First and foremost Tai Chi is a martial art and a very profound martial art at that. It teaches its practitioners to defeat their opponents not through confrontation but rather by facilitating the opponent's self destruction if the opponent so chooses. This requires the proponent to understand and conquer him or herself in the first place which is facilitated through the profound philosophy which Tai Chi is based on.
Besides the philosophical and mental aspects which speaks generously towards self discovery and improvement the physical development required by the Tai Chi practitioner can be more demanding than one would expect from such a gentle art. Tai Chi is an internal Chinese martial art and as such relies heavily on structure and the development stabilising muscles and myofascial slings, allowing the practitioner to optimally exploit tensegrity principles when manifesting or redirecting physical power. Besides its benefits as a fighting art, Tai Chi has become known for the many health benefits it bestows on its practitioners. The following is an except from an article published by Harvard Medical School: |
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“A growing body of carefully conducted research is building a compelling case for tai chi as an adjunct to standard medical treatment for the prevention and rehabilitation of many conditions commonly associated with age,” says Peter M. Wayne, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Tai Chi and Mind-Body Research Program at Harvard Medical School’s Osher Research Centre.
An adjunct therapy is one that’s used together with primary medical treatments, either to address a disease itself or its primary symptoms, or, more generally, to improve a patient’s functioning and quality of life. |