What is Tai Chi?

What does Tai Chi mean to You...

Tai Chi is the ?newest? health and fitness fad. I say ?newest? tongue in cheek, though. Although Tai Chi is new to most Westerners (and Aussies!), that doesn?t mean that it?s new everywhere.

Tai Chi has actually been around forever by Western and Aussie standards. It?s an ancient form of Asian martial art. The easiest way to describe Tai Chi (if you haven?t seen it before) is that it looks kind of like a cross between kung fu and dancing.

Now, I know Tai Chi is technically called a martial art, but I laugh inside every time I hear that. Have you ever seen anyone doing Chi Practice? It?s not like other martial arts. In tae kwon do, for example, you move quickly. Of course! You need to be quick to block your opponent?s attacks, and you need to move even faster to surprise them with your attacks. With Tai Chi, though, the trick is to go? very? s-l-o-w-l-y?

That makes Tai Chi look more like a dance than a fight. Everything?s smooth. While doing Tai Chi, you go through the motions smoothly and slowly, so that (if you do it right), it?s impossible for someone to tell when one pose ends and another begins. That?s makes it arguably the most beautiful martial art.

At this point, you?re probably wondering, ?What good is a martial art where you move very slowly and smoothly? It couldn?t possibly be good to fight that way?? And you?d be right. Tai Chi (as we usually see it in the West) is not for kicking butt. Tai Chi has loftier purposes.

About 200 million Chinese people (give or take a few million) do Tai Chi each day. They?re not worried about using it for self-defense, though. For them, it?s a sport, an exercise, and/or a way of life. It turns out that doing Tai Chi is VERY good for you. It strengthens your muscles and helps you stay flexible. It develops your ability to balance. It moves you blood around in your body to distribute oxygen, hormones, and other goodies to where they?re needed. And Tai Chi strengthens the immune system.

Yet it?s not hard for most people to do. Even very old people or very overweight people can usually do Tai Chi. (But ask your doctor first if it?s okay.) It doesn?t require you to exert yourself. You don?t have to move fast. You don?t have to bend far. It?s low-impact and easy on your joints. You don?t have to wear fancy clothes or buy any fancy equipment to do it. And if you do it right, it?s very hard to hurt yourself while doing Tai Chi.

Because of all of this, Tai Chi is (finally) becoming popular in the West and Australia, especially among people new to fitness and elderly people who have trouble doing more hard core forms of exercise.

So if you?d like to try Tai Chi, don?t feel shy. Young people, old people, men and women are trying Tai Chi. You can try out a beginner?s class to check it out for yourself.

Samuel Kilgore has an website all about Tai Chi and Qigong including: Tips, Secrets and Information moving towards Chi Essentials http://www.TaiChiEssentials.com Tai Chi Essentials