March 24th, 2009 
Ricardo V  |
This post is part of Tai Chi Tuesdays. Click Here if you would like to view more Tai Chi Tuesday posts. |
- Tai Chi Terms – Tai Chi Terminology
- This week’s Tai Chi agenda is just establishing some key terms which will help expand your knowledge of Tai Chi. This may be dry content, and can be found on the internet but is essential to understanding Tai Chi.
- Chi – life force; energy; living energy; Chi was closest described as an internal element of fire.
Tai Chi – came from Taiji, which came from Tajiquan. Basically, older names for modern day Tai Chi. The give and take of Yin and Yang.
Taijiquan - birthplace : Henan, Chenjigaou villiage which is in East Wenxian city. Created a form of martial art when they were not farming to protect themselves and their territory.
Wuji – known as complete nothingness, no movement or activity, no noise or thought. “Wuji is the quiet before the very beginning or after the very end. Tai Chi comes from Wuji and returns to Wuji and is represented by the center circle within the large circle of the Tai Chi symbol.”
Dan Tien – A Daoist term which refers to a center of energy. There are 3 Dan Tien’s, the lower dan tien being your lower abdomen, the middle dan tien being the center of your chest, the upper dan tien directly between the eyebrows behind the skull, known as the third eye.
- Chinese philosophy says chi is generated with yin and yang. Yin and Yang is a fluid never ending relationship.
“Yin – soft weak female passive dark earth side of yin/yang”
and “Yang – hard strong male active bright heaven side of yin/yang”
Yin: receiving, inward, downward, passive, heavy, stability, full, closed, earth Yang: sending, outward, upward, active, light, movement, empty, open, sky The following excerpt was taken from The Tai Chi Directory, “Tai Chi aims to create a balance between yin and yang in the body, thus generating a healthy flow of chi”, “Tai chi can be seen as a way of embracing the natural to-and-from of yin an yang, and letting a sense of equilibrium permeate the body and mind.”
- I whole heartily recommend The Tai Chi Directory by Kim Davies – It has helped me in my routine, practice, knowledge, and my lifestyle!
Davies, K (2009). The Tai Chi Directory. New York, NY: Metro Books.
If you have enjoyed this post, I hope you will Subscribe to my RSS Feed or Subscribe by Email to get daily updates on similar topics!
Posted in 
Tags: 
