Final Project T'ai Chi

T'ai chi has been around for thousands of years. T'ai chi was born in search of ‘the highest form of life of the human mind "an invisible power that guided movements in Chinese history for centuries. It influenced the Chinese culture in totality, this harmonious, respectful, disciplined practiced became a way of life for many Chinese. Initially looked at by the Chinese culture as a philosophical foundation, developing into martial art, T’ai Chi was developed by various monks into the yin (yielding) and yang (action) harmony the positive and negative physical energy. The Ch’I is the balance between the two essences of yin and yang and once the Ch’I is found and developed the “sheng , jing and li” are developed thru disciplined exercises that acquires the mental and internal power that our human body is capable of producing. They also developed it to imitate movements of animals in harmonious coordination of body movements. Our universe is programmed in such a way that the yin and yang exchange their essence. The human nature is programmed to acquire one of the two essences. With T’ai chi, we learn to balance them out in our body to a harmonious result and this brings about the unlimited development of the human mind. T’ai Chi soon became a powerful influence amongst all social classes. High authority sought out the counseling of the T’ai Chi Masters for their governing. This invisible power took hold of Chinese history and created a way of life for their culture including the making of codes and laws T’ai Chi masters became a symbol of wisdom, acknowledged mainly for their harmony, peace, respect for the elderly and charity. The principle of T'ai Chi the ultimate state of mind was considered to be just like being a powerful ruler, and the thought of basic natural human nature was forgotten. Therefore the principle soon began to deteriorate and political struggles arose. The practice of T’ai Chi was known to be a powerful tool and the masters did not want it to fall into the wrong hands of authority. They were summoned to teach those in authority, in order to protect society. They had no choice but to pass it down silently and secretively to the male family members. Different styles of T’ai Chi were born according to the family surname. Secretively T’ai chi was kept alive and passed down from generation to generation. The original T'ai chi instruction had to be modified in order not to teach the corrupt authority the true practice, this authority obligated the masters to teach them this powerful tool. The exercise of “the highest form of life in the human mind and body” T’ai chi, this invisible power this theory demonstrated the abilities that the human body is capable of developing beyond the commonly “conceived potential. T' ai chi too many Chinese people is the unlimited human mind development, especially in that era of time it was seen as a way to be powerful in an invisible fashion.
The author of “The Essence of T’ai Chi” Master Waysun Liao studied T’ai Chi with a wandering Taoist in a Taoist temple in Taiwan. He is the founder of a Tai Chi Center and has forty years of training.
T’ai Chi is an interesting mental elevation quest that if practiced with discipline can take you to encounter mental and physical powers you never thought you could develop.
The universe according to Taoism has an eternal power that moves it, which is called the Ch’I, the Ch’i balances its power between the yin and yang. The powers of yin and yang are the maximum nature of all objects within the universe. The Ch’I is responsible for avoiding conflicts between the two powers. Ch’I “determines” mental and physical conditions. Most people recognize this as “the nature of things”. In order for the enrichment of T’ai Chi to become effective in our mind the concept of Ch’I must be well comprehended. It’s the foundation of the T’ai Chi theory. The meaning of Ch’I is “air” “power” “motion” “energy” or “life”. Together with T’ai Chi it’s the “grand ultimate” energy has three levels the living organism, the function of the mind, and when the Ch’I is purified it elevates to the ‘shen” the spirit. This power that is generated from the Chi is called the “jing” an internal power. The energy of powerful imagination and directing this flow of energy to your body is accelerated and unlimited things can occur. Acquiring the Ch”I is like crossing a threshold that has always been there for you to cross over. Meditation with a certain body posture in a state of almost sleepiness , listening to yourself breath, your pulse until you feel your body’s natural rhythm are key principles to cross over this threshold. You connect yourself with your spirit and imagine a string pulling up your “crown point” the top of your head. With an intense breathing pattern you inhale into a bit below your navel. This is your first encounter with the Ch’i. The adventure of harmonizing your body and mind can be attained now that the Ch’I is found.
Once you have successfully attained the Ch’I your yin and yang are balanced and your life energy can be developed into a high frequency that gives you the power you are seeking. This gives you the “grand ultimate” once you have coordinated your " jing” internal power achieved by the Ch'i. With plenty of disciplined practice, and breathing exercises with each posture, the "Jing' can be generated from the Ch'i. The physical body force called "li" is strengthened as well. Your skeletal structure should feel in mid air, your energy starts to accumulate into your bones as you breathe.The power of your generated energy, should feel like vibration waves and electrical shocks. That increase your body force tremendously and your fighting ability in Martial Arts is empowered.
Mental elevation with the Ch’I gives mightier life energy. Imagination is one of the key principles in the development of this energy, the Ch’I becomes a disciplined use of energy that is produced thru the practice of: “relaxation, breathe control, concentration development, coordination, meditation” (37). Mental elevation is a difficult task to accomplish, the mind can take you to feel things that are really not happening and this causes the energy encounters to be held back. In The T’ai Chi practice one has to be attentive and very sensitive to what they feel during the practices.
The physical powers developed with Tai Chi practice, become well coordinated with your mind and body movements. The entire body moves as in one coordinated movement or “system” that is “mentally alert” increasing your ability to shift the body in whatever direction it needs to aim. Waysun states “In all of this, you must emphasize the use of the mind in controlling your movements, rather than the mere use of the external muscles. You should also follow the T’ai Chi principle of opposites: when you move upward , the mind must be aware of down, when your moving forward, the mind also thinks of moving back, when shifting to the left side, the mind should simultaneously notice the right side , so that if the mind is going up , it is also going down” (68). The body and mind flow together like a body of water. The nature of human life has often been seen as metal, wood, water, fire, and earth by the Chinese culture. Each with a symbolic meaning: metal symbolizing firmness, wood symbolizing mobility and strength, water and fire are opposites and both symbolize powerful action. Earth symbolizes the “calmness of the origin”.
T’ai Chi is a state of perfect harmony and balance within your internal powers that enable you to be as one system with your “natural awareness”. This exercise becomes successful gradually with abundant practice and discipline, involving a great mental alertness and sensitivity of what you feel in during your exercise. Waysun claims “Even the mosquito finds no place to land on you without causing you to move. “ This level of sensitivity allows you to have a great defense mechanism in the martial arts and in all areas of your life. According to Waysun “Four ounces of strength to defeat one thousand pounds” (86). The internal force developed with Tai Chi is tremendous; timing is also a key factor that is accompanied with the body coordination. According to Waysun “If the mind and internal energy can be freely exchanged, then there is much satisfaction in performing smoothly and dynamically: this is called exchanging negative and positive. Mastering the exchange between internal and mind energy “freely” your T’ai Chi body movements are effective and effortless.
In conclusion your mind develops into a harmonious state of alertness, a single aggressive movement is responded to immediately, with the quietness of a beautiful mountain and the flow of a body of water. The body in coordination to the mind as one system with the internal power of the spirit.

Works cited:
Waysun Liao " The essence of T'ai Chi" .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwNXaQwjEr4