Tai Chi Practice

Tai chi is an ancient, yoga-like Chinese system of almost ballet-like exercises designed for health, self-defence, and spiritual development. Practicing Tai Chi can facilitate the flow of chi ("life energy") throughout the body by dissolving blockages both within the body itself, and between the body and the surrounding environment. Traditional tai chi prescribes about 108 to 128 postures, including repetitions. The difficulty for many lies in concatenating the postures into circular movements.

Once learnt even the basics of Tai Chi can help to provide a good self healing practice which can be used for daily exercise and to relive the stresses and strains of the modern world.

Many people practice Tai Chi for its benefits to health and as a means to relieve tension through learning its graceful, flowing movements. However, as its name implies, (Tai Chi Ch'uan translates as 'Supreme Ultimate Boxing') Tai Chi is also a very effective martial art, to achieve this level of understanding takes a great many years of fully dedicated study and refined practice.

See also QiGong

The Complete Idiots Guide to Tai Chi and Qigong Bill Douglas
Click to order UK Click to order US	This is an excellent book and DVD which provides lots of information about Tai Chi and the benefits of tai chi practice, not only does he go in to the history of Tai chi and and QiGong but also the the major styles, but also presents a good illustrated instruction manual for traditional tai chi and qi gong. Click to order UK Click to order US