Basic Principles Of Tai Chi Martial Art

Tai Chi, martial art for self-defense, is developed based on certain principles. It is essential that you know about the basic principles of Tai Chi. The following are some of the basic principles of Tai Chi.
Relax
This is the basic principle behind Tai Chi, and other principles are built upon this principle. According to this principle, the entire weight of your body is allowed to sink in the ground. The upward energy supports the downward movement. Your whole body feels free with this fundamental principle of Tai Chi.
Body Upright
This is another principle of Tai Chi where the body stands upon the earth, and the ground balances the entire weight of your body. It is nothing but the manifestation of a gravitation pull on the earth. The basic principle is a balance.
Separate Weight
This is a demanding aspect of Tai Chi. Standing on one leg would strengthen your legs. This offers balance to your legs and introduces a connection to the earth. The movement is rooted in the feet and developed in the legs. The legs and hips are the sources of the movement in Tai Chi.

Flexible Twist
This is the principle achieved with the turning movement of the hips. The chest and shoulders are aligned.The above are some of the basic principles of Tai Chi martial art.

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Modern Tai Chi

When most people first join a Tai Chi or QiGong class, they are not quite sure what they are getting themselves into. Most have a mother, a doctor, a friend, a daughter, or son telling them, “This Tai Chi stuff is the greatest thing since sliced bread and you have gotta try it!” However, these enthusiasts can’t quite explain why you’ve gotta try it. So the following is for you, or whoever’s been trying to explain it to you.
In modern terms, Tai Chi and QiGong are ancient systems of biofeedback and classical conditioning. Traditional Chinese doctors of long ago noted that our natural tendency is to hold onto stress, which bogs down the brain. They therefore created exercises that would train the mind and the body not only to continually dump stress, but also to actually change the way the body handles future stress (not the way your kids change the way you handle stress, but in a good way).
As Tai Chi players move through their slow motion movements, their mind becomes calm, their breathing deepens and slows, and their muscles relax. All this happens while the muscles are toning, making it a very efficient exercise. But, forget about efficiency, Tai Chi should be done as though you were going to do it forever. If you try to “hurry up and relax,” it doesn’t work as well. By proceeding slowly with Tai Chi, and making it a game, you will be much more likely to enjoy it and to stick with it. Chapter 2, “Let’s Get Physical,” explains how even in Tai Chi’s easy going way, there is great power and dramatic physical benefit awaiting you, no matter what style of Tai Chi you enjoy.
Tai Chi can boost your energy levels tremendously. However, it is important also to get the proper amount of sleep. Do not try to use Tai Chi’s energy boost to replace proper sleep and diet. Tai Chi will promote an all-around healthful lifestyle as you become more subtly attuned to your body’s needs. One aspect of Tai Chi’s quiet mindful movement is that it quiets you down enough to sense the mind and body’s needs, whether it’s more rest, water, and so on.

The Least You Need to Know
> Tai Chi reduces stress and slows the aging process.
> Everybody can do Tai Chi.
> Tai Chi restores the power of youthful exuberance.
> Tai Chi is an efficient therapy that can improve all aspects of your life.
> By clearing the mind, Tai Chi reminds you that life is a miracle.

Explaining Tai Chi: History and Premise

Tai Chi is unique. Although it is in a way 2,000 years old, it is at the cutting edge of modern Western medical research. Tai Chi is ancient yet modern, Eastern yet increasingly Western. Using Tai Chi is a way to get the most benefit out of all worlds, old and new, East and West. In fact, Western science is embracing Tai Chi very rapidly. Almost every month a new study seems to find yet another thing Tai Chi can treat, cure, or improve. A researcher at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell said Tai Chi is about to explode (in popularity) as medical practitioners discover the time-tested technique.
In fact each new Tai Chi player educates more people on Tai Chi, and sometimes in odd ways. One of my students was practicing Tai Chi in the park in a suburb of Kansas City one morning when a police officer approached him to ask if he was all right. The officer said someone had called and reported somebody was having a “problem” in the park. So it may behoove you to know a bit more about Tai Chi in case you need to do some fast-talking. The following will help.

Tai Chi & Qigong / Chi Kung)

Tai Chi is a highly effective therapy for many injuries or chronic conditions, whether mental, emotional, or physical. The following chapters will discuss different maladies and how Tai Chi treats them. Tai Chi bolsters the immune system, as well, and can actually eliminate problems long before they become an actual physical illness.
An Ultimate Beauty Treatment
Forget about covering up problems with makeup or surgery. Beautify from the inside out instead! Many cells are replaced daily, and almost the entire body is completely replaced every five to seven years. You are literally born anew on some level each and every day of your life. How those cells are reproduced is determined by how the life energy, or Qi, flows through your body. Therefore, you can have a terrific impact on how you age, look, and feel by promoting your Qi flow.
Tai Chi’s Cleansing of the Nervous System Releases Power
Have you ever sat back and noticed how small children never run down? Like the Energizer rabbit, on fast forward, they leap and spring, dance and chat, and chat and chat. Have you ever thought to yourself, “God, I wish I had that energy”? Well, you do have access to that energy (and without doing espresso shooters).
As human beings, we begin to block our access to that energy as we “mature” by holding onto past grudges, by shouldering responsibilities that are unrealistic, or just because of silly worries. Then we don’t know how to let them go, and we get used to having less and less energy. We can think on a mental level that we want to “stop worrying” or “let go of tension,” but that doesn’t really work. We need life tools that help us let go of these blocks on deep levels in our mind, heart, and body, so that we can open to your flow of life energy.
Tai Chi and QiGong will give you access to simple exercises, which feel good and can open a valve to that limitless energy you thought you had lost forever. The Chinese discovered long ago that these blocks, or our stress, are simply the mind and nervous system squeezing onto grudges, worries, or even desires. Just as our muscles can tighten when tense, our mind and heart can grip tension too, and we have to be taught how to let go of their squeezing grip on life issues. So the goal of these ancient exercises is to wash our nervous system clean, so our mind can be fresh and vibrant like a newborn baby’s, while still remembering the important stuff, like stopping at red lights and dressing before going to work.
Seriously, as we let go of most of the meaningless, irritating debris bouncing around in our mind, we have more space and energy for really important ideas to surface. Important memories like the bill we forgot to pay, or realizations like we forgot to tell someone how much you care about them. Tai Chi’s slow, soothing movements provide that calm open space, even in the very center of the rat race.
A Fountain of Youth
America is not into the “aging” thing. What Americans spend on cosmetic surgery attests to that. Tai Chi will help you get over that prejudice, while also slowing the aging process in many ways. The Chinese believe as we practice Tai Chi it returns us to a state of “child-likeness” (but not childishness), where we see the world with fresh eyes. This allows us the freedom to reinvent ourselves easily and constantly, just as children do, enabling us to flow with the changes of life. We can once again be flexible and exuberant, while still benefiting from the wisdom of experience (like being able to hit our mouth with the spoon, well, most of the time). So Tai Chi has the ability to renew us, and through that renewal enhance our strength, health, and creativity.
Tai Chi is based on the principle that the world doesn’t need to be held up by our worrying mind and tense body. In fact, we are much more helpful to the world (and far more enjoyable to be around) if we can let go of as much stress as possible. Realizing this principle is the first big step to letting Tai Chi reopen you to your own personal rejuvenating “fountain of energy”!

Historical Tai Chi

For an exercise that is so made to order for modern life, it is amazing to realize that Tai Chi is thought to be about 1,200 years old. Furthermore, Tai Chi is an expanded version of a more ancient exercise called QiGong, which may be at least 2,000 years old. Tai Chi’s moving exercises are done very slowly, like slow motion kung fu. In days of old, Tai Chi (or Tai Chi Ch’uan) was primarily a martial art. It is believed that Buddhist and Taoist monks began practicing Tai Chi forms in monasteries (yes, like the Shao Lin Temple) for two reasons: One, to promote health because they were out of shape from sitting around meditating all the time; and two, because they were so out of shape, they couldn’t defend themselves, and bandits would come and beat them up before taking their valuables. (And you thought you had stress!)

Getting to the Root of Tai Chi

One name does not adequately express everything Tai Chi is because Tai Chi nurtures so many aspects of our lives at the root. Although originally a martial art known as Tai Chi Chuan (“supreme ultimate fist”), the shortened name of Tai Chi reflects how it is now viewed, as one of the most effective mind/body exercises in the world. So Tai Chi now refers to “supreme ultimate health exercise,” “supreme ultimate relaxation therapy,” “supreme ultimate balance conditioner, muscle toner, beauty treatment.”
Tai Chi is the supreme ultimate because it goes right to the root of most health problems by relaxing the muscles and mind, aligning the spinal posture, and balancing the energy systems that run through the body, providing them with life energy. It is one of the most soothing, easy, and powerful things you can do for yourself. It is a profound self-improvement tool, a great toning exercise, and an incredible healing art. Whether you want to improve external beauty, mental outlook, or physical health and longevity, Tai Chi heals the roots of your being.

Tai Chi Goes to the Root of Problems

Life is very complicated, and Tai Chi cannot solve all your problems. However, Tai Chi can help you simplify your life in a big and relaxing way.
Imagine that you’re a tree. While your mind and body are the trunk of that tree, all your “life stuff” is like the many leaves on that tree. Your job, relationships, hobbies, hopes, and problems are all dangling out there on the tips of your life. When your health is bad or you can’t sleep well, this affects the whole tree. You may have problems with your job that may strain your relationships, which in turn will drain the energy you need to pursue your hobbies, making you too tired to have hopeful dreams, and causing your problems to get seemingly bigger and bigger. When you are already beat, trying to figure out how to heal all these sick, shriveled leaves is too much to even think about.
However, what if you could pour some magic water on the roots of your tree? Magic that would heal all the sick leaves and cause them to grow larger, to catch more breezes and more sunlight, and more fun! This is what Tai Chi does. By nurturing the very core of your mind and body, Tai Chi makes you better at everything you do. You don’t practice Tai Chi to be better at Tai Chi (although that happens). Each time you practice Tai Chi, you pour healing water on the roots of everything you are. This healing water, or energy, is carried out to the leaves of everything you do, making you the freshest, greenest tree you could ever want to be.

You Are Perfect, and Perfect for Tai Chi

Tai Chi doesn’t begin with the premise that there is “something wrong” that needs to be “fixed, sculpted, lost, or burned off.” It is a very accepting exercise, and helps us remember we are already perfect … but our ability to get better is limitless. Everyone is qualified to do Tai Chi. You don’t have to look good in tights or Spandex to do Tai Chi, although if you do Tai Chi enough, you’ll look pretty good in whatever you like to wear.

Tai Chi and QiGong are for anybody who is dealing with stress. In other words—everybody. Anybody can do Tai Chi. If you’ve picked up a book on Tai Chi, you’ve probably experienced the acute stress of imagining yourself in some of those incredible (seemingly impossible) positions the Tai Chi models pose in for the photos. Relax. Those people are models. Most people do Tai Chi just the way you will do it. Easily and effortlessly. Although Tai Chi was one of the original martial arts, it is now practiced all over the world as a relaxation technique by people of all ages in the same shape you are in, and sometimes in even worse shape.
When you begin an exercise class, you may have the illusion that everybody other than you “belongs” there, and that they are all “good” at it. You will find that everybody goes through the same trials and tribulations. As you lighten up on yourself, you’ll see struggling, growing, and healing are everywhere. Breathe and enjoy; you are among friends.
When you first begin practicing Tai Chi out in the backyard or in your local park, people may stare. Before long, your unique practice of Tai Chi becomes part of the rich texture of the neighborhood, and if you move away, they will miss you. Just as Tai Chi adds to your personal internal charm, your practice adds to the charm of your community.

Tai Chi: Finally an Exercise That Feels Good!

Tai Chi is popular because it is easy to do and provides a gentle workout that doesn’t leave you drained, but energized! Tai Chi’s “effortless” nature is a big stretch for most of us, however, because we associate exercise with force, pain, and tension. In fact, some exercise actually contributes to stress. When I played junior high football in west Texas many years ago, the coaches determined that we were through running when one of us started throwing up. That’s right, upchucking. It was the only time in my life I ever hoped to see someone throw up.
Tai Chi is helping the world get a healthy, enjoyable view of exercise. As a nation, we have adopted a mutant notion of exercise, exemplified by the mantra “no pain, no gain.” This has traumatized many Americans, including myself, leaving an indelible mark on how we view exercise. In Tai Chi we have a mantra, too, “If your exercise causes pain, you’ll get so sick of the thought of it that you’ll never want to do it again.” Ours isn’t as neatly poetic as “no pain, no gain,” but ours makes infinitely more sense. Tai Chi should always, always, always, feel good. And since it does feel good, you will look forward to it. Each morning you will find yourself grateful that you’re alive and able to practice this cool exercise called Tai Chi.

Tai Chi Promotes Internal Strength for Young and Old

Tai Chi looks very much like slow-motion kung fu. David Carradine performed a form related to Tai Chi as Kwai Chang Caine on the television series Kung Fu. And although Tai Chi shares some similarities with kung fu, don’t let that scare you away. Tai Chi can be practiced by anyone at any age and in any condition.
In martial arts circles, it is known as an internal martial art. Tai Chi promotes internal strength physically, mentally, and emotionally, which is why it can be powerful training tool for martial artists. But you don’t have to be a martial artist to benefit from Tai Chi because it can also be practiced even by those in wheelchairs, with great results.
Unlike karate, Tai Chi has no belt or ranking system because the benefits of Tai Chi can only be felt and not seen. You practice Tai Chi to live better, more calmly, clearly, healthfully, and productively. Tai Chi is a tonic for life. You will see your progress reflected by how you feel, how spry you look in the mirror, how much you love life, and how healthy you are. Isn’t this much better than owning a black belt? However, if you do karate, Tai Chi can help you get that black belt by improving your internal function and grace.
Also, Tai Chi differs from most martial arts in that people of all ages can practice it. Many people with disabilities and ailments practice Tai Chi as therapy. No one is restricted from practicing Tai Chi, and yet Tai Chi can benefit the fittest athletes, just as much as it benefits elderly arthritis sufferers. Tai Chi clubs are sprouting up all over the world, with people from all walks of life.