What Is T'ai Chi Ch'uan?
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
For centuries in China, Taoist monks performed movement exercises to increase their chi flow and to remain in good physical health. Also within Taoism were many martial artists who practiced movement exercises to become stronger and more capable fighters. Out of these two exercises was born a practice known as T'ai Chi Ch'uan. This paper will focus on the aspect of T'ai Chi Ch'uan that relates to chi cultivation and healing.
It is not known exactly when T'ai Chi Ch'uan originated. Yang Ming, a Chinese master in both T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Chi Gong and a great scholar in the history of China, points out in his book The Essence of Taiji Qigong (1997) that there is evidence of T'ai Chi Ch'uan originating around 500 B.C. or 1100 B.C.. It is then known that in the 17th century B.C. a man named Chen Wang Ting learned the art of T'ai Chi Ch'uan and refined it into a series of continuous movements. (14) Today there are four main styles of T'ai Chi Ch'uan named after the master that developed it, and they are Chen, Yang, Sun Wu, and Woo. There are three main principles in relation to the healing aspect of T'ai Chi Ch'uan. They are the existence of chi and its ability to be cultivated, Taoism, and yin-yang. In the practice of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, one is concentrating on the chi within the body and chi coming from outside the body into the body. Through practice one gains the ability to feel the presence of chi, learn how it moves, and direct the chi wherever they wish. The movements in T'ai Chi Ch'uan are designed to help chi move freely and unobstructed through the body's energy channels.
This art originated among the Taoists and so takes on the frame that these people had. As stated earlier, the Taoists believe that the universe is imbued with the presence of chi and that to live in harmony with the Tao one needs have a harmonious relationship between their internal chi and external chi. T'ai Chi Ch'uan is designed to help connect the human microcosm with the universal macrocosm.
Yin-yang is a basic Taoist principle and plays a major role in Taoist understanding of the universe. In Taoist cosmology, first there was Wu Chi, which is the great void where creation sprang from, and then there was T'ai Chi. T'ai Chi, the supreme ultimate, is a name for the first step of universal manifestation. Out of T'ai Chi was born yin-yang. T'ai Chi is therefore known as the mother of Yin-yang. Yin and yang are co-dependent; one cannot exist without the other. The universe is the ever¬ flowing dance of these two energies. Yin is said to relate to softness, inflowing, emptiness, female, and other things. Yang is said to relate to hardness, out-flowing, fullness, male, and other things. Within the human body these two energies are constantly in relation and interaction. In T'ai Chi Ch'uan, yin and yang movements are performed to elicit a sense of understanding of each and how they are dynamically harmonious.
Martin
Lee, a highly experienced teacher and practitioner of T'ai Chi Ch'uan,
describes the practice of T'ai Chi Ch'uan in the book Ride The Tiger
To The Mountain: T’ai Chi For Health (1989), “T'ai Chi Ch'uan
is a set of slow, continuous, evenly paced and carefully patterned natural
movements based upon the principle of shifting one's weight while keeping
stable and upright. The movements are connected by smooth, even breathing.
They are characterized by circularity of motion and relaxation of tension.
In T'ai Chi Ch'uan, the mind has a double role. It is the source of
intention, directing and controlling movement, and attention, monitoring
the effects of movement. Someone watching T'ai Chi Ch'uan sees only
the slowness and the beauty of the movements. Someone doing T'ai Chi
Ch'uan is wholly involved in guiding a stream of energy and enjoying
an experience of attentive awareness.” (16)
T'ai Chi Ch'uan is a beautiful exercise, which anyone can perform if
he or she has the time for practice. It is also an extremely sophisticated
art that has been developed over many centuries of study into the nature
of the universe. Through practice in T'ai Chi Ch'uan many possibilities
for transformation awaken within an individual.