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The art of awareness
To those experienced in the soft arts, T’ai Chi Chuan is the ultimate art. In fact, “ T’ai” means ultimate or supreme, while “Chi”-which in this context has a different tone to the word of energy. Here Chi means “polarity”, as in the extremes of North and South. In T’ai Chi Chuan, this polarity refers to the extremes of Yin and Yang, light and shade.
“Chuan” literally means the fist, but is conventionally translated as boxing or “the fist way”. T’ai Chi Chuan is thus Supreme Pole Boxing. As the sublime achievement in the soft material arts, this is a subtle, sophisticated, and effective system of self defense, though its practice takes you beyond the martial aspects of the art.
Deriving from the oldest Taoist principles, T’ai Chi Chuan has a relatively brief recorded history(I will post this later). The movements it contains can all be found in ancient texts of Chi Kung and other early forms of Chinese exercise, but the earliest existing records of independent practice comes about 200 years ago.
In China, and increasingly throughout the rest of the world, T’ai Chi Chuan is recognized for its great powers in installing and maintaining good health and fitness in people of all ages. Regular practice prevents the onset of illness, and can prove effective in the treatment of common ailments and debilitating conditions.
As all T’ai Chi exercise is practiced slowly, no oxygen debt builds up during practice- so this art is suitable for many people who suffer chronic illnesses, such as high blood pressure.
The Chinese authorities recently carried out fitness tests on a group of regular practitioners of the Short Form, comparing their health and fitness with that of a similar group of non practitioners. They found that the T’ai Chi Chuan students had more efficient circulatory and respiratory systems and metabolism.
Thank you for reading this… I will post more soon on T’ai Chi Chuan
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