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Tai chi

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太極拳
File:Yang Ch'eng-fu circa 1918.jpg
Yang Chengfu in a posture from the Tai Chi solo form known as Single Whip, circa 1918
Hanyu Pinyin Tàijíquán
Wade-Giles T'ai4 Chi2 Ch'üan2
Simplified Chinese 太极拳
Traditional Chinese 太極拳
Cantonese taai3 gik6 kyun4
Japanese Hiragana たいきょくけん
Korean 태극권
Vietnamese Thái Cực Quyền

Template:ChineseText

Tai Chi Chuan, T'ai Chi Ch'üan or Taijiquan (simplified Chinese: 太极拳; traditional Chinese: 太極拳; pinyin: Tàijíquán; lit. 'supreme ultimate fist') is an internal Chinese martial art often practiced to promote health and longevity. Tai Chi Chuan's training forms are well known as the slow motion routines that groups of people practice every morning in parks around the world, particularly in China. Some medical studies support its effectiveness as an alternative exercise and a form of martial arts therapy. Tai Chi Chuan is considered a soft style martial art, an art applied with internal power, to distinguish its theory and application from that of the hard martial art styles. There are many different styles of Tai Chi Chuan, but most modern schools can trace their development to the system originally taught by the Chen family to the Yang family starting in 1820.

Overview

The Mandarin term "Tai Chi Chuan" literally translates as "Supreme Ultimate Boxing" or "Boundless Fist". The concept of the "supreme ultimate" is the symbol of the Taijitu meant to show the principles of Yin and Yang duality of Taoist philosophy. Thus, Tai Chi theory and practice evolved in agreement with many of the principles of Chinese philosophy and Taoism in particular. Tai Chi training involves learning solo routines, known as forms (套路 taolu), two person routines known as pushing hands, as well as martial applications of the postures of the form. Tai Chi Chuan was created as a form of traditional Chinese martial arts of the Neijia (soft or internal) branch. Despite these origins, it has developed a worldwide following among many thousands of people with little or no interest in martial training for its benefit to health and health maintenance. Some call it a form of moving meditation, as focusing the mind solely on the movements of the form purportedly helps to bring about a state of mental calm and clarity. Besides general health benefits and stress management attributed to beginning and intermediate level Tai Chi training, many therapeutic interventions along the lines of traditional Chinese medicine are taught to advanced Tai Chi students in traditional schools.

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The physical techniques of Tai Chi Chuan is described in the Tai Chi Classics (a set of writings by traditional masters) as being characterized by the use of leverage through the joints based on coordination in relaxation, rather than muscular tension, in order to neutralize or initiate attacks. The slow, repetitive work involved in the process of learning how that leverage is generated gently and measurably increases and opens the internal circulation: (breath, body heat, blood, lymph, peristalsis, etc.). Over time, proponents say, this enhancement becomes a lasting effect, a direct reversal of the constricting physical effects of stress on the human body. This reversal allows much more of the students' intrinsic energy to be available to them.

The study of Tai Chi Chuan primarily involves three subjects. Traditional schools cover these aspects of Tai Chi practice syncretically, while many modern schools choose to focus on a single aspect alone, depending on their goal in practicing the art. These three subjects include:

Health
An unhealthy or otherwise uncomfortable person will find it difficult to meditate to a state of calmness or to use T'ai Chi as a martial art. T'ai Chi's health training therefore concentrates on relieving the physical effects of stress on the body and mind. For those focused on Tai Chi's martial application, good physical fitness is the first step in effective self-defense.
Meditation
The focus meditation and subsequent calmness cultivated by the meditative aspect of Tai Chi is seen as necessary to maintain optimum health (in the sense of effectively maintaining stress relief or homeostasis) and in order to use it as a soft style martial art.
Martial art
The ability to utilize Tai Chi as a form of self-defense in combat is said to be the most effective proof of a student's understanding of the principles of good Tai Chi. The study of Tai Chi Chuan martially is studying how to change appropriately in response to outside forces, to be able to yield and blend with opposing force rather than meet it with equal force. These principles are taught using the examples of physics as experienced by two (or more) bodies training for combat.

Training and techniques

The Yin-Yang symbol, or the Taijitu is a symbol often associated with Taoism and Tai Chi Chuan

As the name T'ai Chi Ch'uan is held to be derived from the T'ai Chi symbol (taijitu or t'ai chi t'u, 太極圖), commonly known in the West as the "yin-yang" diagram, T'ai Chi Ch'uan is therefore said in literature preserved in its oldest schools to be a study of yin (receptive) and yang (active) principles, using terminology found in the Chinese classics, especially the Book of Changes and the Tao Te Ching.

The core training involves two primary features: the first being the solo form (ch'üan or quán, 拳), a slow sequence of movements which emphasize a straight spine, abdominal breathing and a natural range of motion; the second being different styles of pushing hands (t'ui shou, 推手) for training movement principles of the form in a more practical way.

The solo form should take the students through a complete, natural, range of motion over their centre of gravity. Accurate, repeated practice of the solo routine is said to retrain posture, encourage circulation throughout the students' bodies, maintain flexibility through their joints and further familiarize students with the martial application sequences implied by the forms. The major traditional styles of T'ai Chi have forms which differ somewhat cosmetically, but there are also many obvious similarities which point to their common origin. The solo forms, empty-hand and weapon, are catalogues of movements that are practised individually in pushing hands and martial application scenarios to prepare students for self-defense training. In most traditional schools different variations of the solo forms can be practiced: fast–slow, small circle–large circle, square–round (which are different expressions of leverage through the joints), low sitting/high sitting (the degree to which weight-bearing knees are kept bent throughout the form), for example.

In a fight, if one uses hardness to resist violent force then both sides are certain to be injured, at least to some degree. Such injury, according to T'ai Chi theory, is a natural consequence of meeting brute force with brute force. The collision of two like forces, yang with yang, is known as "double-weighted" in T'ai Chi terminology. Instead, students are taught not to fight or resist an incoming force, but to meet it in softness and "stick" to it, following its motion while remaining in physical contact until the incoming force of attack exhausts itself or can be safely redirected, the result of meeting yang with yin. Done correctly, achieving this yin/yang or yang/yin balance in combat (and, by extension, other areas of one's life) is known as being "single-weighted" and is a primary goal of T'ai Chi Ch'üan training. Lao Tzu provided the archetype for this in the Tao Te Ching when he wrote, "The soft and the pliable will defeat the hard and strong."

T'ai Chi's martial aspect relies on sensitivity to the opponent's movements and centre of gravity dictating appropriate responses. Effectively affecting or "capturing" the opponent's centre of gravity immediately upon contact is trained as the primary goal of the martial T'ai Chi student. The sensitivity needed to capture the centre is acquired over thousands of hours of first yin (slow, repetitive, meditative, low impact) and then later adding yang ("realistic," active, fast, high impact) martial training; forms, pushing hands and sparring. T'ai Chi Ch'üan trains in three basic ranges, close, medium and long, and then everything in between. Pushes and open hand strikes are more common than punches, and kicks are usually to the legs and lower torso, never higher than the hip in most styles. The fingers, fists, palms, sides of the hands, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, back, hips, knees and feet are commonly used to strike, with strikes to the eyes, throat, heart, groin and other acupressure points trained by advanced students. There is an extensive repertoire of joint traps, locks and breaks (chin na), particularly applied to lock up or break an opponent's elbows, wrists, fingers, ankles, back or neck. Most T'ai Chi teachers expect their students to thoroughly learn defensive or neutralizing skills first, and a student will have to demonstrate proficiency with them before offensive skills will be extensively trained. There is also an emphasis in the traditional schools that one is expected to show wu te (武德), martial virtue or heroism, to protect the defenseless and show mercy to one's opponents.

Other training exercises include:

  • Weapons training and fencing applications employing the straight sword known as the jian or chien or gim (jiàn 劍), a heavier curved sabre, sometimes called a broadsword or tao (dāo 刀, which is actually considered a big knife), folding fan also called san, wooden staff (2 m) known as kun (棍), 7 foot (2 m) spear and 13 foot (4 m) lance (both called qiāng 槍). More exotic weapons still used by some traditional styles are the large Dadao or Ta Tao (大刀) and Pudao or P'u Tao (撲刀) sabres, halberd (jǐ 戟), cane, rope-dart, three sectional staff, Wind and fire wheels, lasso, whip, chain whip and steel whip.
  • Two-person tournament sparring (as part of push hands competitions and/or sanshou 散手);
  • Breathing exercises; nei kung (內功 nèigōng) or, more commonly, ch'i kung (氣功 qìgōng) to develop ch'i (氣 qì) or "breath energy" in coordination with physical movement and post standing or combinations of the two. These were formerly taught only to disciples as a separate, complementary training system. In the last 50 years they have become more well known to the general public.
An outdoor Chen style class in Beijing

Styles and history

There are five major styles of T'ai Chi Ch'üan, each named after the Chinese family from which it originated:

Zhaobao Tai Chi, a close cousin of Chen style, has been newly recognised by Western practitioners as a distinct style.

The order of seniority is as listed above. The order of popularity is Yang, Wu, Chen, Sun, and Wu/Hao. The first five major family styles share much underlying theory, but differ in their approaches to training.

In the modern world there are now dozens of new styles, hybrid styles and offshoots of the main styles, but the five family schools are the groups recognised by the international community as being orthodox. The designation internal or nei chia martial arts is also used to broadly distinguish what are known as the external or wai chia styles based on the Shaolinquan styles, although that distinction is sometimes disputed by modern schools. In this broad sense, among many T'ai Chi schools all styles of T'ai Chi (as well as related arts such as Pa Kua Chang and Hsing-i Ch'üan) are therefore considered to be "soft" or "internal" martial arts. Many styles list in their history that Taijiquan was originally formulated by a Taoist monk called Zhang Sanfeng and taught by him in the Taoist monasteries at Wu Tang Shan. Some consider that what is practised under that name today may be a modern back-formation based on stories and popular veneration of Zhang Sanfeng (see below) as well as the martial fame of the Wu Tang monastery (there are many other martial art styles historically associated with Wu Tang besides T'ai Chi).

When tracing T'ai Chi Ch'üan's formative influences to Taoist and Buddhist monasteries, one has little more to go on than legendary tales from a modern historical perspective, but T'ai Chi Ch'üan's practical connection to and dependence upon the theories of Sung dynasty Neo-Confucianism (a conscious synthesis of Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian traditions, esp. the teachings of Mencius) is readily apparent to its practitioners. The philosophical and political landscape of that time in Chinese history is fairly well documented. T'ai Chi Ch'üan's theories and practice are therefore believed by some schools to have been formulated by the Taoist monk Zhang Sanfeng in the 12th century, at about the same time that the principles of the Neo-Confucian school were making themselves felt in Chinese intellectual life. Zhang Sanfeng as a young man studied Tao Yin (導引, Pinyin dǎoyǐn) breathing exercises from his Taoist teachers and martial arts at the Buddhist Shaolin monastery, eventually combining the martial forms and breathing exercises to formulate the soft or internal principles we associate with T'ai Chi Ch'üan and related martial arts. Zhang Sanfeng is also said to be the creator of the original 13 Movements of Tai Chi Chuan. These 13 movements are in all forms of Tai Chi Chuan. This is also why many modern Tai Chi schools recognize him, as the creator of Tai Chi Chuan. Its subsequent fame attributed to his teaching, Wu Tang monastery was known thereafter as an important martial center for many centuries, its many styles of internal kung fu preserved and refined at various Taoist temples.

Family tree

This family tree is not comprehensive. 

LEGENDARY FIGURES
   |
Zhang Sanfeng*
circa 12th century
NEI CHIA
   |
Wang Zongyue*
   |
   |
THE 5 MAJOR CLASSICAL FAMILY STYLES
   |
Chen Wangting
1600-1680 9th generation Chen
CHEN STYLE
   |
   +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
   |                                                                   |
Chen Changxing                                                     Chen Youben
1771-1853 14th generation Chen                                     circa 1800s 14th generation Chen
Chen Old Frame                                                     Chen New Frame (Small Frame)
   |                                                                   |
Yang Lu-ch'an                                                      Chen Qingping
1799–1872                                                          1795–1868
YANG STYLE                                                         Chen Small Frame, Zhaobao Frame
   |                                                                   |
   +---------------------------------+-----------------------------+   |
   |                                 |                             |   |
Yang Pan-hou                      Yang Chien-hou                   Wu Yu-hsiang
1837–92                           1839–1917                        1812–80
Yang Small Frame                     |                             WU/HAO STYLE
   |                                 +-----------------+                      |
   |                                 |                 |                      |
Wu Ch'uan-yü                      Yang Shao-hou     Yang Ch'eng-fu          Li I-yü
1834–1902                         1862–1930         1883–1936               1832–92
   |                              Yang Small Frame  Yang Big Frame            |
Wu Chien-ch'üan                                        |                    Hao Wei-chen
1870–1942                                           Yang Shou-chung         1849–1920
WU STYLE                                            1910–85                        
108 Form                                                                      |
   |                                                                        Sun Lu-t'ang
Wu Kung-i                                                                   1861–1932
1900–70                                                                     SUN STYLE
   |                                                                          |
Wu Ta-kuei                                                                  Sun Hsing-i
1923–72                                                                     1891–1929                  
                           
MODERN FORMS        
                                      
from Yang Ch`eng-fu                     
        |               
        |              
        |                         
        +--------------+      
        |              |       
  Cheng Man-ch'ing     |   
  1901–75              |    
  Short (37) Form      |     
                       |
              Chinese Sports Commission
              1956
              Beijing 24 Form
              .
              .
              1989
              42 Competition Form
              (Wushu competition form combined from Sun, Wu, Chen, and Yang styles)

Notes to Family tree table

Names denoted by an asterisk are legendary or semilegendary figures in the lineage, which means their involvement in the lineage, while accepted by most of the major schools, isn't independently verifiable from known historical records.

The Cheng Man-ch'ing and Chinese Sports Commission short forms are derived from Yang family forms, but neither are recognized as Yang family T'ai Chi Ch'üan by standard-bearing Yang family teachers. The Chen, Yang and Wu families are now promoting their own shortened demonstration forms for competitive purposes.

Modern T'ai Chi

Yang style in Shanghai

T'ai Chi has become very popular in the last twenty years or so, as the baby boomers age and T'ai Chi's reputation for ameliorating the effects of aging becomes more well-known. Hospitals, clinics, community and senior centers are all hosting T'ai Chi classes in communities around the world. As a result of this popularity, there has been some divergence between those who say they practice T'ai Chi primarily for fighting, those who practice it for its aesthetic appeal (as in the shortened, modern, theatrical "Taijiquan" forms of wushu, see below), and those who are more interested in its benefits to physical and mental health. The wushu aspect is primarily for show; the forms taught for those purposes are designed to earn points in competition and are mostly unconcerned with either health maintenance or martial ability. More traditional stylists still see the two aspects of health and martial arts as equally necessary pieces of the puzzle, the yin and yang of T'ai Chi Ch'uan. The T'ai Chi "family" schools therefore still present their teachings in a martial art context whatever the intention of their students in studying the art.

Along with Yoga, it is one of the fastest growing fitness and health maintenance activities, in terms of numbers of students enrolling in classes. Since there is no universal certification process and most Westerners haven't seen very much T'ai Chi and don't know what to look for, practically anyone can learn or even make up a few moves and call themselves a teacher. This is especially prevalent in the New Age community. Relatively few of these teachers even know that there are martial applications to the T'ai Chi forms. Those who do know that it is a martial art usually don't teach martially themselves. If they do teach self-defense, it is often a mixture of motions which the teachers think look like T'ai Chi Ch'üan with some other system. While this phenomenon may have made some external aspects of T'ai Chi available for a wider audience, the traditional T'ai Chi family schools see the martial focus as a fundamental part of their training, both for health and self-defense purposes. They claim that while the students may not need to practice martial applications themselves to derive a benefit from T'ai Chi training, they assert that T'ai Chi teachers at least should know the martial applications to ensure that the movements they teach are done correctly and safely by their students. Also, working on the ability to protect oneself from physical attack (one of the most stressful things that can happen to a person) certainly falls under the category of complete "health maintenance." For these reasons they claim that a school not teaching those aspects somewhere in their syllabus cannot be said to be actually teaching the art itself, and will be much less likely to be able to reproduce the full health benefits that made T'ai Chi's reputation in the first place.

Sport competition

File:10th all china games Taijijian 1665.jpg
Taijijian event at the 10th All China Games

In order to standardize T'ai Chi Ch'uan for wushu tournament judging, and because many of the family T'ai Chi Ch'uan teachers had either moved out of China or had been forced to stop teaching after the Communist regime was established in 1949, the government sponsored Chinese Sports Committee brought together four of their wushu teachers to truncate the Yang family hand form to 24 postures in 1956. They wanted to somehow retain the look of T'ai Chi Ch'uan but make an easy to remember routine that was less difficult to teach and much less difficult to learn than longer (generally 88 to 108 posture) classical solo hand forms. In 1976, they developed a slightly longer form also for the purposes of demonstration that still didn't involve the complete memory, balance and coordination requirements of the traditional forms. This was a combination form, the Combined 48 Forms that were created by three wushu coaches headed by Professor Men Hui Feng. The combined forms were created based on simplifying and combining some features of the classical forms from four of the original styles; Ch'en, Yang, Wu, and Sun. As T'ai Chi again became popular on the Mainland, more competitive forms were developed to be completed within a six-minute time limit. In the late-1980s, the Chinese Sports Committee standardized many different competition forms. They developed sets said to represent the four major styles as well as combined forms. These five sets of forms were created by different teams, and later approved by a committee of wushu coaches in China. All sets of forms thus created were named after their style, e.g., the Ch'en Style National Competition Form is the 56 Forms, and so on. The combined forms are The 42 Form or simply the Competition Form. Even though shorter modern forms don't have the conditioning benefits of the classical forms, the idea was to take what they felt were distinctive cosmetic features of these styles and to express them in a shorter time for purposes of competition. Another modern form is the 67 movements Combined Tai-Chi Chuan form. This form was created in the 1950s during a series of meetings with the goal to create standardized forms for China. It contains characteristics of the Yang, Wu, Sun, Chen and Fu styles blended into a combined form. Perhaps the most notable exponent of the 67 Combined is wushu coach Bow Sim Mark.

These modern versions of T'ai Chi Ch'uan (almost always listed using the pinyin romanisation Taijiquan) have since become an integral part of international wushu tournament competition, and have been featured in several popular Chinese movies starring or choreographed by well known wushu competitors, such as Jet Li and Donnie Yen.

In the 11th Asian Games of 1990, wushu was included as an item for competition for the first time with the 42 Form being chosen to represent T'ai Chi. The International Wushu Federation (IWUF) applied for wushu to be part of the Olympic games, but were denied official status for the sport.[1]

Health benefits

File:Tai Ji in Xi'an.jpg
Practitioners play the form in Xian, China. Outdoor practice is the most common in China, as opposed to the Western concept of exercise in a gym.

Before Tai Chi's introduction to Western students, the health benefits of tai chi chuan were largely explained through the lens of Traditional Chinese medicine; which is based on a view of the body and healing mechanisms not always studied or supported by modern science. Today, some prominent tai chi teachers have advocated subjecting tai chi to rigorous scientific studies to gain acceptance in the West.[2] Researchers have found that long-term T'ai Chi practice shows some favorable but statistically insignificant effects on the promotion of balance control, flexibility and cardiovascular fitness and reduced the risk of falls in elderly patients.[3] The studies also show some reduced pain, stress and anxiety in healthy subjects. Other studies have indicated improved cardiovascular and respiratory function in healthy subjects as well as those who had undergone coronary artery bypass surgery. Patients may also benefit from T'ai Chi who suffered from heart failure, high blood pressure, heart attacks, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's. However, a thorough review of most of these studies showed limitations or biases that made it difficult to draw firm conclusions on the benefits of Tai Chi.[2] There have also been indications that Tai Chi might have some effect on noradrenaline and cortisol production with an effect on mood and heart rate. However, as with many of these studies, the effect may be no different than those derived from other types of physical exercise.[4]

In one study, T'ai Chi has also been shown to reduce the symptoms of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in 13 adolescents. The improvement in symptoms seem to persist after the Tai Chi sessions were terminated. [5] T'ai Chi's gentle, low impact movements surprisingly burn more calories than surfing and nearly as many as downhill skiing.[6] In addition, a pilot study, which has not been published a peer-reviewed medical journal, has found preliminary evidence that T'ai Chi and related qigong may reduce the severity of diabetes.[7]

A recent study evaluated the effects of two types of behavioral intervention, Tai Chi and health education, on healthy adults, who after 16 weeks of the intervention, were vaccinated with VARIVAX, a live attenuated Oka/Merck Varicella zoster virus vaccine. The Tai Chi group showed higher and more significant levels of cell-mediated immunity to varicella zoster virus than the control group which received only health education. It appears that Tai Chi augments resting levels of varicella zoster virus-specific cell-mediated immunity and boosts the efficacy of the varicella vaccine. Tai Chi alone does not lessen the effects or probability of a shingles attack, but it does improve the effects of the varicella zoster virus vaccine. [8]

Now that the majority of health studies have displayed a tangible benefit to the practice of tai chi, some health professionals have called for more in-depth studies to determine mitigating factors such as the most beneficial style, suggested duration of practice to show the best results, and whether tai chi is equally effective as other forms of exercise.

Tai Chi Chuan in fiction

Tai chi and neijia in general play a large role in many wuxia novels, films, and television series; among which are Yuen Wo Ping's Tai Chi Master starring Jet li, and the popular Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Internal concepts may even be the subject of parody, such as in Shaolin soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. Fictional portrayals often refer to Zhang San Feng and the Taoist monasteries on Wudangshan.

References

  1. ^ "Wushu likely to be a "specially-set" sport at Olympics". Chinese Olympic Committee. 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  2. ^ a b Wang, C (2004). "The effect of Tai Chi on health outcomes in patients with chronic conditions: a systematic review". Archives of Internal Medicine. 164 (5): 493–501. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Wolf, SL (2003). "Intense T'ai Chi exercise training and fall occurrences in older, transitionally frail adults: a randomized, controlled trial". Journal of the American Geriatric Society. 51 (12): 1693–701. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Jin, P (1989). "Changes in Heart Rate, Noradrenaline, Cortisol and Mood During Tai Chi". Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 33 (2): 197–206. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  5. ^ Hernandez-Reif, M (2001). "Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: benefits from Tai Chi". Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies. 5 (2): 120–123. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Calories burned during exercise". Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  7. ^ Pennington, LD (2006). "Tai chi: an effective alternative exercise". DiabetesHealth. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Irwin, MR (2007). "Augmenting Immune Responses to Varicella Zoster Virus in Older Adults: A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Tai Chi". Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 55 (4): 511–517. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01109.x. Retrieved 2007-04-08. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

See also

References

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