But Tai Chi may do more than help with stiff shoulders. Recently, the medical community has begun looking at Tai Chi more closely.

Lee says that he is currently working with researchers at the Harvard Medical School to see if Tai Chi can be used can be used as physical therapy for people with diabetes, osteoporosis or arthritis.

Lee encourages anyone interested in Tai Chi to "just show up" at any of his classes, which are held Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon and 5:30 at the MAC.

Yoga is another exercise alternative offered at the MAC that is said to help relieve stress. Sessions last from one to two hours and are taught five days a week by two different instructors.

Stephanie L. Hunter, a third-year at Harvard Law School, began taking yoga at the MAC this semester and says it is yoga an easy way to relieve stress.

"It's wonderful. By the time you've stretched for an hour, you're completely relaxed," Hunter says.

There are many different ways to teach yoga, and Hunter says the classes at the MAC are more focused on exercise than other programs.

"It's predominantly stretching but by the time you've stretched, you get the heart rate up," she says.

Other approaches to yoga emphasize its spiritual and mental aspects.

Students can also take yoga at Bodyworks Cambridge, where director Ayn Rose has been teaching yoga for over 20 years with an approach that she says will bring out the vitality in her students.

"To me, yoga is the union of the body and the mind," says Rose, adding that she teaches yoga not so much as a form of exercise but to allow a person "to become more focused and relaxed, and to have more energy."

Bodyworks also offers massage sessions. It is located at 329 Broadway in Cambridge. To sign up for a class, call 868-3777.