Tai chi relaxes and regulates your central nervious system, releasing physical and emotional stress, and promoting mental and emotional well-being, just like all chi gung (qigong) programs. Tai Chi's gentle, non-jarring movements are ideal for people of any age and body type. Tai chi can give you a high degree of relaxation, balance and physical coordination. Tai chi can also be fun to learn and as the general popultation ages there will be more and more demand for tai chi teachers and tai chi practice groups.

Tai chi's incredible powers for restoring health, reducing stress and promoting longevity are reflected in its popularity, with over 200 million practitioners worldwide. Many people begin tai chi when they are in their 50's or older. Tai chi's practitioners in their 60's, 70's or even 80's display a flexibility you rarely see in many 30 year olds.

Tai Chi is a Low Impact Exercise

Tai chi's gentle, non-jarring movements can be practiced by anyone, young and old, athletes or people whose health problems prevent them from doing strenuous exercise. Tai chi is ideal for older people because it is the most comprehensive movement-based health program that they can practice. Tai chi's low-impact movements are easy on the joints, improving their flexibility and mitigating arthritis. You don’t need special clothes or shoes to do tai chi either, so it is easy on your wallet.

Tai Chi Is Great for Health and Relaxation

Like all chi gung/qigong programs, tai chi relaxes and regulates the central nervous system, releasing physical and emotional stress, and promoting mental and emotional well-being. Tai chi tones the muscles while releasing knots and tension in them. During each workout, tai chi's movements exercise every muscle, ligament, tendon and joint of the body. Tai chi's movements cause every lymph node and internal organ to be massaged, and all the body's internal pumps to be energized. Most Western medical studies focus on tai chi's health and relaxation benefits.

Tai Chi Gives You More Chi

Tai Chi energizes the whole body and gives you more chi. Tai chi gives you a great physical sense of how chi gets embodied into your movement and enables you to experience and work with chi energy in a very subtle, complex manner.

Tai Chi as Meditation

Tai chi has been called moving meditation. However, practicing tai chi in a meditative way with relaxed focus is only a shadow of the deepest spiritual aspects of Taoist moving meditation. Taoism has a rare meditation tradition that was taught to Bruce Frantzis by Liu Hung Chieh. He taught him how to incorporate the Taoist meditation practices into tai chi.

Different Styles of Tai Chi

Tai chi has five major styles--Yang, Wu, Chen, Hao and combination styles. For the first four tai chi styles, the names derive from the founder’s surname, such as the tai chi of the Yang family.

See Chen Style

Yang Style Tai Chi

The most popular and widely practiced tai chi style, with many variations. It is known for its wide, open stances. Although I am a lineage master in the Old Yang Tai Chi style, I rarely teach it.

See Yang Style

Wu Style Tai Chi

The Wu Tai Chi Sytle is the second most popular. This tai chi style was derived from the Yang style and emphasizes small, compact movements. I primarily teach a 16-movement Short Form of the Wu style tai chi and occasionally the Wu style Tai Chi Long Form.

Wu Style Short Form Tai Chi

The 16 move Short Form tai chi can be practiced in just four minutes and gives you the majority of the health and spiritual benefits of the tai chi Long Forms. I developed this tai chi Short Form with the encouragement of my main teacher, Liu Hung Chieh, who lived and studied with Wu Jien Chuan, the co-founder of the Wu style Tai Chi.

See Wu Style

Westernized and Non-traditional Tai Chi

Numerous Westernized and non-traditional tai chi forms have been developed. Many of these tai chi forms are extremely simplified and pay little attention to the precise body alignments and energy mechanics that are a crucial part of traditional tai chi. Studies have shown that even Westernized tai chi can provide benefits. However when tai chi incorporates correct body alignments and chi techniques, the benefits are vastly amplified and considerably more profound.

See Combination Style 

Customers who were interested in Tai Chi ordered the following:  

Tai Chi - Health For Life [Book]

This complete consumer’s guide explains tai chi's health and longevity benefits and helps beginners choose the right style and teacher for their specific needs. Advanced practitioners will find out how to upgrade their tai chi. New revised edition. Product Details...

Wu Style Long Form Instructor Training

October 17-30 2008 :: Instructor Training
Boston, Massachusetts USA Product Details...

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