What Is T'ai Chi?

Deciding to look into T'ai Chi practice can be a pretty big step for many Westerners. If you want to exercise, you usually choose familiar stuff like riding a bike, walking, running, or swimming. These exercises are pretty straightforward in the Western world. You do the movements. You try not to think too hard about them. You huff and puff. You sweat. You may hurt a little the next day.

That's just the opposite of T'ai Chi. Sure you do the movements, but you don't huff and puff. You actually try to think about and focus on each move, using your mind - not just your body - as much as possible. T'ai Chi is soft and gentle. You may sweat, but just a little. And if you hurt the next day, you probably did too much or did something wrong.

Whoa, that can't be good for you, can it? Yes, it is good for you, whether you practice T'ai Chi by itself or as part of a routine that incorporates familiar movement forms like walking or swimming.

But what is T'ai Chi really?

If you started reading this article, likely you have some kind of inkling about what T'ai Chi (properly pronounced tie-jee, but often heard as tie-chee in the West) is - or isn't.

Or perhaps you aren't sure, and you're intrigued enough to shuffle through these pages.

Nevertheless, I'll start with the nitty-gritty. It is an ancient internal martial art - a mindful martial art - focusing on smooth, slow movements that cultivate inward focus and free energy flow. This type of martial art - compared to a non-mindful fighting art - wants you to use your mind to focus and move and, therefore, the "mindful" part. Some people even call it a moving meditation.

It's rooted in the Taoist (pronounced dow-ist) philosophy of harmonious living.

You may hear the term mind-body fitness to describe movement forms like T'ai Chi, as well as other stuff like yoga. That term is basically interchangeable with the descriptor mindful that I use. Although the definition of mindful movement is changing practically daily, one can loosely describe it as a "physical exercise executed with a profound inwardly directed focus." In other words, you use your muscles, buy you also engage your mind.

T'ai Chi is a member of the martial arts family, just like all the other practices in which you engage in flamboyant, teeth-kicking combat. They all belong to the family called Wushu, which basically means "martial art" or traditional self-defence activities practiced with or without weapons. Other Wushu forms date back much further. Look closely at the movements that are part of the routines to see the resemblance to fighting martial arts.

If you use your imagination to speed up the movements and pretend that a member of the Evil Empire is facing you, you can probably punch him in the stomach, knock him off his feet, or send him flying against a wall, a la "Wushu" style.

But that's not why you practice T'ai Chi. Although some people practice T'ai Chi to perfect these movements (called forms), to gain inner strength, and to improve their combative martial arts, most people in the West practice T'ai Chi for the peace, inner calm, focus, energy, balance, stress relief, and body control.

Source: http://leisure.ezinemark.com/what-is-t-ai-chi-18def18db75.html

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