A short overview of the benefits of Tai Chi Chuan. Tai Chi is an old Chinese art and system of movement. It is a specific series of movements and positions performed slowly and continuously. It promotes physical and mental health. Teaches a deep vital relaxation, alertness and balance. Is an art of self-defense based on softness, yielding/listening and balance. Tai Chi translates as "Supreme Ultimate".

People are generally attracted to Tai Chi for some of the following reasons:
• Relaxation & Health
• Physical development & Coordination
• Self Defence
• Self-development & Inner Growth (the Spiritual path)Relaxation & Health
• In the STCC, our emphasis begins with relaxation and health.
• Learning to deal with stress through relaxation.
• Improvement in health.
• Developing strength through softness.
• Tension & relaxation.

Any stress in our daily lives can be stored in the muscles as tension. Tension in a muscle restricts its movements. T'ai Chi builds in a reflex of relaxation which not only helps to release these tensions, but also prevents many of them from forming.

Getting older
Since T'ai Chi movements are gentle, they can be perfected by persons of any age. Since the practice of T'ai Chi as a sport does not depend upon youthful strength, but rather on balance and relaxation, older persons do not reach a point where they can no longer practice. One can continue perfecting one's T'ai Chi as one continues getting older. Your skill keeps growing and growing. Professor Cheng, at 70 years old, was an unexcelled master at T'ai Chi. No amount of youthful strength or force could push or unbalance him.

Posture & internal organs
T'ai Chi also offers support for the health of the Internal Organs. Often, due to faulty posture, the organs can become cramped. Working with "straightness of posture", T'ai Chi offers room for the organs to find their place. With the movements of T'ai Chi gently massaging the organs, the circulation, mobility, and health of the or gans is improved. T'ai Chi increases flexibility of the muscles and the joints. Each muscle is ge ntly exercised 360-degrees around any part of the body. Emphasizing the ability to stand on one leg instead of two, strengthens the muscles of the legs dramatically. In this way, the legs offer support to the heart : through the slow rhythmic movements of T'ai Chi, the leg muscles contract and expand helping the circulation of blood from the legs back up to the heart. T'ai Chi says that the health is directly related to: the strength of the legs, and the efficiency and completeness of the circulation. (Refering to the circulation of energy or Chi in the body as well as the circulation of blood and lymph). Growing older - often accompanied by stiffening of joints. Arthritus is a well known extreme of this. T'ai Chi, on the other hand, works slowly and gently, without injury, to flex each of the joints and to restore their range of movements to full capacity. In this way, T'ai Chi reverses the process of aging and stiffening of the joints. Physical development & Coordination The practice of T'ai Chi on the physical-level, dramatically improves balance, posture, and coordination. All of which reflect favorably on both physical and mental health. Many people are attracted to T'ai Chi beceause they have seen it performed. It looks so beautiful and graceful ....like a dance ... ex pressive. In fact, many dancers find that in learning T'ai Chi, their balance improves, their coordination of movements deepens, and they enjoy their movements more. T'ai Chi is based upon very precise principles, such as internal balance & straightness, alignment with gravity, and relaxation. The goal is to bring these principles also into the movements we make in our daily lives.

Self Defence
T'ai Chi as an art of self-defence is based on softness, yielding/listening and balance. Some people are attracted to the idea of being able to defend oneself, or to practice a martial art. These things come naturally, as a by-product of regular practice in principles & the T'ai Chi Form. Practice, keep looking for principle in your movements, and your awareness will develop naturally. Then, after the Form has been learned and corrected, we start learning the practice of "Push-Hands" which begins to focus more specifically in this area. ("if one starts with the thought of aggression, even the thought is already too heavy for correct T'ai Chi") Self-development & Inner Growth (the Spiritual path) On the psychological-level, it leads to a feeling of being more centered and able to deal with our lives. It develops "Straightness of Character". With the practice of T'ai Chi, one's awareness of oneself deepens. You begin to develop a sense of balance and harmony in your life. This process developes slowly, often taking years. From: interview with Patrick Watson In your opinion would you consider T'ai Chi more of a mystical or spiritual discipline than a martial discipline ?

It certainly is at it's highest levels and in the way we teach it, in terms of being a mystical approach. Prof. Cheng talked about the Tao, and when you talk about the Tao you have to be aware that we're talking about a mystical path. There is no other thing.

Look at Prof. Cheng and his age - here I was at my prime and this guy who was in his late sixties bounced me around like I'm a toy, and I should be able to take him easy - I mean, he's an old man, right? A little old man! God, it was like nothing: I was breaking out in sweat, he was fine; he was moving faster than I was, it was amazing! Because at that level, it's pure consciousness; and so it has to be, it can't be anything else.

All the other martial arts give lip service to the words: they don't embody and they can't demonstrate it on a conscious level; they do it with technique, and they do it with strength. And what happens when they become old? They become old and they don't have it. As sick as I've been over the years I've always had it, because the great teh is there within us, and it either exists or it doesn't, you can either call upon it or you can't. That's consciousness.

Prof. Cheng once said he wouldn't have become as great a Master as he was if he hadn't been ill with tuberculosis. Well, I can certainly understand that because every time I become ill I have to not rely on my strength: I have to find something else, and that consciousness is what both the T'ai Chi and Arica work have given to me.