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Tai Chi, as
it is practiced in the west today, can perhaps best be thought of as a
moving form of yoga and meditation combined. This is a Chinese art form
that has a number of so- called forms (sometimes also called 'sets')
which consist of a sequence of movements. Many of these movements are
originally derived from the martial arts (and perhaps even more
ancestrally than that, from the natural movements of animals and birds)
although the way they are performed in Tai Chi is slowly, softly and
gracefully with smooth and even transitions between them.
For many practicioners the
focus in doing them is not, first and foremost, martial, but as a
meditative exercise for the body. For others the
combat aspects of
Tai Chi are of considerable interest. In Chinese philosophy and medicine
there exists the concept of 'chi', a vital force that animates the body.
One of the avowed aims of Tai Chi is to foster the circulation of this
'chi' within the body, the belief being that by doing so the health and
vitality of the person are enhanced. This 'chi' circulates in patterns
that are close related to the nervous and vascular system and thus the
notion is closely connected with that of the practice of acupuncture and
other oriental healing arts.
Another aim of Tai Chi is to foster a calm and
tranquil mind, focused on the precise execution of these exercises.
Learning to do them correctly provides a practical avenue for learning
about such things as balance, alignment, fine-scale motor control,
rhythm of movement, the genesis of movement from the body's vital
center, and so on. Thus the practice of Tai Chi can in some measure
contribute to being able to better stand, walk, move, run, etc. in other
spheres of life as well. Many practitioners notice benefits in terms of
correcting poor postural, alignment or movement patterns which can
contribute to tension or injury. Furthermore the meditative nature of
the exercises is calming and relaxing in and of itself.
Because the Tai Chi movements have their origins in
the martial arts, practicing them does have some martial applications.
In a two-person exercise called 'push-hands' Tai Chi principles are
developed in terms of being sensitive to and responsive of another
person's 'chi' or vital energy. It is also an opportunity to employ some
of the martial aspects of Tai Chi in a kind of slow-tempo combat.
Long-time practitioners of Tai Chi who are so-inclined can become very
adept at martial arts. The emphasis in Tai Chi is on being able to
channel potentially destructive energy (in the form of a kick or a
punch) away from one in a manner that will dissipate the energy or send
it in a direction where it is no longer a danger.
The practical exercises of Tai
Chi are also situated in a wider philosophical context of
Taoism. This is a
reflective, mystical Chinese tradition first associated with the scholar
and mystic Lao Tsu, an older contemporary of Confucius. He wrote and
taught in the province of Honan in the 6th century B.C. and authored the
seminal work of Taoism, the Tao Te Ching. As a philosophy, Taoism has
many elements but fundamentally it espouses a calm, reflective and
mystic view of the world steeped in the beauty and tranquillity of
nature.
Tai Chi also has, particularly amongst eastern
practitioners, a long connection with the I Ching a Chinese system of
divination. There are associations between the 8 basic I Ching trigrams
plus the five elements of Chinese alchemy (metal, wood, fire, water and
earth) with the thirteen basic postures of Tai Chi created by Chang
San-feng. There are also other associations with the full 64 trigrams of
the I Ching and other movements in the Tai Chi form.
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