Tai Chi is a Chinese martial art focused on promoting physical health and mental well-being. It helps keep muscles and joints flexible. It also promotes good posture.
When someone says they practice Tai Chi, they usually mean Tai Chi Chuan, the variant that descends from the Chinese martial arts. Tai-Chi-Tao is a variant that is clearly focused on human health.
Tai Chi exercises
The Tai Chi Tao exercises are gentle and not very difficult. The exercises are based on the five elements of energy theory: water, fire, earth, wood, and metal. They help you gain more energy.
The exercises also have a positive effect on blood circulation and oxygen supply to the muscles.
The Tai-Chi-Tao exercises can relieve pain, especially because the pace of the exercises is slow. People with RSI complaints, back pain, rheumatism, and ME can benefit from Tai-Chi-Tao.
Movement theory and self-defense
Although, especially in the West, many Tai Chi practitioners emphasize the health aspect of Tai Chi and see it ‘merely’ as a movement practice, there are also practitioners who study this art for its effectiveness as a self-defense art.
In particular, the Chen style places much more emphasis on the self-defense aspect than, for example, the Yang style. The forms are often performed more deeply, with practitioners bending their knees more to better maintain balance.
In Tai Chi as self-defense, the focus is mainly on disrupting the opponent’s balance by following and neutralizing their movement.
Maintaining one’s own balance is, of course, very important. Once the opponent is off balance, a counterattack can be launched if desired.
