T'ai Chi Chuan, a martial art. (Tai Chi)

Member Name: Fuzzletoff

Product:	Tai Chi
Date:	13/01/02 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fitness improves, Self defence, Calms stress

Disadvantages: can be misinterpreted by spiritualists

Yes, please do read the title again. You did see the word martial and if you disagree, I'll meet you on the mat at a local village hall.

Kidding, really! But I am fed up with the 'Spiritual' camp.

T'ai Chi is a meditation tool, but the end of this is surely the ability to fight better and win. It is a slow Kung Fu form.

I have been studying T'ai Chi Chuan and Qi Gong for several years, and I am still only the merest beginner.

The class I have 'grown up' with has comprised of older people trying to improve their general fitness and mobility. The younger ones who come to our class for 'spiritual awareness' don't last long. Don't get me wrong, as a butterfly mind sort of person myself, the impact of this meditation and concentration does border on spiritual, but it is purely internal.

T'ai Chi is an effective fighting form. My other half and I spar continuously. Friends of ours who study the offensive forms such as JuJitsu have started to move towards Kung Fu and T'ai Chi. When they realised that they were getting up a sweat and were being pushed around by someone who barely moved and certainly used no effort, they learned the value of internal forms.

It is an excellent way to improve fitness, blood pressure readigns and mobility. And it is suitable for everyone from the youngest to the oldest because it only requires you to do as much as you are able. My breathing exercises help my not to shout at my bosses when they are plain stupid! And I can sing an entire verse without needing extra breaths. What is more, I have Scoliosis, which is curvature of the spine, which although corrected surgically 14 years ago, is still moving. I often have incredible back pains, and I can twist up quite dramatically. The first time I showed up at a class looking like Quasimodo, my master refused to teach me. I ignored him and went through the form with the rest of the
class. By the end of the hour and a half lesson, I was standing straight and the pain had diminished to a dull roar.

Accupressure:
The accupressure we learn is an effective muscle relaxant. I might add, that in London, one half hour session could cost you as much as your month's grocery bill. I give and receive this for nothing during my class.

Never having tried Yoga I cannot compare this and advise T'ai Chi as an alternative. However, for potential martial artists, start with this. Learn to love the art for the art's sake, not in order to be able to knock that big bloke from the club out with the strike of a hand.

Kung fu is about control, thinking and relaxation. That is its strength.

Summary: