., 2018). A possible explanation for these unsatisfactory results could be that some TCC programs focus primarily on practicing movements, relatively neglecting the importance of the mindfulness component. Mindfulness embedded within TCC emphasizes a profound inward mental focus over and above the physical movements, distinguishing TCC from conventional exercises such as running and swimming (La Forge, 2016). However, during the traditional TCC training, the instructor usually did not verbally introduce or periodically guide “mindfulness.” Consequently, it may be challenging for young beginners to understand the connotations of TCC from the perspective of mindfulness and psychologically benefit from it.

Researchers have investigated the health benefits of mindfulness-based Tai Chi Chuan in physical and mental health (Zhang et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2021). The mindfulness-based Tai Chi Chuan involves modified exercise forms mixed mindfulness and simplified 24 short-form TCC, mainly focused on present, non-judgment, peaceful state involving TCC movements (Zhang et al., 2018). However, we believe that simply combining mindfulness skills with traditional TCC forms may not be enough. It is also essential to consider enhancing mindfulness components during the arrangement of TCC forms. Based on this idea, we developed a 16-form Taiyi Mirrored-heart Chuan with a unique emphasis on mindfulness and further formed a complete Mindfulness-enhanced Tai Chi Chuan (MTCC) intervention program.

Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of the Mindfulness-enhanced Tai Chi Chuan intervention for mental health and physical fitness in young beginners with a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design. We hypothesized that the intervention would increase participants’ mindfulness and physical fitness while reducing psychological distress (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress).

There were no significant baseline differences between the MTCC group and the TCC group in demographic characteristics or study variables (p > 0.05). Table 1 displays the descriptive statistics of the study variables for the two groups.

As shown in Table 2 and Figure 2, repeated-measures ANOVA indicated significant interactions between time and group in mindfulness (F (1, 117) = 4.038, p = 0.047, η² = 0.033), anxiety (F (1, 117) = 4.640, p = 0.033, η² = 0.038), and stress (F (1, 117) = 6.191, p = 0.014, η² = 0.050). Small to moderate effect sizes were observed for these outcomes. There was no significant interaction in depression (F (1, 117) = 2.779, p = 0.098, η² = 0.023). Within-group simple effect analysis showed that for the MTCC group, the mean scores in mindfulness (F (1, 117) = 13.224, p < 0.001, η² = 0.102) increased, as well as depression (F (1, 117) = 12.149, p < 0.001, η² = 0.094), anxiety (F (1, 117) = 31.965, p < 0.001, η² = 0.215) and stress (F (1, 98) = 17.845, p < 0.001, η² = 0.132) decreased significantly after the intervention in the MTCC group. However, there were no significant changes in the TCC group (p > 0.05).

Regarding the intervention effect on physical fitness, repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant interaction effect between time and group in health-related physical fitness (F (1, 117) = 31.089, p < 0.001, η² = 0.210) and skill-related physical fitness (F (1, 117) = 9.530, p = 0.003, η² = 0.075). Moderate to large effect sizes were observed for these outcomes. Within-group simple effect analysis showed that scores for health-related physical fitness increased significantly after intervention in both the MTCC group (F (1, 117) = 305.719, p < 0.001, η² = 0.723) and the TCC group (F (1, 117) = 57.179, p < 0.001, η² = 0.328). Similarly, scores for skill-related physical fitness increased significantly after intervention in both the MTCC group (F (1, 117) = 268.118, p < 0.001, η² = 0.696) and the TCC group (F (1, 117) = 97.707, p < 0.001, η² = 0.455).

This study aimed to examine the effects of a 10-week Mindfulness-enhanced Tai Chi Chuan (MTCC) intervention on enhancing mental health and physical fitness among beginners. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to optimize the benefits of TCC for young beginners by incorporating and enhancing mindfulness components during the training. The results indicated that, compared to TCC, MTCC significantly improved participants’ health—and skill-related physical fitness. Additionally, participants who received MTCC showed significant improvement in mindfulness, and reductions in stress and anxiety.

Compared to traditional Tai Chi Chuan, one prominent feature of MTCC was the emphasis on a mindful state when practicing movements. In the present study, this enhancement has proven successful as participants who practiced MTCC demonstrated significantly greater improvements in health-and skill-related physical fitness. A meta-analysis on mindfulness-based interventions have found small to moderate effect sizes of mindfulness-based interventions for physical conditions (Crowe et al., 2016). The moderate to large effect sizes observed in the present study suggest that MTCC holds promise as an effective intervention for promoting physical fitness in the college student population. These additional benefits are likely due to the mindfulness-enhanced components, which increase awareness and attention to body movements and sensations during MTCC practice (Wimmer et al., 2020). This heightened awareness, in turn, may facilitate the learning and performance of complex and coordinated movements, contributing to physical fitness gains.

Moreover, the MTCC program has proven to be more than just a physical fitness program. The results showed that MTCC have small to moderate effects on improving mindfulness while reducing anxiety and stress among beginners, which is consistent with effect sizes reported in meta-analyses of mindfulness-based interventions (Dawson et al., 2019; Galante et al., 2023). Given the pervasive nature of mental health challenges, these effect sizes, although not large, underscore the practical significance of MTCC as a potential tool for addressing psychological distress among young adults. The beneficial effects of MTCC on mental health are driven by the embedded mindfulness components, which cultivate the awareness and acceptance of one’s thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations (Treves et al., 2019). This enhanced mind state reduces the negative appraisal and rumination of stressful events (Michl et al., 2013) and equips individuals with skills for managing stress and promoting emotional resilience (Galante et al., 2018). Additionally, MTCC integrated the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of Tai Chi Chuan with mindful awareness, which may have synergistic effects on psychological well-being (Si et al., 2020).

Inconsistent with our hypotheses, we did not find significant changes in depression from baseline to post-intervention in the MTCC group compared to the TCC group. One possible reason for this unexpected finding is that the depression levels in our sample were relatively low, leaving little room for further improvement. It is also worth noting that previous studies have typically used a frequency of twice a week (Zhang et al., 2018) or three times a week (Chen et al., 2021) to ensure training effectiveness. Our weekly intervention may not have been sufficient to produce clinically significant changes, especially for students with mild to moderate depressive symptoms. However, we did find trends that participants in the MTCC group showed more reduction in depression from baseline to post-intervention. This result also suggests that we may consider further optimizing the intervention program to enhance the effect.

In conclusion, this study proved that a 10-week mindfulness-enhanced Tai Chi Chuan (MTCC) intervention effectively promotes physical fitness and mental health in beginners. These findings suggest that MTCC, which emphasizes the mindful essence of Tai Chi Chuan, offers unique advantages for beginners to improve their understanding of Tai Chi Chuan, and promote physical and mental well-being. It can be recommended as a more accessible and effective intervention for individuals new to Tai Chi Chuan. In future studies, follow-up assessments, multimodal data collection, and mechanism exploration will be needed to further optimize the MTCC program.