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What is Tai Chi? |
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Tai Chi is short for Tai Chi Chuan.
It is a thousand year old system of exercise, healing, moving
meditation, and martial art. |
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What do the words, "Tai Chi Chuan,"
mean? |
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Definitions: |
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• Tai means "supreme"
or "ultimate." |
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• Chi means "life-force" or
"universal energy." |
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• Chuan means "fist." |
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Translation: The way of harmony
through movement in meditation... or the ultimate fist. |
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Where did Tai Chi Originate? |
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According to the legend, "Bodhidharma,"
traveled to China in the fifth century A.D. Visiting a Shaolin
monastery in Northern China, he noticed the poor health of
many of the monks. Giving them a series of breathing exercises
and moving postures, these forms evolved into the Shaolin
martial art, and over hundreds of years branched off and grew
into the present systems of Tai Chi. |
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What are the benefits of such practice? |
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Tai Chi increases vitality, so that
mind and body function more fully in harmony. This natural
way of living allows us to be more in tune with ourselves
and our environment; to realize that we, human beings, are
an active part of this mysterious Universe, not separate from
it all. Short-term benefits - a matter of months - include
greater flexibility, stronger legs, improved cardiovascular
and lymphatic systems, finer balance, overall better health,
and an uplifting of spirit. Long term benefits include more
energy, reduced stress, enhanced concentration and relaxation,
greater awareness, inner peace... and an ever-growing appreciation
and respect for life. |
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What are its basic principles? |
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In practice, relaxation, dynamic
balance, and being aware come into constant play. The philosophical
roots of Tai Chi Chuan can be found in an understanding of
the natural law of duality. In the Tai Chi Classics,
author and master Waysun Liao writes, "Two equal powers,
Yin (female, negative) and Yang (male, positive), oppose and
yet complement each other... Our Universe is programmed in
such a way that the two powers exchange their essence, and
existence comes from this."
In the eloquent sixth century B.C. literary masterpiece, the
Tao-te-Ching (the Book of the Way), author and mystic
Lao Tzu further states:
"All things have their backs
to the female and stand facing the male.
When male and female combine, all things achieve harmony."
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