How does tai chi benefit people?

Answer 1

Tai Chi has been well known in China for being an immensely valuable general health practice (if you practice Tai Chi regularly, most health problems go away).

In the philosophy of Tai Chi, it is said Chi (life energy) follows the mind, each posture and movement creates a different energy flow that, has a benifital overall affect on overall well-being.

Tai Chi stimulates circulation, aligns the skeleton and joints correctly, stimulates the organs of the body and helps digestion. It increases muscle tone, strength, improves balance and co ordination and improves breathing.

Tai Chi does not just provide physical benefits; by raising energy levels, it also affects the mind and the spirit. Tai Chi focuses thought, so that mind and body energy works together as one. When practising Tai Chi, people find that they are not just physically fitter but, happier, more alert, have greater mental focus and are more creative.

The entire reason why Tai Chi has become so mainstreamed in China can be found in the introduction to the book "Opening The Energy Gates of Your Body" (which was written by a well known Tai Chi Master named Bruce Frantzis).

When the Cultural Revolution happened in China, the communist was left with a situation that threatened a revolution; complete lack of medical care due to the fact China's population had skyrocketed but its wealth and internal medical infrastructure had dramatically shrunk. To solve this problem, the communist government forced the various Tai Chi Masters in the country to work together and divulge their secrets so that a simplified national Tai Chi form could be developed which would be extremely effective for curing medical conditions, but also quite easily to learn.

Once it had been created, the Chinese Government made instructors available throughout the country and put a mandate in the existing government hospitals (no private medical care existed at the time, so public was the only option) that for non life threatening emergencies, no one could be given access to medical care unless they first practiced Tai Chi for 3 months continuously with a certified Tai Chi instructor.

If after the instructor signed off that they had in fact practiced for 3 months, they were given access to medical care. Since this system was quite effective it resulted in two things:

• Most of the medical problems never required treatment in a hospital since they cleared up from Tai Chi practice, reducing the burden on the hospitals to the point they could support the necessary patients.
• Tai Chi practice was mainstreamed and large segments of the population would do it in the parks daily.

That is essentially why Tai Chi is practiced by a lot of people in China. Since there are many benefits associated with it, that trend still exists to this day, with many Chinese practicing it to maintain good health and improve balance and movement.

With regular Tai Chi practice, you can expect the following benefits:

• stress relief
• greater strength, flexibility and true freedom of movement
• better balance
• improved posture and relief of Back pain
• better circulation
• more energy and stamina
• smooth and deep breathing
• improved concentration and clearer thinking
• heightened general awareness
• a more youthful appearance
• relaxation, inner peace and joy

If you are searching for a good place to learn Tai Chi in China, Handan Taichi Kung Fu School is the best choice. Improve your tai chi techniques. Learn Tai Chi And Martial Arts in China! China is the most popular destination of martial arts enthusiasts.

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Answer 2

Tai chi is practised so widely because of its health benefits. It helps your joints become looser, helps you relax and settle your mind after a long day at work or after studying. Exercises your internal organs because of the way you breath when doing tai chi and believe it or not, improves your aura. Tai chi encompasses movements which the young and old can do. It takes no effort and is not strenuous like karate. Tai chi in its own right can be used as a self defence mechanisim as there are applications that one uses that can be used for self defence, it is a martial art after all. For health benefits, and as self defense,

Answer 3

Tai-chi used physical exercises to improve health and function of the body and to increase the strength and resolution of the mind. It is also a martial art using the fluidity of the body rather than using stiffness.

You first learn slow forms, which are a series of fluid movements. The teacher shows you how to eliminate patterns of tension so that the movements are smooth. You learn to use the body in a mechanically correct way so you need the least amount of energy to do each movement.

By learning to pay attention to each joint and muscle of the body, to move smoothly, your mind expands to be able to so many things at the same time in a coordinated way. Rather than thinking about each movement, you use "Body-Mind" which is the awareness of each part of the body. This decentralizes the mind and allows the mind to be connected to the body. That greatly reduces stress.

You also learn ch-gung, which are simple exercises to teach you to become aware of "chi" (internal energy) and develop the flow of chi through the body. According to Chinese medical theory, the natural free flow of chi is necessary for health. But in most of us, this chi is blocked and chi-gung helps us to unblock the chi. This greatly increases our health and general good feeling. There are many styles of chi-gung. Some such as "Zookinesis" (a modern translation of "animal exercises") are more active and are a great exercise. Others are slower or stationary. But all free up the natural flow of chi.

Push Hands is a two person exercise in which you try to throw the other person off balance. You must keep your body very loose so that you can absorb or re-direct his pushes and return his force back to him.

It is like a three dimensional Chess game, with the parts of the body as the chess pieces. And you can move any piece at any time. This greatly develops the intricacy and strength of your attention. Your attention has to be in every one of the parts of your body and you have to be aware of every part of the partner's body. Which muscle is ready to respond and which isn't? What is his state of balance, etc. This develops great sensitivity.

There is also the martial arts aspect of Tai-chi which uses these principles in sparring. There are aerobic and acrobatic forms for those interested in more intense exercise.

Answer 4

1) Like other internal styles, practicing just the basics (stances) and the form itself, will circulate the body's chi. When the chi is free flowing with no obstruction, a person is as healthy as they were the day they were born, provided it was a normal pregnancy, and as physically fit as when they were 18, but without the acne. Moreover, it also grants incredible virility; in men, strong chi circulation means that, whether masturbating or in a woman, a man needs to ejaculate three times, before they finally go flacid. In other words properly mastered, a strong chi flow allows a man to be in a woman for a solid hour. This incredible virility is not said to be unique only to Chinese Daoists; Yogis have long known of the benefits of properly flowing Prana, the Sanskrit name for "chi." Moreover, the ancient Greeks believed that if a man went flacid after ejaculating only once, that he wasn't healthy. What I mean is, a man is in a woman for the normal 20 minutes or so, he ejaculates, another 20 minutes pass, another one, then yet, another 20 minutes, and then the final one and the man finally goes flacid. That, according to Yogis and Daoists, is proper male health. If you can't do that, then you're not healthy. You read right; a solid hour. Of course, hold your standards high; if a Tai Chi "master" has a fat body, lack of good health, and in old age they look run down, ragged, in short like normal old people, then they have not mastered the art. A master of Tai Chi, as with a master of Yoga, is supposed to look young, a full 3 decades than their actual chronological age.

2) Whereas your skills will deteriorate with age practicing an external style of martial arts, with Tai Chi Chuan, operating under the assumption you have made proper progress with your meditation, and you dedicate enough time to it, as with all internal styles, you gradually become stronger and stronger. In other words, with the external schools, your reflexes, thinking speed, judgment speed and strength, will gradually erode, regardless of how athletically and mentally gifted you may be in youth. With the internal arts, provided you have enough humility, put in an earnest effort with meditation and "emptying the mind," what Daoist Philosophy calls a state of "Wuji," or "nothingness," provided you put a sincere effort, you never have to lose the strength of your youth. In fact, in China, in days past, the masters of the internal schools, the very old ones, reputed to have been alive for 200 years, were said to be very dangerous. Having reached a state of spiritual purity, they developed a loathing for other people, due to the low morality, as such they withdrew from society, until they could become spiritually pure enough, for their souls to be released unto heaven. According to religious Daoism, when a man or woman attains "immortality," the immortal soul will either burn away the body, your soul will literally burn off the flesh, the spirit body has become so potent, so purified, or, the soul is released to heaven. No judgment, no tribunal, you simply up and leave. As a general rule, internal martial artists who attempted this, were said to be honory people, that did not like to be bothered by anyone. I know you probably don't believe any of this but, call me immature, but I will not accept wearing a diaper at the age of 70, assuming I'm lucky enough to get there. Time passes quickly; arrogant as this sounds, other people of my generation (I'm in my late 20's) are grasshopers, with my Tai Chi studies, I am the ant. We will see who laughs when winter comes. You can be a grasshoper, or you can be an ant, and I think that most famous of Aesop's fables applies to Tai Chi Chuan but remember; all that operates under the assumption that you are making an ernest and sincere effort. I have to constantly remind myself of that; also, I have all but given up on trying to be humble, because as the old Daoist masters warned, it IS hopeless. No matter what you do, clean floors, scrub the toilet you use, place your head on the ground while praying the way Muslims do in an effort to try to be humble, its hopeless. Arrogant thoughts, always find a way in, even when engaged in "humble" things such as, like I said, scrubbing a toilet. Its hopeless; the only thing I have found, where genuine in progress is made, is that "emptyness" stuff. Blanking out the mind is not as difficult as you think; just relax, and you get better at it with practice. I could only do it for a couple of seconds at first, but now I can keep my mind perfectly quiet for a whole minute now! A whole minute! Can you believe that!? It may not seem like much but when you do it yourself trust me, just one minute, is cause for celebration. If the mind is totally quiet how the hell do you know? When the quietness period stops, somehow, the brain just knows. You know, how you can impecably time when a commercial is over and a given sports game is about to start again. Its SORT of like that; somehow you just know.

3) Overall relaxation and the development of a more "laid back" attitude.

4) If you do get angry, you cool off much faster.

5) Temperature extremes are not as bothersome.

6) Given enough time, assuming the body has reached absolute perfect health, and proper chi flow, like all internal martial arts, Tai Chi Chuan does indeed have the power to make a martial artist "untouchable." Chi, is very powerful energy, however, achieving potent circulation, as what was talked about regarding masters like Yang Lu Chan, Sun Lu Tang, or the more legendary Shang Sang Feng, is extremely difficult, because there is so much "mind" stuff involved, a lot of heavy meditation. Also, like I said before, if you really try, especially if you relax through Yoga stretching first, achieving total mental quiet is not that hard, however MAINTAINING IT, THAT, is the challenge. Once you get the hang of relaxing through breathing, getting the brain to shut the #$%#$% up, is not that difficult, MAINTAINING that quiet though, is incredibly difficult. Absolute total quiet, total peace, maintained for long hours, is something even experienced monks both in the Shaolin temple, and Wudang mountain struggle with. At Wudang, there are Daoist hermits that, regarding meditation? That is ALL they ever do; for 12 solid hours, all they do is sit there and breathe, attempting to quiet their minds, with varying success. It is important that you observe the breath, and that you engage in an exercise called "counting breath." Why is it important? If the mind does not focus on something first, even something as mundane as counting breaths, and you attempt to quiet the mind without first focusing on something, you will go insane. I read about that warning in numerous meditation books. You can count breaths, focus on a point on a wall, or, you may even visualize yourself playing Baseball, hitting a pitch over and over again, whatever will help you focus. If you are a catholic, you can recite the lord's prayer, followed by a hail Mary, and alternate between those until you feel focused and relaxed. Or, if you wish, you can pray with a rosary bead, and then move on to meditation. The point I am trying to make is, Buddhists chant sutras for a reason; it helps their minds focus on something, to prevent insanity. If you do not focus on something first, before engaging in "mind emptyness" excercises, your mind will unravel, and you may experience psychotic episodes. Myself personally, it has never happened to me; I took the warnins to heart, and I have always observed the breath, and in my room I have a little Ying/Yang symbol taped to the wall, which I stared at for 10 minutes before attempting "Wuji" meditation. Find a point of focus first, then begin the meditation, without that point of focus, the mind will unravel. Take Buddhist warnings to heart on that matter. Again, it could be something as mundane as simply counting how many times you are inhaling, to something as eccentric as counting number of imaginary baseball pitches, to something as deeply religious, as chanting hail marys and the lord's prayer via rosary beads. The main point being; find a point of focus first, or you risk losing your mind. Ever hear of Chi Kung psychosis? It is a very rare mental disorder, nevertheless it occurs with enough frequency, to take Buddhist warnings to heart regarding meditation. Not all Daoist schools give that warning, that is why so many Daoist hermits are indeed psychotic; engaged in long hours of meditation, without finding a point of focus first, many of those poor souls end up losing their minds. Be forewarned, find a point of focus.

7) As a final point; Tai Chi's health advantages, can only be reached if the mind has at least, more or less, achieved a state of humility through "emptyness" training. The strength of chi circulation, is largerly rooted with the state of your mind. If you are vain, arrogant, full of yourself, etc, you won't feel a thing when doing Tai Chi. However if you are a humble and quiet person, highly likely just from the first few moves, you have felt your body heat up. Its not like exercise, or "going for a run" heat either; the heat generated by Tai Chi is different, "deeper," closer to your body's core somehow. That is its strength at begining levels, according to some books I read, at higher levels, chi circulation feels like an electric shock, if you have ever put a finger in an electrical socket and remember how that felt, you know what I mean. Chi feels like a mild, painless electrick shock, at its most potent levels. Myself personally, I have only felt this once, and even then it was not too strong a feeling. "Beginer's luck" "accidents" have been known to happen, so, if it happens to you no worries.

In a nutshell, those are the benefits; if you're lucky, you will have time to meditate enough time every day, so that you're basically 18 for most of your adult years, and 40, in your old age. That is, you have the body of an 18 year old until about your 40's and 50's, and the body of a 40 year old for the rest of your life. A physically fit, and extremely healthy 40 year old mind. Those are the benefits of Tai Chi, but only if through meditation, you have "taken out the garbage" in your mind. Again, relaxing and getting there is easy, I can tell you that much from experience, MAINTAINING it though is murderously difficult.

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Answer 5

Primarily good health; sadly though many Chinese are ignorant as to what a good health standard is.

A person who is healthy, should not be overweight; "normal" for a man, is to be reasonably lean, throughout his life. No one ever said a man should drop his bodyfat percentage to the point where he looks like some dude who juiced up, however, a man's bodyfat percentage should be between 7 and 15% depending on genes. If a man is particularly big, he can have 15% bodyfat and still look good, and still be healthy. However for the rest of us though we need to hover between 7 and 10%.

If you do not have between 7 and 10% bodyfat, then you are not doing Tai Chi correctly, nor are you doing all the meditation stuff correctly. There are too many pot-bellied men out there called "master." The saint Shang Sang Feng, is often portrayed as overweight, when, it has nothing to do with reality; the man spent 10 years at the Shaolin temple, and 10 more at Wudang, I highly doubt he would be that fat. Again throughout East Asia there is much ignorance when it comes to fitness, the difference between muscle and fat tissue. Because of that ignorance, few people can distinguish who is healthy and who isn't.

A true master of Tai Chi Chuan should be slim; Yang Chen Fu, did much damage to the Yang style in that he did not set a good example. As he got older, he became lazy, and somewhat gluttonous, by the time of his death he became morbidly obese.

If you are to have a standard of health, regarding Tai Chi Chuan;

1) You have to be perfect, inside and out, like a healthy new born baby. As disease free, as pliable and healthy as a newborn.

2) You have to have the fitness you enjoyed naturally as a teenager, minus the acne.

3) You have to enjoy the energy and vigor you enjoyed as a teenager, minus the emotional angst.

4) If by the time you reach full manhood or womanhood at the age of 30, you are still doing Tai Chi Chuan, your body will get slightly bigger; in men, there is a natural increase of muscle tissue from the late teens to the early 20's, as much as 30 lbs in some men, even more if you are lifting weights. The proverbial process of "filling out" or acquiring "manly growth." Even if you remain lean, even if you maintain 7% bodyfat throughout your 20's, if you are a man, you will get bigger no matter what. By the time you hit 30, and you see your brand new "full manhood" muscle structure it will become clear you're not a youngster anymore. Do well to observe, men in their 30's tend to be better muscled, than young men in their late teens, or 20's. If you don't believe me, just look at professional athletes; in their 30's they tend to be much bigger, even though their bodyfat levels never change, and even though they have in fact been doing the same training regiment, no change in strength levels for years. By the time a man reaches 30 there is a natural increase in strength. The Arabs and ancient Hebrews called this period "the flower of manhood." Men are at their most handsome, and women at their "hottest" in their 30's. The 30's, is the biological age you will maintain for most of your adult life, if you do Tai Chi Chuan correctly and religiously.

5) The sexual benefits of meditation; women are not as ruled by their prodigious sex drive, meditation grants a woman control, almost total control, and in men, it grants "superhuman" virility. When Tai Chi Chuan and other similar arts is mastered, truly mastered, a man needs to ejaculate in a woman a total of 3 times, 20 minutes in between ejaculates, before he finally goes flacid, meaning you can be in a woman for a solid hour, not, 20 minutes, pull out, rest, go again, 20 minutes, pull out, rest, go again, repeat 4 times and then finally you go to sleep no, not like that; a single solid hour. China's legendary founder the Yellow Emperor was nicnamed "the golden lion" because of his ability to satisfy 20 concubines in a single night. The Yellow Emperor, faithfully did the "eigh brocades" chi kung every morning. Regarding women, you can not imagine how much that gender suffers regarding its sex drive; a woman's sex drive is in fact, 4 times stronger than a man's. It takes 3 hormones to make a woman, but only one, to make a man, additionally, a woman's reproductive span is shorter. Those four factors combined, make a woman's sex drive four times stronger. Between their prodigious sex drive, and love being the most powerful force in the universe, because women have a higher capacity for it, when directed inwardly, love can in fact have a corrupting effect. There is no creature capable of greater evil, than woman, by the same token however, there is also no creature capable of connecting to heaven itself faster than a woman. Perverse sexual enjoyment, is the reason women in ages past have "cavorted with demons." Evil spirits, grant women sexual pleasure, as well as power, that is why the majority of witches have been women. Once again, their prodigious sexual desire, combined with the very real danger of love directed inwardly, potentially makes many women, the most evil creatures that walk this earth. This culture, has always put women on a pedestal; the native Americans were slaughtered for their sake. Also, feminism seeks to empower women, regardless of character, regardless of what kind of people they are, that is why I'm against it. The danger is too great, of a self loving woman, acquiring power, given power, throughout human history more often than not, whenever a woman wielded power, the results were always catastrophic. A woman who wields power, financial or social, will never use it for anything good, if she does so, it will be for image, like for example actress Natalie Portman. She is living proof of what I'm talking about. Most of the people in charge of Human Resources in corporate America are women; white women. Far as I can tell, educated minorities, still have very high rates of unemployment. Feminists better not talk to ANYONE about oppression, given how that swine keeps people below the poverty line. Regarding good women, women who do not wish to be ruled by their sex drive; the reason many women take up Yoga, may not be rooted in vanity. Frustrated that their husband is neglectful, but not having it in themselves to cheat, they hear from friends that meditation will give them control, so for the sake of control, to not be driven insane with sexual hunger, they take up Yoga. You will find that the majority of women in Yoga classes are all neglected housewives; the cliche is true, single women do "get it" more. Again though in this culture in particular, that is largely rooted in the need to cause pain; like I said before, the most powerful force in the universe, is love, and between the two genders women posses the higher capacity for it that is why therefore, it is that gender, which posses the greater capacity for great evil, as women who have unleashed serial killers onto this society, have so kindly demonstrated. Ultimately though I don't think I need to tell you anything; I think people are on to them now (feminists). They are specially disliked in poorer countries; white women, feminist women, for all their "women's oppression" rhetoric, I think only Queen Rania is the ONE feminist in the world, who cares about women who are not white. Nine times out of 10 though, I'm telling you, they're racist. Still, if you are a lucky individual who lives around good women, without mentioning the sexual benefits (self control), you should encourage them to take up Tai Chi or Yoga. Yes, its the truth; in the U.S. women really do sleep with "jerks" for no other purpose, than to cause "nice guys" pain. There really is no other reason except sadism, remember that; encountering that situation know to get the hell away from a woman. Also, the reason such women label anti-feminists as mysogynist, is the same reason the Nazis and racists of the past, labeled people as "Jew lovers" or "n**** lovers." They label you as a woman hater, to portray you as bad, and themselves as good, that way their evil behavior is acceptable. If you confront them about it, they will say "that is totally not true." Do not let yourself get manipulated. I hope that if the prophecy's of the Jewish Messiah are true, that the first thing he does, is end feminism once and for all. I'm sorry but, for all the suffering they have caused and continue to cause, white women do not deserve power. Also, white women are only as powerful as the men who protect them.....

6) Oh yeah, general calm, patience, yadda, yadda, yadda. If you are a serious martial artist you may need to take a serious look at Tai Chi Chuan though; of all methods of meditation, it WILL leave you calm and peaceful, and the effect lasts for hours, even with only 20 minutes of it. If you can get yourself to do it for 2 to 3 hours, depending on your life, the effect will last for days on end, if you do it for 2 to 3 hours every day for 10 years, the effects can be permanent. The more you do it the better, although, I will warn that the minimum requirement for Tai Chi practice is 3 hours. Also, word of note, the "3 hour" rule, is common to all Kung Fu, not just Tai Chi Chuan. In days past in China, many Shaolin monks abandoned the temple for the simplest of reasons; they needed a woman. However because they had spent their entire lives in the temple, their only skill was Kung Fu. Thanks to the temple's name, and the reputation of ethical behavior of the monks, even penniless, many monks could secure wives, sometimes their father in laws would be kind enough to allow their daughter's husband to live with them, while their Kung Fu school picked up. Once it did, although not rich, a given former monk made a good living teaching Kung Fu. Understanding that many of their clients did not have the whole day to spend at the temple, many monks, taught the techniques that worked best for them, it is this way that many styles that derived from the Shaolin temple were born, some more effective than others. Sadly, as Bruce Lee criticized, because when the period of lawlessness in China ended due to the Communist revolution there were fewer and fewer violent criminals to test out Kung Fu theories, the world of Kung Fu became fraught with fraud, pretension and techniques that, sorry to get into western stereotypes here but, truly just did not work, no matter how many times you practiced them. The world of Kung Fu, has styles that will make your skin crawl with fear they are so effective and sneaky, and styles you will outright laugh at they're so pathetic. However, it was not always so; the original derivative styles from the Shaolin temple, all of them were effective, until they became corrupted by incompetent and lazy students. They may have been highly trained experts, but they were still human beings; sometimes a given student would show determination only for so long and then quit, without completing the required 3 years. Knowing everything there is to know technique wise, that is, learning all the forms, all the applications etc, and tired of constant practice, some students would abandon the school after only 8 months of training. The end result was, a deterioration of skill that in time led to the extinction of many Kung Fu styles that came from the temple. The only styles that survived, that I know of, were Hung Gar, and Wing Chun. Most other styles of Kung Fu though, and here I agree with Bruce Lee, are indeed, quite pathetic. Shaolin, Hung Gar, Wing Chun, and Baijiquan, are all lethal as hell; westerners make the mistake, of challenging one of the weaker schools, and thinking that with a monk, or Hung Gar expert they will have an easy fight. Usually, its the opposite; again, some styles of Kung Fu are every bit as deadly as their reputation, others exist for tradition's sake only. A lot of practical techniques, where indeed lost; it is a good thing the Shaolin arts have survived, because only Karate, Hung Gar, Wing Chun and Baijiquan have truly done their parent art justice. Oh yeah moving on; the masters of old, former Shaolin, dictated that the minimum time required, to master a martial art in 10 years, was 3 hours a day, and after training was over, 2 hours of meditation. That is roughly 5 hours of training total. You will have to sacrifice television, movies, Video Games, and even going out on dates for 10 years, if you wish to master martial arts. It is 5 hours of your day, that is the mininum required, as dictated by the old masters. Three hours of actual, grueling martial arts practice, namely, an hour of muscular conditioning, followed by 2 hours of martial arts practice, and at the end of the day 2 hours before bedtime, lotus meditation to "empty the mind." Ten years of that, assuming your martial arts instruction is guided by someone who corrects your form constantly, will in time, perhaps grant you mastery. I say "perhaps" because meditation is really up to the effort you put in it.

The "3 hour" rule in Tai Chi Chuan is a convention taken from other Kung Fu schools. Do not forget, that even the seemingly "useless for fighting" Yang style, is still Kung Fu. The reason, the internal arts focus wholly on meditation, is because Shang Sang Feng, the patriarch of the internal arts, felt that his own progress towards mastery was the result of meditation, not the actual drilling of the martial arts techniques. That is why therefore he made his Tai Chi Chuan, to be more meditation than martial art. In fact even today in China, the majority of internal practitioners feel, "hard drilling" is a waste of valuable time. A man or woman only has so much time, why waste it on a martial art that will in time deteriorate with age? That is the general mentality of the internal schools.

Ultimately though, most westerners need not concern themselves with the rivalries in China, the reason that is, most westerners do Karate. Through a careful study of Kata, I have discovered that within Karate, meditation is mixed into the forms. When reading a Kata instructional manual, the instructor wrote, that before unleashing a block, or a strike, one has to empty the mind completely. This is the idea of "kime;" one strike, one fall. First, you totally empty the mind, and then, with all of your power, you block, and then you strike, and then you block, and then you strike again..... in a given variation or other, all Karate Kata follow that pattern. In Shaolin Kung Fu, some forms have long meditative pauses as well, but not all of them. Also, rather than mix in meditative pauses within the form, what Shaolin Kung Fu does instead, is that they have entire forms dedicated solely to meditation. The Chen style of Tai Chi Chuan for instance, is rumored to in fact be a modified version of a Shaolin form, rather than a true Tai Chi style, the reason many in China feel this way has to do with the fact that the Chen routine, does not go in accordance with Daoist philosophy. That is, ideas of pliability, flexibility, many parts of the Chen style are too "stiff." Of course, there is no proof of it; its just heresay.

Moving back to Karate; attaining total focus before unleashing a strike, is very difficult to do. That is the reason that in Okinawa, the bulk of training was Kata. Okinawans did much basic drilling, but the bulk of Karate training has always been the Kata in the majority of Karate schools. The reason Karate has "blocky" techniques, and pauses between those techniques, is because between techniques, a Karateka has to try hard to enter into a meditative state, before doing a step block or step strike. In other words, because the majority of westerners already train in Karate, the ones that do martial arts, or Tae Kwan Do which is in fact similar, all they really need to do is modify their mindset, and take that "spirit" stuff more seriously.

Sokkon Matsumura was the one who said "spiritual development is paramount." Funakoshi's 20 rules, the famous "Niju Kun," did not come from Funakoshi himself; they were given to him by his teacher Anko Itosu, and Itosu in turn received them from Matsumura. It was Matsumura who said "spiritual development is paramount; technique is just a means to an end." In other words, all those short pauses you do in Karate? You are supposed to focus, and concentrate as hard as humanly possible, you mix in that concentration with technique long enough, and mixing focus, with martial technique become second nature.

In a lot of ways, Karate ressembles a certain Chinese martial art by the name of Xing Yi Quan ("mind/spirit form boxing"). Here is how you do Xing Yi Quan; you step into a pose, and you hold that position for long seconds, focusing on a single strike. You focus, focus, focus, and then you focus some more, and then BOOM!, you strike. For the next technique you repeat the process. Karate, follows the same philosophy as Xing Yi, only the pauses are not nearly as long. Also, as the Niju Kung says "practice Kata exactly; a real fight is a different matter." What Matsumura was saying, that meditation within forms practice is one thing, an actual fight is quite another; an opponent is not going to just stand there, while you strike a pose, focus for a long time, and then he waits for you to hit him.

So why do it? You ever watch fight science MMA, featuring among others, Bas Rutten?

One of the things Bas Rutten said was "when I knocked people out one of the first things they said was 'when did he hit me?' they did not see it coming."

"When did he hit me?"

Focus is important dude; neglect it at your own peril, you may find yourself asking "when did he hit me?"

All it is is karate but alot slower. You don't need to read all of that.

Answer 6

it is about 2000 years old (ancient)

it stenghtens mind, body and spirit

there are 5 different styles: wu-hao, chen, yang, sun and wu

you can learn it at any age

hope that helps! :)

Answer 7

You begin your training with forms and chi-gung. The slow forms, such as Yang, Chen and Wu forms are series of flowing movements, each based on a self defense application. Forms teach you to let go of excess tension, use the joints in sequence, allow your attention to fill your body rather than being condensed in the head, allow each joint to sink so that it is connected to the ground, breathe fully and properly and become aware of patterns of tension so you can let them go.

Chi-Gung (or Qi-Gong) are simple movements, often repeated a few times each, that develop the flow of internal energy (chi) that is the basis of Chinese medicine. This is the natural biological energy that allows all the cells and organis of the body to communicate and function properly. (There is also standing chi-gung that involves no movement). There are hundreds of styles of chi-gung. Some such as "Zookinesis" (a modern translation) or "animal exercises" are more vigorous and teach you to develop full mobility of the joints, intricate coordination of the body and the complete connection of mind and body.

Push Hands is a two person exercise in which you try to throw the other person off balance. But you can't use tension or your partner will use your tension to throw you over. Your body becomes like a trampoline, with all the joints and connective tissues flexible, absorbing the partners tension and bouncing the tension back into him. You learn to neutralize and re-direct force directed against you as preparation for martial arts training.

More importantly, Push Hands teaches you to how to deal with any interaction in life, not by meeting force with force, but by developing your awareness and allowing your body and mind to respond to the situation with the least energy and stress. Push Hands is considered to be the "heart" of Tai-chi training.

Tai-chi means "The Grand Ultimate Martial Art". The fighting aspect includes punching, kicking, grappling, groundfighting, joint locks and pressure points. You don't block (meeting force with force) but flow in between the opponent's strikes, delivering your own. This requires great flexibility and speed of attention which you learn in forms, chi-gung and Push Hands.

The strikes come from propagated waves, created by the sequential expansion of the joints, from foot to knee to hip to elbow to fist or palm. (Or, to a foot if you are kicking). The entire body is used to create the force of the strike, always then returning into your center.

There is healing in Tai-chi as well, such as Tai-chi massage (also called, "Chi-gung massage"). This massage is very slow and deep. It not only eliminates muscle tension but also unblocks the flow of chi in the body.

Answer 8

Tai-chi is comprised of several types of exercises, healing practices and self defense. The main reason people get involved in Tai-chi is to reduce stress, improve health, develop physical coordination and strengthen the mind.

Tai-chi allows you to become aware of all parts of your body and so to bring feeling back to your body. It unblocks the flow of "chi" (internal energy) which is the biological energy that allows the cells and organs of the body to communicate and coordinate their activities.

With the Push Hands exercise, Tai-chi teaches you how to deal with life's situations, such as aggression directed against you. You learn to neutralize aggression, remain centered and keep a clear mind.

The healing aspects such as Tai-chi Massage prevent the body from becoming rigid and deteriorating. All aspects of Tai-chi are helpful in keeping you young. Chi-gung is especially known for this (especially the "animal exercises" or "zookinesis"). These are simple exercises designed to unblock the flow of chi.

For more information, read the book, "Movements of Magic - the Spirit of Tai-chi-Chuan".

Recommended book: "Movements of Magic - the Spirit of Tai-chi-Chuan"

Recommended dvds: "The Best of American Tai-chi", "Chinese Chi-gung Health Exercises" "Tai-chi Massage".

Answer 9

Chinese people tend to have extremely difficult work days, and without Tai Chi Chuan, some people just would not be able to do their jobs. Its not so much "popularity" as it is necessity.