Tai Chi: When Martial Art Is Used To Fight Stress And Embrace Life

Six years ago, I started doing Tai Chi Chuan because I wanted to feel as light as a feather and as strong as a rock, as the leaflet suggested. Apart from a vague idea about this Chinese martial art I had little insight and no expectations. Today, I feel grateful it is part of my life, and so lucky to have found a style and the teacher that suit me. 

What Is Tai Chi?

Originally designed as a self-defense discipline, Tai Chi has now evolved into an entirely different martial art: by practicing Tai Chi, you fight stress and anxiety. With a belief system dating back to the Taoist monk Zhang Sanfeng from the 12th century, it is influenced by Buddhism and Taoism. The phrase "t'ai chi ch'uan" roughly means "boundless fist".

Tai Chi comes in five distinct styles:

• Chen-style
• Yang-style
• Wu- or Wu (Hao)-style
• Wu-style
• Sun-style.

It is the authentic Yang Style I’ve been learning, with a devoted student and a master himself. "Let the pain entertain you". he said during my first Qi Gong position. How insensitive, I thought, feeling stiff, pained and unnatural. When I do Qi Gong these days, it is that memory that entertains me, because there is no more pain, and no need to explain the benefits of Qi Gong – I can feel the energy bubbling up and my body getting charged, and I can move on to practicing the form. In my six years of practicing, more or less regularly, I’ve learnt the 108 positions of the form, linked together with slow transitional, yin-yang movements.

And about a year ago, just when I thought I was getting the hang of it, he introduced a new way of doing it: the yin-yang form, where I’m learning to recognise the moment a Yin position turns into Yang, and vice-versa. A new element, bringing you back to the beginning in a way, but revealing a whole new level of the form.  

In the beginning, anxious to move ahead I kept pestering my teacher about the next position, the next level. And patiently he gave me very cagey answers I wasn’t happy with. But as time went by and I began to accept the pace of progress and relax into it, it became clear that there’s no running before you can walk in Tai Chi, and there’s no clear idea of the long term goals. So quickly, my one and only goal with Tai Chi became to let it bring my body and my mind back into balance, to calm the thoughts running through my mind, distracting me from the simple "basic goodness" of existence, and heal my body of all the aches and pains caused by modern daily routines, connect to the world around me, tap into that universal life force, and let it flow through me. 

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I feel a glimpse of this, from time to time, moments of being physically healed and mentally cleansed and comfortable in my own skin. And it is worth it, particularly because life these days has a way of pulling you into disorder and disbalance. So I don’t ask about how many more positions there are, how many ways of doing the form. I trust my teacher to reveal the secrets to me when I am ready.

The Benefits Of Tai Chi

Tai Chi As An Inclusive Discipline

As a discipline that does not place too much stress on either joints or muscles and is very low impact, Tai Chi is safe for almost everyone, regardless of age, gender and physical condition. People who are pregnant, suffering from chronic back pain, have fractures, osteoporosis or a hernia should enquire about modifications that can be made for them to make teir Tai Chi experience safe, however.

Would You Benefit From Tai Chi?

Often referred to as "meditation in motion", Tai Chi may appeal to those who want to practice mindfulness while also moving. The general benefits of Tai Chi include less stress, anxiety, and depression, something that translates to feeling more comfortable within your skin and in the world at large. Despite the gentle nature of the discipline, Tai Chi does indeed offer increased stamina, strength and flexibility. You may also find that practicing Tai Chi causes you to sleep better, and leads to an improvement in your overall health.

Research suggests that Tai Chi has particular benefits for people suffering from chronic heart failure, diabetes, Parkinson's Disease, fibromyalgia, and depression. In elderly people, who are usually prone to falling, the risk of falls — which can be hard to recover from and are even fatal in some cases — is greatly reduced. 

How Tai Chi Impacts My Life

Sometimes my master talks about the history and the legends of the Yang Style tradition, and this theoretical part of learning is my favorite, because it makes me feel connected and rooted in a way few things do these days. There are some amazing, inspiring stories, about the Taoist monks observing the animals, copying and naming the positions after them, about warrior mothers of 10+ children overcoming the need to sleep, and the fattest and strongest man in China. 

But fewer and fewer students are reaching the mastery, both in the Eastern and Western population, and that must be a worry and a disappointment for the masters. With all the migrations and the merging of cultures in recent history, a lot has been lost: traditions weakened, philosophies misinterpreted, reinvented and dispersed into something new that barely fulfils its purpose any more. That’s my feeling anyway, and perhaps the reason I became interested in Tai Chi in the first place. Though I do not consider myself to be a devoted student, and I sometimes skip the class and stay in bed, I know that Tai Chi will be a constant in my life, whether I do it once a week or every day, because it improves the quality of my life and I want to achieve a little more than a glimpse of the stability and peace I observe in my master. 

He became a sort of personal hero on one occasion, about a year into my doing Tai Chi regularly. It was Christmas time, cold and wet outside, and a bunch of us were waiting for him to arrive and start the class. He was stuck in traffic somewhere and he sent a message he’d be late. We chatted, feeling mildly annoyed at the fact that the class would start later and be shorter as a result. The master arrived about 15 minutes later, apologised for being late, and started the class, all in such a calm manner that it became obvious he did not allow being stuck in traffic to have any effect on his mood and behavior! 

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It was impressive! He was able to accept it with calmness, clarity and perspective that I immediately wished I’d had. I realised just how affected I was by the fragmentation of life into tedious daily routines in which I am not present. I vowed there and then that my number one goal would be to be more like my teacher in any situation, particularly if it’s one I feel I have little or no control over. I vowed to try and not let circumstances make me restless and irritable and try and train my mind to keep things in perspective. I believe I have made progress since then, but I am still not completely free from feelings of worry and frustration if I find myself late and stuck in traffic.