T’ai Chi Ch’uan (or Taiji Quan*), translated as Grand Ultimate Fist, is a slow moving, mind/body exercise, an “internal energy” exercise. It is a combination of health, self defense, and philosophy including the philosophies of Taoism, which includes the writings of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, Confucianism and Buddhism. T’ai Chi focuses on cultivating, nurturing, and balancing “Chi,” the energy that moves through the body, and on relaxing the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and the mind on a deep level.
The art of T’ai Chi Ch’uan focuses on the development of internal energy rather than on physical strength or endurance, although once developed the internal energy gives one both strength and endurance.
People study T’ai Chi for a variety of reasons but most students find the practice calming and peaceful, requiring awareness and concentration and a unity of mind, body, and spirit. T’ai Chi was developed to balance the yin/yang energies in the body–to keep the body healthy and in balance.
There are countless studies that have shown T’ai Chi to benefit the immune system, the cardiovascular system, and improve balance and breathing, while at the same time being a low impact, weight bearing exercise.
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| * A word about transcribing Chinese characters into Roman letters: Since the Chinese language uses characters rather than the Roman alphabet, systems were developed to transcribe the characters into sounds. In the mid-19th century, the Wade-Giles system for transliteration was developed and became the dominant romanization system used in English-speaking academia and publishing. In 1958 the Wade-Giles system was replaced by the Pinyin system and by the 1980s, Pinyin had become the international standard. The word “pinyin” literally means “spelled sound.” This can, however, create some confusion for us as we often see the two forms Wade-Giles and Pinyin. We adapt for this by learning to read the sound rather than the word. Some examples would be: Wade-Giles into Pinyin T’ai Chi Ch’uan becomes Taiji Quan Dao becomes Tao Ch’i (or Chi) become Qi Ch’i Kung becomes Qigong Cheng Man-Ch’ing becomes Zheng Manqing Lao Tzu becomes Laozi Chuang Tzu becomes Zhuangzi |
Read more about the History and Origin of Shen Long T’ai Chi Ch’uan