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ORIENTAL EXERCISE
Dedicated to maintaining health and vitality through movement

Tai chi is a popular way of spelling - but it one which is, unfortunately, prone to misunderstandings. Although people engaged in tai chi are always talking about ch'i - the cultivation, movement and application of vital energy - the word 'chi' in tai chi does not mean 'vital energy' at all! It means 'ultimate' or 'pure.' Energy, meanwhile should be written as ch'i (note the apostrophe) or better still in the more modern and academically correct rendition of 'Qi.' For a more detailed look at the different ways of translating Chinese characters into Western writing and speech, see this article: Wade-Giles or Pinyin?

So where did the movements that we all love and enjoy actually come from? The actual creation of the forms and and training techniques of tai ji are certainly not easy to discover for the would-be historian. They have their origins shrouded in legend and mystery. One of the most appealing of these is the dream of Chang San feng.

The Eternal Contest
One night the ancient sage Chang San Fang had a vivid dream of a contest between two creatures, a snake and a crane. The snake came up from the earth, and the crane flew down from a tree, and the two began to struggle over a morsel of food. The dream recurred, night after night, and yet neither creature was ever wholly victorious. The contest was very evenly matched - an example of opposites in dynamic harmony, and a kind of metaphor, therefore, for the Yin and the Yang of nature.

Yin and Yang
The Yin and the Yang are the two great polarities of oriental philosophy and science - celebrated in areas as diverse as oriental medicine, literature and painting. Yin is cool, negative, evening, winter and autumn; while yang is warm, positive, morning, summer and spring, and so on. The earliest references to Yang and Yin are in literature - such as the ancient Chinese 'book of changes' - The I Ching. The Yin and the Yang are two halves of one great whole - and this is called the Tai Ji (tai chi).

Tai Chi and Self-Defence
The man who had the dream of the snake and the crane, Chang San feng, was a Daoist priest and a scholar. But he was also a martial artist, and he used the time-honoured principles of Yin and Yang to establish what became known as tai ji chuan - the supreme fighting system. This continued through a long lineage of distinguished experts in self-defence, including, in the nineteenth century Yang Ch'eng Fu and others memebers of the Yang family, from whom the 'Yang form' of tai ji derives its name.

Exercises for Health
Although the accepted history of tai ji has its beginnings to the time of Chang San feng, usually put around the 12th Century, this is by no means certain. From cave paintings and references in ancient medical texts from China it appears that exercise systems similar in style to what we know as tai ji were practised for health much earlier than that - and perhaps as early as 3000 BC. And, like the many other systems of self-culture practised by the Chinese, such as acupuncture or divination, tai ji probably has its real origins way back in the days before recorded history.

In more recent times, largely due to the inspiration of a pupil of the Yang family, Cheng Man ch'ing, there has been a huge resurgence of interest in the original principles that underlie tai ji - including the flow of vital energy around the body, the importance of relaxation, meditation, and so on. Cheng was a remarkable man. He was a practitioner of oriental medicine, and he founded the first College of Chinese medicine in Taiwan. He was also a painter and a poet as well as a formidable martial artist. He spent most of his adult life studying, practising and teaching tai ji to ordinary men and women, as well as to his martial arts students. It was he who created the popular Short Yang Form of tai ji which is relatively easy to learn and takes only a few minutes daily to perform. It is this short form of tai ji that has led so many people in our own times, drawn by tai ji's inherent grace and beauty, to explore once again its healing and inspirational qualities.

Finding 'The Way' - Daoism and Tai Ji
More than ever, now people are using tai ji as a guide towards understanding the principles of Daoism, the ancient Chinese philosophy of 'the Way' or 'the Path' through life that remains still to this day at the heart of oriental philosophy and culture. Daoism is built on qualities of moderation, humility and integrity. It celebrates the forces of nature, and recognises the interplay of yin and yang in all things, and in many respects it is a very modern way of looking at the world. People who practise tai ji regularly often arrive at an understanding of their own individual Dao, or path, which subsequently helps them connect to the greater Dao of nature and to therefore find humility and kindness within themselves.

That's tai ji. Make it part of your daily routine now and you will be taking the first step on a wonderful journey - and who knows where that might lead!

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Special thanks to Eleanor for the photo on this page

Article: Wade-Giles or Pinyin?