A Brief History Of Tai Chi

A Brief History of Tai Chi

Tai Chi is so old it probably has a history that predates it's history. It is ancient and is derived from a kind of paganism in which humans parodied the movements of animals in order to adopt their powers such as speed, grace and skill at hunting.

The modern form of Tai Chi, which is a structured in sets of poses, traces it's origins back to two centuries before the birth of Christ. It is widely thought that Tai Chi originated in ancient India and that it is a spin off of Yoga. The discipline that evolved from Yoga was called Saolin chuan ("chuan," briefly, means boxing). These were stances that were developed to free up chi, build chi and achieve both physical and spiritual dominance over an opponent in battle.

In the 13th century, a Taoist monk by the name of Chang Sang Feng came up with the concept of Tai Chi. He was said to be inspired by watching the movements of a snake and a crane. It was a series of exercises that were meant to confront yet not attack an opponent.

The discipline created by Chang was in fact adopted to augment the rigorous training of Chinese soldiers. Like many Buddhist disciplines, Tai Chi eventually was passed down from monk to monk until the discipline had evolved into several different "families." The family names eventually came to describe the many different styles of Tai Chi.

Contemporary Tai Chi, with all of its variations is descended directly from the practices of the Chen family. It was a monk named Yang Lu Cjuan who studied with the Chen family and then later modified it to become what is now known as the Yang style of Tai Chi Chuan. That, or some variation of it, is the type of Tai Chi that is mostly practiced today. Yang Lu Chan was a young boy who was caught spying on the Chen family but when he was arrested for his voyeurism he was able to throw the Chen family guards to the ground. This inspired Chen to bring him into the fold where Yang then began to teach the Chens how to improve the discipline even more.

Tai Chi is derived from two seminal philosophical texts in China: the Tao Te Ching and the I Ching. Both works deal "the classic way of integrity" and the harmonizing of opposite principles such as Yin and Yang. Thus the goal is to create physical and mental harmony.

The Yang style of Tai Chi has three different forms that are practiced: the simplified form, the short form, and the long form. Most Westerners are taught the simplified form.

Tai Chi did not really inundate pop culture in English speaking countries until the 1960s. Before that it was just a curio practiced by Asian people in the morning and by boxers training for big fights. Now it is a popular form of exercise for both children and adults alike. This is probably because it is more about self-improvement then it is absolute perfection. It is fun, easy and comparable to dancing!