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 Literally means supreme unity. It is an ancient Chinese system using gentle, graceful, flowing, circular movements to enhance the chi or energy within the body, promoting health and sense of well being.
Thai chi is now a form of non violent martial art which ims to balance the positive and negative, or yin and yang within the body.
This technique is suitable for any size or age and attempt to balance and stimulate all system of the body such as the digestive, respiratory and circulatory system. It also teaches breathing control, focusing concentration, and relaxing the mind and is often called the moving meditation technique.
Training and techniques
As the name T'ai Chi Ch'uan is held to be derived from the T'ai Chi symbol, commonly known in the West as the "yin-yang" diagram, T'ai Chi Ch'uan is therefore said in literature preserved in its oldest schools to be a study of yin (receptive) and yang (active) principles, using terminology found in the Chinese classics, especially the Book of Changes and the Tao Te Ching.
The core training involves two primary features: the first being the solo form (ch'üan or quán), a slow sequence of movements which emphasize a straight spine, relaxed breathing and a natural range of motion; the second being different styles of pushing hands (t'ui shou) for training movement principles of the form in a more practical way.
The solo form should take the students through a complete, natural, range of motion over their centre of gravity. Accurate, repeated practice of the solo routine is said to retrain posture, encourage circulation throughout the students' bodies, maintain flexibility through their joints and further familiarize students with the martial application sequences implied by the forms. The major traditional styles of T'ai Chi have forms which differ somewhat cosmetically, but there are also many obvious similarities which point to their common origin. The solo forms, empty-hand and weapon, are catalogues of movements that are practised individually in pushing hands and martial application scenarios to prepare students for self-defense training. In most traditional schools different variations of the solo forms can be practiced: fast–slow, small circle–large circle, square–round (which are different expressions of leverage through the joints), low sitting/high sitting (the degree to which weight-bearing knees are kept bent throughout the form), for example.
 In a fight, if one uses hardness to resist violent force then both sides are certain to be injured, at least to some degree. Such injury, according to T'ai Chi theory, is a natural consequence of meeting brute force with brute force. The collision of two like forces, yang with yang, is known as "double-weighted" in T'ai Chi terminology. Instead, students are taught not to fight or resist an incoming force, but to meet it in softness and "stick" to it, following its motion while remaining in physical contact until the incoming force of attack exhausts itself or can be safely redirected, the result of meeting yang with yin. Done correctly, achieving this yin/yang or yang/yin balance in combat (and, by extension, other areas of one's life) is known as being "single-weighted" and is a primary goal of T'ai Chi Ch'üan training. Lao Tzu provided the archetype for this in the Tao Te Ching when he wrote, "The soft and the pliable will defeat the hard and strong."
T'ai Chi's martial aspect relies on sensitivity to the opponent's movements and centre of gravity dictating appropriate responses. Effectively affecting or "capturing" the opponent's centre of gravity immediately upon contact is trained as the primary goal of the martial T'ai Chi student. The sensitivity needed to capture the centre is acquired over thousands of hours of first yin (slow, repetitive, meditative, low impact) and then later adding yang ("realistic," active, fast, high impact) martial training; forms, pushing hands and sparring. T'ai Chi Ch'üan trains in three basic ranges, close, medium and long, and then everything in between.
Pushes and open hand strikes are more common than punches, and kicks are usually to the legs and lower torso, never higher than the hip in most styles. The fingers, fists, palms, sides of the hands, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, back, hips, knees and feet are commonly used to strike, with strikes to the eyes, throat, heart, groin and other acupressure points trained by advanced students. There is an extensive repertoire of joint traps, locks and breaks (chin na), particularly applied to lock up or break an opponent's elbows, wrists, fingers, ankles, back or neck. Most T'ai Chi teachers expect their students to thoroughly learn defensive or neutralizing skills first, and a student will have to demonstrate proficiency with them before offensive skills will be extensively trained. There is also an emphasis in the traditional schools that one is expected to show wu te, martial virtue or heroism, to protect the defenseless and show mercy to one's opponents.Recommended Book To Read The Essence of Tai Chi Chuan: The Literary Tradition (Paperback)
by Benjamin P. Lo, Martin Inn, Susan Foe, Robert Amacker
This book is a new translation of a number of classical tai chi texts. The translations are clear, and the language flows well. The translators also included brief explications of difficult terms withing the text itself so as not to disrupt the flow of words. The presentation of the book is well done, with many illustrations and pages of calligraphy. While fairly short, this book is very nice introduction to the classic Chinese texts on tai chi. |
Tai Chi 