Though I have never taken any form of Tai Chi I have always been intrigued by it. I have mentioned it to a few people here so I figured the next style to talk about would be Tai Chi... On we go...

Alot of the information contained in this blog comes from Wikipeida. THough I know that the information at Wikipedia is not always accurate but it just has so much stuff about EVERYTHING... I can't help myself... This is pretty long so grab a cup of tea and enjoy...

 Tai chi chuan was created as a form of traditional Chinese martial arts of the Neijia (soft or internal) branch. Since the first widespread promotion of tai chi's health benefits by Yang Shaohou, Yang Chengfu, Wu Chien-ch'uan and Sun Lutang in the early twentieth century, it has developed a worldwide following among people with little or no interest in martial training for its benefit to health and health maintenance. Some call it a form of moving meditation, as focusing the mind solely on the movements of the form purportedly helps to bring about a state of mental calm and clarity.

The physical techniques of tai chi chuan are described in the tai chi classics (a set of writings by traditional masters) as being characterized by the use of leverage through the joints based on coordination in relaxation, rather than muscular tension, in order to neutralize or initiate attacks. The slow, repetitive work involved in the process of learning how that leverage is generated gently and measurably increases and opens the internal circulation (breath, body heat, blood, lymph, peristalsis, etc.).

The study of tai chi chuan primarily involves three subjects. Traditional schools cover these aspects of tai chi practice simultaneously, while many modern schools focus on a single aspect, depending on their goal in practicing the art. These subjects are:

Health
An unhealthy or otherwise uncomfortable person will find it difficult to meditate to a state of calmness or to use tai chi as a martial art. Tai chi's health training therefore concentrates on relieving the physical effects of stress on the body and mind. For those focused on tai chi's martial application, good physical fitness is the first step in effective self-defense.

Meditation
The focus and calmness cultivated by the meditative aspect of tai chi is seen as necessary in maintaining optimum health (in the sense of relieving stress and maintaining homeostasis) and in application of the form as a soft style martial art.

Martial art
The ability to use tai chi as a form of self-defense in combat is said to be the most effective proof of a student's understanding of the principles of good Tai Chi. The study of tai chi chuan martially is the study of appropriate change in response to outside forces; the study of yielding and blending with outside force rather than attempting to meet it with opposing force.

There are five major styles of tai chi chuan, each named after the Chinese family from which it originated:

1) Chen style     
2) Yang style 
3) Wu or Wu/Hao style of Wu Yu-hsiang (Wu Yuxiang) 
4) Wu style of Wu Ch'uan-yü (Wu Quanyuo) and Wu Chien-ch'uan (Wu Jianquan) 
5) Sun style 

The order of verifiable age is as listed above. The order of popularity (in terms of number of practitioners) is Yang, Wu, Chen, Sun, and Wu/Hao. The first five major family styles share much underlying theory, but differ in their approaches to training.

The philosophy of the style is that if one uses hardness to resist violent force, then both sides are certain to be injured at least to some degree. Such injury, according to tai chi theory, is a natural consequence of meeting brute force with brute force. The collision of two like forces, yang with yang, is known as "double-weighted" in tai chi terminology. Instead, students are taught not to directly fight or resist an incoming force, but to meet it in softness and "stick" to it, following its motion while remaining in physical contact until the incoming force of attack exhausts itself or can be safely redirected, the result of meeting yang with yin. Done correctly, achieving this yin/yang or yang/yin balance in combat (and, by extension, other areas of one's life) is known as being "single-weighted" and is a primary goal of tai chi chuan training. Lao Tzu provided the archetype for this in the Tao Te Ching when he wrote, "The soft and the pliable will defeat the hard and strong."

Tai chi's martial aspect relies on sensitivity to the opponent's movements and center of gravity dictating appropriate responses. Effectively affecting or "capturing" the opponent's center of gravity immediately upon contact is trained as the primary goal of the martial tai chi student. The sensitivity needed to capture the center is acquired over thousands of hours of first yin (slow, repetitive, meditative, low impact) and then later adding yang ("realistic," active, fast, high impact) martial training; forms, pushing hands and sparring. Tai chi trains in three basic ranges, close, medium and long, and then everything in between. Pushes and open hand strikes are more common than punches, and kicks are usually to the legs and lower torso, never higher than the hip depending on style. The fingers, fists, palms, sides of the hands, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, back, hips, knees and feet are commonly used to strike, with strikes to the eyes, throat, heart, groin and other acupressure points trained by advanced students. Joint traps, locks and breaks (chin na) are also used. Most tai chi teachers expect their students to thoroughly learn defensive or neutralizing skills first, and a student will have to demonstrate proficiency with them before offensive skills will be extensively trained. There is also an emphasis in the traditional schools that one is expected to show wu te, martial virtue or heroism, to protect the defenseless and show mercy to one's opponents.

Other training exercises include:

Weapons training and fencing applications employing the straight sword known as the jian or chien or gim (jiàn), a heavier curved sabre, sometimes called a broadsword or tao (dÄ?o, which is actually considered a big knife), folding fan also called san, wooden staff (2 m) known as kun, 7 foot (2 m) spear and 13 foot (4 m) lance (both called qiÄ?ng). More exotic weapons still used by some traditional styles are the large Dadao or Ta Tao and Pudao or P'u Tao sabres, halberd, cane, rope-dart, three sectional staff, Wind and fire wheels, lasso, whip, chain whip and steel whip.

Two-person tournament sparring (as part of push hands competitions and/or sanshou);

Breathing exercises; nei kung (nèigÅ?ng) or, more commonly, ch'i kung (qìgÅ?ng) to develop ch'i (qì) or "breath energy" in coordination with physical movement and post standing or combinations of the two. These were formerly taught only to disciples as a separate, complementary training system. In the last 50 years they have become more well known to the general public.

Chinese culture is developed from I-Ching and different schools of philosophy.
Tai Chi (one thing) eminates from wuji (ultimate nothingness). Tai Chi is the origin of dynamic and static states and separates into two - yin and yang. When there is movement, yin and yang separate. When there is no movement, they combine and become one.

Wu Sheng = 5 elements/principles. 5 elements are: fire, water, metal, wood and earth Each develops, controls and balances each other.

Earth is nourished by fire
Metal is created by earth
Metal dissolves to feed water
Water nourishes wood
Wood feeds fire

Water quenches fire
Fire tempers metal
Metal cuts wood
Wood restrains earth
Earth holds back water