Tai Chi: Overview

Series Summary

Tai Chi Chuan is a soft Martial Art that combines the health benefits of the Tai Chi movements with the self defense aspects of the forms. Tai Chi Chuan is said to promote good posture, good health, proper breathing, and decrease stress and anxiety. The solo Tai Chi form is the slow, flowing Martial Art that most people see practiced on beaches or in parks around the world. The push hands form is a practical application of the movements of the solo form and can be practiced with a partner. Many people practice Tai Chi or Taiji strictly as a means of exercise and personal meditation.

In this free video series a professional Tai Chi instructor, Michael Suter, will show you the applications of Tai Chi martial arts. In the beginning Michael will explain a quick overview of Tai Chi history. You will then begin learning several steps of the Chen style Tai Chi opening eighteen movement form. Michael will show you several moves within this form such as: brushing the knee, stepping lightly and high pat on horse. These maneuvers have various abilities when utilized as a self defense method against oncoming opponents. Michael will then show you a few possible ways that these particular Tai Chi movements can be used. In the end you'll learn several applications of Tai Chi in order to begin practicing on your own.

Video Transcript

"Today I'll be talking about Tai Chi and its use in a martial application. Chen style Tai Chi Chuan is, in fact, a very old Chinese martial art, and despite its dilution in other forms, it is still practiced as - very much as - a martial art. Tai Chi is one of the hardest martial arts to apply, and probably one of the most lacking in clarity when you see it performed as a form because a lot of its applications are not clear from watching the form. Tai Chi in application is not readily usable, so when a person who goes to a Tai Chi class once or twice, or even for a year of study, will probably not be able to apply any of the applications and probably should not. In the Tai Chi practice there are a lot of other practices that happen before, that should be engaged in before a free-form application should be applied. First of all, learning the stance, the structure of the Tai Chi, learning the form, and then moving on to learn Push Hands, or Tui Shou. And Push Hands is a two-person exercise in which people gently push each other and try and follow Tai Chi principles and establish a feel for being able to yield to other people's incoming force, to remain relaxed while force is being applied, and to remain relaxed in general while in a competitive situation. Tai Chi should be studied also with a master over a long period of time before attempting any of these exercises."