Practicing Tai Chi

“Tai Chi Chih” is a set of movements completely focused on the development of an intrinsic energy called Chi. Tai Chi (pronounced tie-chee) began as a martial art, but often it is frequently practiced more for its health benefits and meditative properties. A technique that integrates body, mind and spirit, various forms or styles of Tai Chi has been practiced for centuries in China. It has become a popular exercise for millions of Chinese people, especially older ones. If you translate Tai Chi (Taiji), it would mean “Supreme Ultimate Force”. It also has meanings like “Grand Ultimate” and implies “the balance of opposing forces of nature.”

One goal of the traditional training was to teach awareness of one’s own balance, both physical and mental. Tai Chi also means “unity, one, or being able to attain oneness.” With the use of the concept of the positive and negative energy, Tai Chi is a form of force that can be assumed as a dual dynamic state in which force coming from within the body is used in means of achieving the supreme and ultimate discipline in oneself. Tai Chi Chih is a very new style of Tai Chi that focuses solely on the non-martial aspects of Tai Chi.

Tai Chi Chih practitioners see Tai Chi as a form of meditative interaction between the mind, body, soul and the environment. They do not recognize it as a martial art technique at all, but rather as an exercise to calm the body. One of the many aims of Tai Chi is to promote circulation of the “chi” throughout the body. By promoting this belief, the vitality and health of a person normally is enhanced.

Once the chi circulates around the body, it goes to the pattern of the vascular and nervous system and any organ correlated to it, and it thereby is connected with the principles of oriental healing and acupuncture.

One of the most familiar aims of Tai Chi is fostering the calmness and tranquility of the mind. One’s mind must be focused on executing the exercise precisely because doing it in a proper manner provides an avenue to learn things about balance, motor control, alignment, movement rhythm, and the list goes on.

If the person practicing Tai Chi can practice it every day, then that person’s physical ability to function and perform the various activities of daily living should improve.

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