Chinese Tai chi

Chinese Tai Chi ,or Taichi Chuan can be translated as the 'Supreme Ultimate Force'. The notion of 'supreme ultimate' is often associated with the Chinese concept of yin-yang, the notion that one can see a dynamic duality in all things. 'Force' can be thought of here as the means or way of achieving this ying-yang, or 'supreme-ultimate' discipline. Chinese Tai Chi, as it is practiced in the west today, can perhaps best be thought of as a moving form of yoga and meditation combined. In Chinese philosophy and medicine there exists the concept of 'chi', a vital force that animates the body. One of the avowed aims of Chinese Tai Chi is to foster the

circulation of  this 'chi' within the body, the belief being that by doing so the health and vitality of the person are enhanced. Another aim of Chinese Tai Chi is to foster a calm and tranquil mind, focused on the precise execution of these exercises. Learning to do Chinese Tai Chi correctly provides a practical avenue for learning about such things as balance, alignment, fine-scale motor control, rhythm of movement, the genesis of movement from the body's vital center, and

so on. The practical exercises of Chinese Tai Chi are also situated in a wider philosophical context of Taoism. The Taoism has many elements but fundamentally it espouses a calm, reflective and mystic view of the world steeped in the beauty and tranquillity of nature. Chinese Tai Chi also has particularly amongst eastern practitioners, a long connection with the I Ching a Chinese system of divination. There are associations between the 8 basic I Ching trigrams plus the five elements of Chinese alchemy (metal, wood, fire, water and earth) with the thirteen basic postures of Chinese Tai Chi created by Chang San-feng.