What Is Tai Chi?

TAI CHI was developed centuries ago by monks in order to improve their fitness level after spending hours of meditation in a sitting position.  It also advanced their self defense skills that were needed if the temples were attacked by outsiders.  Most commonly practiced today for its amazing health benefits, this slow, graceful Chinese exercise simultaneously heals the physical, mental, and emotional body. It is performed with a completely focused yet relaxed attitude.  Tai chi forms involve a series of choreographed moves that flow together like a slow motion dance.  They are done in a precise order to help facilitate energy flow, fitness, relaxation and mental concentration.  TAI CHI encompasses several styles or forms, and over its long history many interpretations of these styles have emerged, resulting in numerous variations in form.  Most traditional forms take 5-20 minutes to perform yet years to master.  It is said that tai chi is not a destination but the journey to well being.   The moves are simple, providing the lowest weight bearing exercise known, and easy to learn.  They require no special skills, clothing, or equipment and can be done anywhere; indoors, outdoors, alone or with a group.

Who Can Do Tai Chi?

Students of tai chi are referred to as tai chi “players” or “practitioners” and they come in all shapes, sizes, ages and fitness levels.  Because of the slowness and ease of the movements, it is often thought that tai chi is primarily for senior citizens, but that is a false assumption.  It can benefit the fittest athlete just as much as the weekend golfer, the teen-ager, or the arthritis sufferer.  TAI CHI practitioners find greater balance, flexibility, energy and less stress completing all of their daily tasks.  Companies see that tai chi improves productivity by helping employees to be happy, relaxed, and creative.  Hospitals and doctors are finding the tai chi is a potent, yet cost-effective therapy for nearly any condition.  Schools find improved concentration and higher test scores.  But most importantly every tai chi practitioner improves their own health and well being.  TAI CHI is movement: "meditation in motion” and in order to perform it properly the body must move as a unit.  This principle of unity in movement is one of the ways in which it contrasts to calisthenics or weight training, which use various parts of the body independently.  Research has shown that tai chi provides all the benefits of a rigorous aerobic workout but because it is not strenuous it carries no potentially harmful side effects.