THE FOUNDATION OF T’AI CHI CH’UAN

Without form we would not have t’ai chi or indeed any of the classical
martial arts. The forms give us the basics, which are essential for eventually
using t’ai chi as a fighting art. Many people ask me why I insist on
teaching t’ai chi as a martial art when all most of them want out of it are
the great healing benefits.
There are two ways that we are able to practice t’ai chi. We can take it
for it’s exercise value where-by the practitioner uses only the movements
to gain some health benefits, or we can take it a step further into a
ch’i or energy level in order to gain much greater healing benefits. This
is the area where t’ai chi has become so famous for it’s healing properties.
Using t’ai chi as an exercise only, we only gain a little exercise, as
most people doing it for this reason would never venture beyond the
slow form. Doing it for the other reasons, we are able to cure disease and
cause every internal and external organ in the body to become strong as
well as gain mind/body co-ordination. It is written of t’ai chi that it can
help to cure most diseases. One of my students came to me with what he
thought was arthritis in his ankle. This was so bad that he couldn’t walk
properly. After some time of practicing t’ai chi the pain became worse
and so he had an x-ray taken which showed that nothing was wrong. Af-
How To Use Tai Chi For Fighting