My sister in law was talking about her son wanting to take Tai Chi. Another person sitting at the table proclaimed, “What
happened to plain old yoga?” I jokingly replied “Because you can’t kill someone with yoga.” If you don’t get the joke, you don’t know the real Tai Chi.
The art’s full name is Tai Chi Chuan, which means “Grand Ultimate Fist” in Chinese. It is usually shortened to “Tai Chi” in western civilization and is sometimes described as “meditation in motion.” Regardless of what you call it, it has become a part of mainstream America, due mostly to its health benefits. All across the country, in every city, there are dozens of people who will teach you Tai Chi. In the majority of cases they will teach the “Yang Short Form” of Tai Chi,
consisting of 24
postures. If you are lucky, they will teach you the “Yang Long Form”, consisting of 49 postures and maybe even some sword forms. This is all fine and good if you want to study or are studying Tai Chi for its health benefits. But little known to the public at large, the Yang and other styles of Tai Chi Chuan are complex and effective martial arts.
There are varying accounts as to the origin of Tai Chi Chuan. It is agreed that it originated from the Taoist temple on the Wutang Mountain in China. A martial artist (possibly by the name of Chang San-Feng, but this is disputed) from this temple made his way to the Chen family village in the Honan province. There he taught his Tai Chi Chuan, which was a martial art based on the concepts of yin and yang, pressing and yielding. Contrasting to other “hard” martial arts (like karate), strikes to the Tai Chi fighter are deflected instead of blocked, thus taking less physical effort (like Aikido). Continued in part two…