What is Tai Chi Chuan (Taijiquan): Ultimate martial Art

Taijiquan_Tai chi Chuan

TAI CHI CHUAN FOR HEALTH, COMBAT AND SPIRITUAL CULTIVATION

What does Tai Chi Chuan mean?

Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) is a wonderful martial art. Besides being very effective for combat it is also excellent for health promotion and spiritual cultivation. Many people, however, are not aware of its combative and spiritual aspects. Even those who practise Tai Chi Chuan solely for health often do not get the best benefits of its health aspect. This article will explain why, and suggest ways you may adopt to get more benefits from your Tai Chi Chuan training.

The term ‘Tai Chi Chuan’ is a short form of ‘Taiji quanfa’. ‘Taiji’ is the Chinese word meaning ‘the grand ultimate’ or the cosmos. And ‘quanfa’ means ‘fist techniques’ or martial art. Tai Chi Chuan, therefore, means ‘Cosmos Kungfu‘. Indeed every movement in Tai Chi Chuan is made according to martial considerations, i.e. a Tai Chi Chuan practitioner moves the way he moves in a Tai Chi Chuan performance because that particular way gives him the best technical advantage in a given combat situation. Hence if you say that you practise Tai Chi Chuan for health and not for fighting, you probably do not realize that Tai Chi Chuan actually means Cosmos martial art, and that virtually all great Tai Chi Chuan masters in the past practised it for fighting.
(Read more at: http://www.shaolin-wahnam.org/taichi.html)