Many problems defy solution on their own terms. Among these are, in no particular order, anxiety, loneliness, frustration, fear, self-consciousness, anger, sadness, lust... None of these are problems in their own right, but each of them contains the seed of a problem, of illness or pain.
Finding focus in physical activity that requires attention and concentration allows one to flee one's mind, and to reside in the other limbs. In doing so, the errant or overly focused mental energy finds expression and release in the activity of the body. The physical sensation is that of any exercise or exertion. The mental sensation is one of emptiness, and, apparent only later, relief. The yogic mantra "Maranatha", meaning "Lord come", need not be invoked if a relaxed emptiness is cultivated in the mind, a "low pressure system" as it were, created not by esoteric thought or mental exertion, but rather by its opposite. The mind empties itself into the rest of the body.
In this state, I can feel that it is not my situation that is unwell, but rather my attitude toward it. Loneliness, fear, anxiety, anger are not of themselves maladies, nor are they "bad" thoughts or states of being. Rather, they are the natural reaction of the mind and the mental self to the impacts of life's various projectiles. It is the fear of these states, the internal unhappiness, the stress and quality of mental pain that one ascribes to these states, that is the problem. Relaxation, release, seeking asylum in one's limbs, assisted by the physical meditation in motion of tai chi, cures that pain, and leaves one clear to experience but not recoil from these natural states of being.
There is no fate to be feared, if clarity and inner peace are present. The result, the end, the teleogical outcome of the present is but an illusion, and a dangerous one from the moment it is permitted to usurp the focus on and in the present, the continual ongoing cultivation of calm, peace, and mental ease in the now, in priority to all other goals. Like any muscle, the mind works best when it is loose. Rushing is the first mistake, hurry the one activity from which all inner sins are born.