Tai Chi

Tai Chi 太极拳 (simply Tai Chi or Tai Chi quan) is a Chinese martial art and a form of Chinese boxing that practiced throughout the world, and number of Tai Chi trainees are increasing nowadays because of its health effects. Tai Chi styles China is a large country, in ancient times the travel throughout the country was inconvenient, so each region formed its unique culture. Because of limited interaction among Chinese people of various regions in an ancient times, many styles, schools and skills of Tai Chi were formed. The most popular Tai Chi styles are as follows:

  1. Chen style: is the oldest style of Tai Chi, created by the retired general Chen (1600-1680), this style is known for its combination of both soft and firm, and combination of quick and slow movements, as well as using strong foot and leg pushing.
  2. Yang style: created by Master Yang ( 1799-1872), this style is known for its standardized format, slow and relaxed movements. This style is easy to learn and its movements are attractive, thus its considered the most popular style of Tai Chi.
  3. Wu (Z-Q) style: Master Wu (Wu, Zhen-Quan) is a key master who developed this style, its modified from Yang style, and features small range of quick and relaxed movements, also the upper part of the body is slightly inclined forward during practice
  4. Sun style: this style was developed by Master Sun (Sun, Lutang; 1860-1933), this style is known for its combination of the skills and methods of other Chinese martial arts such as Xingyiquan, and baguazhang, so its footwork moves much faster and it contains more frequent back and forth movements.
  5. Wu (Y-H) style: Master Wu (Wu, Yu-Hsiang; 1812-1880) created this style, which is known for its slow and small range of body movements, as well as lesser bending of the knee, and limited reach of hands and arms.

Characteristics of Tai Chi Movements

Tai Chi movements have four characteristics:
  1. Soft and continuous movements: like a slow-moving river
  2. Calm and quit movements: similar to a slow-moving river, pursueing a state of calmness, the Chinese people believe that if a person relaxes his/her mind then the qi (internal energy) will become calm.
  3. Movements are relaxed: your whole body must be relaxed and move in a natural way, your mind must be relaxed in order to relax your whole body.
  4. Movements must be circular: its rare to see a straight forward movements in Tai Chi, instead movements in Tai Chi follows paths of circles or canvas.

Tai Chi and Health

Tai Chi has shown to improve many of physiological and psychological aspects of chronic diseases, and it is considered an effective way of promoting balance, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility in adults and young people. Tai Chi helps in reducing blood pressure, many evidence support that Tai Chi helps improve the balance and postural stability, and a number of studies found that Tai Chi is effective in reducing the fear of falling. There is also evidence that supports the effectiveness of Tai Chi in reducing osteoarthritis pain, it has been found that Tai Chi maybe helpful for improving the balance and physical function of people who live with osteoarthritis.

How to learn Tai Chi?

If you want to learn Tai Chi you have to ask yourself, which style do i want to learn?If you want to learn all styles of Tai Chi then the number of teachers will be limited but here in our school there are qualified Tai Chi masters who can teach you all aspects of Tai Chi. The other requirements include watching, asking, listening, reading and above all practicing, watch your master and fellow students, it is also crucial to ask questions our teachers will give you the right answers and the most helpful advice.