Tai Chi Chuan is one of of the Internal Martial Arts. There are others, like Ba Gua Zhang, Xing Yi and more. Internal Martial Art is a spiritual vehicle. It uses the extreme duality of the martial setting, to reach oneness not in theory, but in experience, realized, embodied, measurable. In extreme situations, humans are able, to exert seemingly super human physical capabilities. Lift cars, or even helicopters, to safe their children etc..
Internal Martial Arts tap into these hidden capacities of the human body mind, through a situation, that breaks their usual programming. Internal Martial Arts build step by step a body mind, that is capable of expressing such power at will. This martial aspect of making the person more powerful, is rather a welcome side effect and tool within the spiritual path of Internal (Martial) Arts.
On a more mechanical level they emphasize the transformation of the body, not the building of muscle and perfecting techniques. The aim is the transformed ‚Tai Chi body‘, in the case of Tai Chi Chuan. The first step is to open the body, getting rid of knots in the tissue and to strengthen the ligaments and bones. The ligaments (fascia) are much stronger then contracted muscles, every power lifter knows that. The body does not only become more elastic, aquiring a rubber band like strength, but with time and effort (gong fu) literally more fluid, a form of hydraulic strength is developed.
Internal Arts (‚Nei Jia‘ in Mandarin), without the ‚martial‘, stand for all exercises and systems, that work with the subtler layers of the body and perception. Often they have been called ‚Chinese Yoga‘ in the west. Internal Martial Arts with the ‚Martial‘ use the shaktic principles of internal arts, to create martial prowess. These transformations within the body mind, are mainly reached through Nei Gong (Internal Work). In short one can say, that Nei Gong is Intention interacting with awareness, with body.
Tai Chi Chuan is a martial art, a supreme health exercise and a spiritual path of cultivation. It opens the body up, stretches and strengthens the ligaments (fascia), releases tension from the joints and internal organs, makes the body in general run smoothly and activates self healing capacities. It also regulates the nervous system, helps to release emotions and to integrate them.
The Tai Chi symbol shows the two poles of Yin and Yang. It is a principle, within the world, that two extremes united, create power. Like the negative and positive charge, that make electrical current possible. Keeping two poles concretely united within the body, is the basic principle of Tai Chi Chuan. A concrete example would be the stretching of tissues and ’swimming‘ of the bones, but releasing of the muscles at the same time. That creates at first a certain amount of discomfort. One learns, to ‚release‘ that discomfort into a greater space of awareness. Apart from the worth of deepening spiritual and physical cultivation that process produces happiness.
Yang Tai Chi Chuan was once the martial art of the bodyguards of the Chinese Emperor. For a long time the martial aspects have been held secret. It is a bit more available today, at the same time there are less people, who have the time and concentration, to train and realize those ’secrets‘. In our school we train Yang Tai Chi Chuan.
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