Even more ancient than tai chi, the circle walking techniques of ba gua were developed over four thousand years ago in Taoist monasteries as a health and meditation art. The techniques open up the possibilities of the mind to achieve stillness and clarity; generate a strong, healthly, disease-free body; and, perhaps more importantly, maintain internal balance while either your inner world or the events of the external world of the external world are rapidly changing. It is also known as ba gua chang, ba gua zhang or pakua chang.

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.

Hsing-i emphasizes all aspects of the mind to increase its forms and fighting movements. It is an equally potent healing practice because it makes people healthy and then very strong. Its five basic movements are related to five primal elements or phases of energy--metal, water, wood, fire and earth--upon which Chinese medicine is based and from which all manifested phenomena are created.