We are all affected by stress and in view of the fact that it is a silent killer we need to do everything we can to minimise its effect.
With the Beijing Olympics being in the news, I would like to seize this opportunity
to introduce you to Tai Chi Chuan, also known as Tai Chi. It is an internal Chinese martial art that was handed down from different generations since its creation by Chang San-Feng.
It was during the Sung Dynasty that this was introduced and was typically practiced for a variety of reasons: its soft martial techniques, demonstration competitions, health and longevity. In view of this, there is a variety of forms of Tai Chi, both modern and traditional which are founded on those aims.
The form, or kung chia in Chinese language, are the different movements made through Tai Chi. One of the most common and famous form is the manipulation of the snake and the crane fighting. Master Chang, one of the advocates, copied this kind of fighting style and transformed it into a softer version of their coiling movements. The form that was developed had 13 postures that correspond with the trigrams and the Five Elements.
In the west, we associate Tai Chi with the slow motion routines that groups of people practise together every morning in parks in China. Of course, today Tai Chi has spread worlwide and you are very likely to see people practising Tai Chi in your local park.
Most modern styles of Tai Chi trace their development to at least one of the five
traditional schools:
Chen
Yang
Wu/Hao
Wu
Sun.
Practitioners see Tai Chi as a form of meditative interaction between the mind, body, soul and the environment. They don’t see it as a martial art technique but as an exercise to calm the body. Some consider Tai Chi as a combat interest because of its considerable force.
In fact, if you translate Tai Chi (pronounced Taiji), it means "Supreme Ultimate Force". It is considered to be a state of infinite and absolute potentiality in an attempt to attain "oneness".
With regards to Chinese medicine and philosophy, the existence of “Chi” is important to the vitality that enables to animate the body. One of the many aims of Tai Chi is to promote circulation of the “Chi” throughout the body. By promoting this belief, the vitality and health of a person is normally enhanced. Once the “Chi” circulates around the body, it goes to the pattern of the vascular and nervous system and any organ correlated to it. Consequently, Tai Chi is connected with the principles of oriental healing and acupuncture.
One of the most familiar aims of Tai Chi is fostering the calmness and tranquility of the mind. One’s mind must be focused on executing the exercise precisely because doing it in a proper manner provides an avenue to learn things about balance, motor control, alignment, movement rhythm, and the list goes on. If the person practising Tai Chi can practise it every day, then he or she will reach to the extent of being able to stand, run, move, and walk in a better position. It also touches some of the spheres in a person’s life as well.
Life is full of trials and tribulations which, unsurprisingly, result in stress. Of
course, we are additionally bombarded by other stress contributing events that can result in headaches, breathlessness, chest pains, sleeping problems, feeling sick or dizzy, sweatiness, muscle spasms or cramps, lack of appetite, etc. The natural consequence of all this can be depression, iiratibility and even aggressiveness.
The one thing that anyone can do to kill stress is recognising what causes it to arise in the first place and to take steps to manage or lessen it.
That's when Tai Chi comes in from Beijing with love!
