Tai Chi Chuan

Tai Chi Chuan the martial art.

Although practiced by most people for health - Tai Chi Chuan is a comprehensive martial art developed over centuries. One learns this art by first practicing the solo form to understand one’s own limitations, afterwards partner work in introduced via pushing hands exercises and martial applications are explored in its many aspects.

Tai Chi Chuan is at its core a martial art. A Tai Chi practitioner does not exchange kicks, punches and blocks - instead one learns to make contact with the opponent, yield to the energy and then neutralize the energy thereby manipulating the energy to one’s advantage. By blending soft against the hard and hard against the soft one learns to constantly change the energy direction to one’s own advantage. Steel wrapped in cotton is a concept that is strived for by being relatively relaxed and exploding with concentrated force when appropriate to do so.

Tai Chi is a series of movements made of various techniques and set in a specific sequence to allow the practitioner to practice the applications as if fighting a real person. However, some of the movements have been altered to make them fit smoothly into the practice of the form.

Four components of fighting techniques

1. Striking/Punching

2. Chin Na/Joint Locking

3. Wrestling/Take Downs

4. Kicking