In the present study, an attempt was made to investigate the effects of Tai Chi training on improving physical functions in patients with coronary heart diseases. Participants of this study were patients (N=30) at Baystate Medical Center who have gone through the first two phases of recovery after heart surgery or a cardiac event and planned to get involved in the third phase of recovery. An informed consent form was obtained from each participant prior to the beginning of the study. Participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group with equal number of males (n=9) and females (n=6) in each group. The study lasted 12 weeks and consisted of a pretest, an intervention phase, and a posttest. On the pretest, all participants were required to take physical function tests designed for older adults which included chair stand in 30 seconds (leg strength), chair sit-and-reach (flexibility), 8-foot up-and-go (agility), one foot stand (balance), and 2-minute step (cardiovascular endurance). During the intervention phase, participants in the experimental group were required to attend two 1-hour Tai Chi classes per week offered by a well trained Tai Chi instructor whereas those in the control group were not asked to do so but were contacted by the study coordinator to discuss issues related to their cardiac and health condition. All the participants were encouraged to continue their standard cardiac rehabilitation activities and routine care procedures. At the end of the intervention phase, all participants were asked to take a posttest with procedures similar to those used on the pretest. A 2 x 2 (Group x Test) MANOVA with repeated measures was conducted to examine any differences in the performance of the five physical function tests between the two groups. The results revealed a significant Group x Test interaction effect (p<.001). Follow up tests indicated that while participants in both groups displayed similar level of physical function on the pretest, participants in the experimental group had significantly (p<.01) higher level of performance on the physical function tests than those in the control group on the posttest after 12-week Tai Chi training. The findings of the present study suggest that Tai Chi training is beneficial to improving physical functions in patients with coronary heart disease. It is proposed taht integrating traditional and alternative fitness exercises is a feasible and yet an effective approach to strengthening cardiac rehabilitation programs. Keyword(s): active participation, adult physical activity/fitness, health promotion