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Ancient Tai Chi Philosophy

 2014-09-12    sonrisabai    Other    Jinan    1452  

You might have heard the word Tai Chi all the time, from people around you or on television. Some of you might want to learn some moves of shadowboxing, also known as Taijiquan, a great ancient Chinese exercise for the body and mind. The question is how much do you really know about it? Why it is so popular in modern world? Time to reveal the answer.

As an important concept of ancient Chinese culture, the history of Tai Chi can be traced back to the Warring States Period(475 B.C). Firstly seen on an ancient manuscript called Yizhuan, it was described as this, Yi has Tai Chi, creating two sides, two sides create four images and four images create eight symbols. According to such theory, the source of change is Tai Chi.

Explanations are varied when it comes to meaning of Tai Chi. Some believe it is the integrated mass when the universe firstly formed. It also means Yin and Yan, together called path. What is path? Everything has its path, such as Heaven path, earth path and human path. Nature and scientists already tell us what are heaven path and earth path, which only leaves behind the human path.

Human path generally refers to state of mind and mind determines behavior and attitude. It also means people should respects their minds and laws of the nature. Learning to control one’s feelings and emotion, if you don’t have evil thoughts, you wouldn’t be afraid of evil thoughts. It’s about the harmony of life.

Picture of Tai Chi is formed with two parts, half white and half black, also known as Yin and Yan. Male is Yan and female is Yin; The upper part means Yan and the lower part means Yin; ascent means Yan and descending means Yin; float means Yan and sinking means Yin. There are two spots in each part, which means both Yin and Yan are important and indispensable.

According to the theory from The Book of Change, all visible thins come from invisible things. As long as the universe is in the state of movement, movements create Yan and stillness create Yin, in this way, the universe is in a perfect harmony of Yin and Yan.

Another thing we can’t leave behind when talking about Tai Chi, that is the shadow boxing. It is getting more and more popular among many Chinese senior citizens. Taking a morning walk in the park, you would see many people exercising shadow boxing.

Research has shown tai chi can improve physical function and quality of sleep, relieve stress and anxiety thus lead to a better life It seems that shadow boxing doesn’t requires a lot of effort but what you see isn’t always what you get. It is smooth and slow for sure, but there is still a lot people can’t exercise shadow boxing such as those heart disease survivors. For them, the exercise is still a lot too much to take. 

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