Tai-chi
You will often hear T’ai Chi Ch’uan referred to by slightly different names with spelling variations, such as Taiji or Taijiquan. Don’t be confused by this, they all mean the same. The difference is the way in which the art is taught.
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Wong Kiew Kit, a grandmaster of the Shaolin Wahnam Kungfu Institute and author of many books on the subject, observed that:
“..I noticed that 90% of those practising T’ai Chi Ch’uan were gaining less than 10% of it’s potential benefits.. “
This observation is based on the fact that today most Tai Chi “instructors” do not teach a complete art. Many students do not even realise that they are learning a martial art!
To begin to understand what Tai Chi is, it is first necessary to understand what the Tai Chi symbol really stands for.
| Tai Chi, and the symbol, in this context is usually translated as “The Cosmos”, and represents the opposing yet complimentary forces that are present in all things. |
This is also true of Tai Chi. To gain the full benefits it must be practised as a complete art, both the martial side and the healing aspect, both the physical and the spiritual.
T’ai Chi Ch’uan (which translated literally means The Great Ultimate Boxing) is what is known as a soft or internal martial art, where superiority over an opponent is not gained by the use of brute strength, speed and power, but where the harnessing of internal energy, or Chi, is used.
This is achieved by mastering the slow and gentle movements of the form together with the still meditational methods of stance training allied with the understanding of the philosophy of Tai Chi.
A Brief History of T’ai Chi
T’ai Chi originated in China several hundred years ago, although ancient writings on which the art is based date back to around 400 BC.
Of the two main theories concerning the beginnings of T’ai Chi Ch’uan, one claims it was developed by a hermit, Chang San-Feng, who lived about 600 years ago on the Wu-tang mountain. The other maintains that Ch’en Wang-t’ing, the founder of the Ch’en T’ai Chi family, was its creator.
| Traditionally, although the existence of T’ai Chi was known, its teachings were kept secret, only being passed directly from teacher to student. This secrecy prevailed until a student of the Ch’en family, Yang Lu-san, spread the art throughout China. |
| It was Yang’s willingness to accept students from outside the closed world of T’ai Chi which led to the Yang style being the most widely practiced form today. The present form was developed by Yang Lu-san’s grand son, Yang Cheng-fu, who lived around the turn of the century. |
Physical & Spiritual
The graceful, gentle movements of the Tai Chi form are the obvious physical aspects of T’ai Chi Ch’uan. Each individual movement is designed to relax the body and to allow vital energy, or chi, to flow freely throughout.
This relaxation, and the deep regular breathing that goes with, it promotes general health and wellbeing. However once the form is practised in a complete way, that is in conjunction with mental spiritual training methods, it can be used to alleviate symptoms and to actually help cure many complaints.
| The T’ai Chi form which, including transitional moves, has some three hundred postures, takes time and a degree of dedication to learn. Genuine students of the art, however, do not see this, as being the most important part of the training.
The spiritual development is brought about by Chi Kung training. In a basic form Chi Kung consists of standing in certain positions while using breathing and visualisation to increase and channel chi energy around the body. |
It is said that in Tai Chi we should seek stillness in movement. This is more eloquently put in the translation of the Chinese character:
“Be still as a mountain, move like a great river”
While the body moves, the spirit is still and calm. When the body is still, the spirit moves and the chi flows freely. When all aspects are brought together, we have T’ai Chi Ch’uan.
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