Tai Chi is a gentle form of exercise originating from ancient China, where it started as a martial art. Today, is is practised around the world as a mind-and-body exercise that improves health and wellbeing.

At its heart, Tai Chi is a series of gentle exercises that create harmony between the mind and body. Its ultimate purpose is to stimulate our life energy (the chi, or qi) to flow smoothly around the body, and can be a meditative experience, as much as a physical one. Movements are fluid, graceful, circular and slow. Breathing is deep, which helps with concentration and relaxes the body to allow the life force to flow freely. Exercises are equally balanced between the opposite, complementary forces of yin and yang.

Tai Chi can be practised almost anywhere and it is suitable for most people, because you can adjust your effort to suit your physical condition. Tai Chi is easy to learn and for beginners, starts with simple warm-up exercises and progresses to sets of movements. As you become more experienced, there are different styles of Tai Chi practice to learn and new levels of understanding to uncover, which is part of the appeal.

What is difference between Qigong and Tai Chi?

Tai Chi forms involve a series of many moves. A single Tai Chi form can take many weeks of daily practice to learn. Qigong is often a single move, repeated many times (for an even number of times). Sometimes, a Quigong exercise will not involve any movement, but will focus only on breathing.

Links

• Tai Chi / Qigong Exercise Videos