Tai Chi Chuan

The term Tai Chi is actually an abbreviation; the correct name for the art is ‘Tai Chi Chuan’.

Tai Chi Chuan is a martial art originating from China that has developed from Taoist (Daoist) philosophy, traditional fitness exercises and a long heritage of varied combat systems.

Tai Chi Chuan has become singularly famous for its slow, soft, choreographed movements, referred to as the ‘hand form’. Typically, this hand form is practiced outside in the early morning, its daily regime of gentle, flowing movements promote physical and mental wellbeing. However this popular exercise is just one aspect of a larger martial art syllabus that also includes hand and weapon self defence.

Tai Chi refers to the Taoist philosophical concept of Yin & Yang, whereas Chuan can be translated as fist or boxing in this context. Therefore we could interpret Tai Chi Chuan as Yin & Yang Boxing, where an understanding of Yin & Yang theory is key to how the art is performed.

Yin & Yang theory that can be described as two complementary but opposing forces of nature, that cannot exist without each other. A graphical representation of Tai Chi is seen in the symbol on this page, often referred to by Westerners as the Yin-Yang symbol.

From a simplistic point of view we can break down the practice of Tai Chi Chuan into both soft (Yin) and hard (Yang) training, where the soft therapeutic exercises are balanced against the more martial aspects. In truth the art is far more complex than this, with Yin & Yang philosophy permeating deeply into every element of the system.