WHAT IS T’AI CHI CHUAN?

T’ai Chi is an ancient internal martial art practiced daily by millions of people worldwide to promote mental and physical well-being. Sometimes called a “moving meditation”, T’ai Chi can be practiced safely by people of all ages and physical condition. You gain a full range of movement that connects and coordinates the body like a string of beads, while challenging the mind. Within a short while, you may also notice a positive change in mental outlook, experiencing greater control over and awareness of thoughts and feelings, reduced stress, a more relaxed disposition, and a general sense of well-being. T’ai Chi just makes you feel better.

In our first months or years of practice, we identify commonplace ways in which T’ai Chi makes changes in us. It begins to affect our lives in small ways. We find ourselves a little less tense, a little more patient. We stop biting our nails or give up smoking. Our legs strengthen; we feel more confident in our balance. Our posture improves. We have fewer colds; we feel more energetic. On a daily basis, we acquire better physical and mental health. And we enjoy our practice and look forward to it every day. We are finding T’ai Chi’s conceptual, physical and emotional connections. Although these seem ordinary, they are extremely important.

Gradually, we find other areas of our lives under the influence of the T’ai Chi diagram. We superimpose the yin-yang as a filter through which to view the world and understand its events. We turn it within ourselves to achieve balance and harmony, to make or to face changes with equanimity. We are able to manage or to avoid conflict. We use T’ai Chi for self-investigation, for self-improvement. We become more expressive, more creative. We are analytical and intuitive, cerebral and gutsy at the same time.

We meditate in stillness and in motion. We begin to seek and to experience spiritual growth and enlightenment.

We internalize T’ai Chi principles – tranquility, centering, continuity, connection, agility. We acquire patience and persistence. We begin to know ourselves. We develop wise strategies and make appropriate responses. We find that it permeates most aspects of our being and living: our personal physical and mental health, our social interaction and family relationships, our morals and code of ethics.

Finally, T’ai Chi becomes a way of life, a life-style. We find ourselves doing it naturally from within, not as a conscious effort. We have encountered the living Tao within ourselves.

The philosophy of T’ai Chi is so profound that it affects everyone who enters the study of its art and the resulting change ripples out to your family, friends, neighbors, workplace, community, to all of society, to all the world.

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