Tai chi is an ancient Chinese martial art practiced with as much softness in the musculature as possible. It is a slow-motion, moving meditative exercise for relaxation, health and self-defense. Originally from China, Tai Chi has gained enormous popularity in America and throughout the rest of the world for its health benefits. People play Tai Chi Chuan to improve one's well being both mentally and physically and so embrace the spirit of good living. When correctly practiced on a regular basis, Tai Chi Chuan can restore vigorous health, improve digestion and raises ones spirits. Perhaps because of its value Tai Chi grows to be a regular practice for millions of people worldwide.

The most common of these accounts is that the founder was the Taoist monk Chan San Feng, who lived in the Sung Dynasty (AD 960-1279). The legend states that Chan San Feng watched a battle between a snake and a crane ten times its size. As the crane lunged at its prey, the wily reptile dodged and weaved, lashing back at its tormentor with relaxed lightning speed. Eventually the exhausted crane flew off for easier prey. In that instant the art of tai chi was said to have been born. Chan San Feng, a master of the bard Shaolin martial arts, applied the principles he had witnessed in the actions of the snake to his martial arts expertise.

Central to Tai Chi Chuan is the belief in the life, or Qi which flows through invisible channels or meridians in the body. The ancient Chinese proposed that all living things are sustained by an energy force called Qi. When the flow of Qi is disrupted, illness is the result. The type of illness that develops depends on which meridian is suffering from an imbalance. And the movements of Tai Chi Chuan open and close to mirror the Chinese philosophical concept of an endless cycle of Yang to Yin while Qi circulates around the body to maintain the balance of yin and yang. Perhaps it is more accessible to regard yin and yang as the foundations of the art of Tai Chi Chuan because of the alternation of harmoniously opening and closing movements.

Power training consists of chi kung to develop internal strength, as well as methods to strengthen the tendons and ligaments. The ability to issue power (fa jing) from close range is a basic feature of Tai chi chuan. This involves incorporating the whole body into one unit behind an attack. Tai chi chuan includes punches, kicks, locks, open hand techniques and throws in its repertoire, as well as traditional Chinese weapons ? sword, broadsword, staff and spear.

Today, while traditional practitioners of Tai chi chuan are still in evidence, the majority practise the art in order to both maintain and improve their health and to provide an increasingly necessary antidote to the stresses and strains of modern day life.

Such injury, according to Tai Chi theory, is a natural consequence of meeting brute force with brute force. Instead, practitioners are taught not to directly fight or resist an incoming force, but to meet it in softness and follow its motion while remaining in physical contact until the incoming force of attack exhausts itself or can be safely redirected, meeting yang with yin. Done correctly, this yin and yang or yang and yin balance in combat, which means the goal of Tai Chi Chuan training is achieved.