Tai Chi Uses

Tai Chi Chuan for Health

This is not a system for building up muscles. By perfecting the movements one learns both coordination and relaxation of the entire body. The resulting control leads to a very high degree of physical proficiency. The general level of performance of everything you do is improved. With better breathing and better circulation comes better health.

Tai Chi Chuan for Serenity

Mind and body are indivisible. Control of both is essential so that they may act in harmony. Tai Chi Chuan has been called "meditation in movement". When the movements have been well learned, there is a noticeable increase in one's powers of concentration. This training teaches one to have an open mind. Since a relaxed state is absolutely necessary before you can learn the movements properly, all stress and tension must be left behind.

Tai Chi Chuan for Self-Defence

Lao Tzu, a 4th Century B.C. Chinese philosopher, put the whole thing in a nutshell: "Nothing under heaven is softer or more yielding than water; but when it attacks things that are hard and resistant, there is not one of them that can prevail. That the yielding conquers the resistant and the soft conquers the hard is a fact known by all men, yet utilized by none." Tai Chi Chuan develops the ability to know when the opponent is going to attack. Speed, sensitivity, and flexibility are built up, rather than brute force. If you learn to see danger before it reaches you, it can be neutralized. As the old Tai Chi saying goes, "four ounces can move a thousand pounds".

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