Tai Chi Journal

What Is Tai Chi? (Part 1)

Tai Chi is a lot of things. It is a way of exercising to stay fit and healthy. It is a martial art. It is a spiritual discipline. It is a posture improver. It is a tension and stress reliever. It is a way to bring your life into harmony.

On a very practical level, Tai Chi is a bit like choreographed dance. Imagine a Broadway chorus line being taught a new sequence of steps by a choreographer. That's what a group session with a Tai Chi master is something like. You are taught a single "form" — a sequence of continuous movements that does not vary, it just gets longer, until you know the whole form.

One of the main differences between Tai Chi and choreography is that Tai Chi looks like it's done in slow motion.

I know this only because I have had my first introductory session. My master is Brad. There will be eight more weekly group sessions with Brad in this "term" at Tai Sophia, a local school devoted to the healing arts. Tonight is the first session of the regular term. The cost to me for the entire term is $120.

There are different forms. The form you learn depends on who you study with. The form Brad is teaching us is the "short" form of Yang-style Tai Chi.

The form, that is, belongs to a style. The five best-known styles seem to be Chen, Yang, Wu, Shin, and Ng, each named after the master who developed it. Not only does the style determine the form, it also determines the associated exercises. Think of exercises as playing scales, the form as playing music.

I am getting much of this information from a book I bought to help me along, as I consider myself a slow learner (and also an out-of-shape,
uncoordinated klutz who has trouble keeping his balance on a stepladder). The book is Step-by-Step Tai Chi, by Master Lam Kam Chuen.

Note that I have called my instructor a "master," but that's probably not correct. There are probably formal ways of determining "masterhood" that I know nothing about. I do know that Brad has been studying Tai Chi for 22 years.

At any rate, Tai Chi is an ancient art and discipline from China. Its full name is Tai Chi Chuan — say, TIE CHEE CHWAHN — which means, literally, "supreme ultimate fist." (I told you it was a martial art. And, no, I have no idea why the "Chuan" or "fist" is usually dropped.)

Chinese phrases are not limited to their literal meanings. Tai Chi Chuan can also mean "shadow boxing" or "moving harmony."

posted by eric @ 9:20 AM