Why should I study tai chi chuan?

Put simply, after I practice tai chi chuan each morning, I feel completely refreshed, confident in my steps, centered and relaxed for the coming day. The Classic of Tai-Chi Chuan by Zhang San Feng explains, “The end purpose of these exercises is to prolong life and endow it with the youth of eternal spring.”

Long Life and Good Health

Because of its gentle nature and slower pace, tai chi chuan is accessible to a wide variety of people, from the college student to the retiree. To practice tai chi is to invest in good health for the future, taking good care of our bodies and minds, becoming more attuned to what our bodies need to stay well, and thus naturally helping to prolong our lives.

Improved Memory

Since all movements must be executed in a continuous and integrated fashion, the practice of tai chi chuan leads to improved awareness of the different parts of our bodies, a sharper memory, and better functioning of the central nervous system as we exercise our brains every morning.

Virtuousness

Tai chi chuan is a lifetime learning process, fostering such positive qualities as calmness, perseverance, patience, and determination. It opens communication between your mind and your body, which is beneficial to your mental and physical health and can facilitate more open lines of communication to the natural world, in your relationships, in your business. Tai chi chuan requires concentration of the mind. During practice, all spirit and thought must be concentrated within oneself. This develops self-discipline. Personal practice connects you to the inner virtues that are already in all of us, and which you discover and cultivate for yourself: integrity, respect, appreciation, honesty, humility, attention, courage and confidence.

Flexibility

The study of tai chi chuan promotes flexibility in our physical bodies as well as in our daily business. Tai chi chuan encourages students to seek peace in their problems and conflicts and offers a non-violent means of finding solutions. It is an alternative to the aggression and dishonesty we see so much in our daily lives, in our business transactions, and in our politics.

Balance

Tai chi chuan serves to remind us who we are in nature. It is our conversation with the qi of the universe, a continual quest for balance and peace in our lives. In these 64 movements reside the seed and soul of Chinese thought. Where yin and yang are balanced is called tai chi—the name of the concept as well as the philosophy devoted to it—and tai ji chuan is a gong fu (or martial art) that focuses on balance. To practice balance in our lives, whether in our physical practice or in our daily interactions with others, is to cultivate a greater balance in our often imbalanced world. Through our study of the martial arts, not only can we invest in our own health and long life, but we can also help to balance our immediate worlds, making wiser decisions, seeing consequence and continuity, garnering a compassionate objectivity toward all things. Our heads are clear enough to understand how emotions and desires can unintentionally steer us in the wrong direction, but we have the discipline to stay steady on our path.

Tai chi chuan differs from other forms of exercise in its holistic approach. Every movement of tai chi chuan involves the whole body. The primary aim is to allow the person to develop a natural rhythm and sense of their body through physical activity, and to then harmonize the actions of the body with those of the mind.

Strength

Tai chi chuan is excellent for strengthening the body in many different ways. Its movements are slow-paced and not strenuous. The practice of tai chi chuan does not tax the body. It creates strength and energy. The movements give each part of the body—muscles, bones, and joints—a chance to exercise. Regular practice also improves the natural functioning of the organs, increasing their vigor and strengthening them against disease.

Self-Defense

Although today the self-defense aspect is generally not emphasized, tai chi chuan was originally developed as a form of martial arts. As a technique for self-defense, tai chi chuan is unique because of its emphasis on mental cultivation and spiritual training rather than physical force and muscular development. The idea is to overcome an opponent by absorbing his force and—through tranquility of movement—turn the attack’s own strength against him or her. The general principles behind tai chi chuan as a martial art are non-aggression and non-resistance. The goal is more a mental state than a physical condition. The even tempo and unforced movements of tai chi chuan teach a student how to use mental concentration and spiritual calm to defend against physical assault. Even though tai chi chuan was developed as a very sophisticated self-defense system, today it is practiced almost solely as a method of physical and mental conditioning, and not as a martial art. Nevertheless, in learning the tai chi chuan form, self-defense technique is automatically developed through a greater awareness of the body and of one’s physical space. By calming the mind and emotions, one is able to act composedly in any situation that may arise, combining mental stillness with physical swiftness. Yet this faculty can be cultivated only through internal discipline.

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