{"id":777,"date":"2022-05-27T07:41:16","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T06:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.banburytaichi.uk\/?page_id=777"},"modified":"2022-05-27T07:41:16","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T06:41:16","slug":"what-is-tai-chi","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.banburytaichi.uk\/index.php\/what-is-tai-chi\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Tai Chi?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tai Chi is a series of slow controlled movements aimed at promoting good health and gently stimulating the body. The slow, smooth relaxed exercises naturally deepens the breathing and calms the mind as a form of moving meditation.\u00a0<br>Tai Chi\u2019s aim is to balance the life force or Chi and cultivate good health and a calm mind. There are various styles of Tai Chi and the one we teach is called Yang Tai Chi. The Yang style is characterised by long, smooth movements which are soothing for the mind and body.\u00a0\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"185\" height=\"255\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.banburytaichi.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/chang-san-feng-2.jpg?resize=185%2C255\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-778\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>History of TAI CHI CHUAN:<\/strong><br>T\u2019ai-chi ch\u2019uan (taijiquan or taiji chuan) is an ancient Chinese martial art with many variations of style and forms. Some styles can trace their lineage back to the founding of the art, while others date back to the early part of the 20th century.&nbsp; The t\u2019ai chi ch\u2019uan Grandmaster Tchoung Ta-chen insists that all are valid and beneficial to the student as long as the basic t\u2019ai chi concepts are adhered to. The history has conflicting stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The foundation concepts of t\u2019ai chi ch\u2019uan, come from Taoism and Confucianism. The founder is said to be Chang San-feng (Zhang Sanfeng), who is thought to have lived from 1279 to 1368. Some experts claim him as just being a myth, while others argue he did exist and there are monuments to him in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many believed Chang San-fe\u200bng was a Shaolin monk who decided to leave the monastery to become a Taoist hermit.&nbsp;On Wu Tang (Wudang) mountain, he gave up the hard fighting style he had learned and formulated a new art based on softness and yielding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One story tells how he had a vision between a snake and a crane. In theory, the crane should have had an easy time killing the snake, but in Chang\u2019s vision, the crane would try to attack the snake\u2019s head, and the snake would evade and hit the crane with its tail.&nbsp;When the crane would try for the snake\u2019s tail, the snake would bite the crane.&nbsp;This resulted in the discovery of the basic t\u2019ai chi concepts of evading, yielding and attacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u200b\u200bHe is believed to have written:<strong><em>&nbsp;\u201cIn every movement, every part of the body must be light and agile and strung together.&nbsp;The postures should be without breaks.&nbsp;Motion should be rooted in the feet, released through the legs, directed by the waist and expressed by the fingers.&nbsp;Substantial and insubstantial movements must be clearly differentiated.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This marked the beginning of t\u2019ai-chi ch\u2019uan, but at that time it was called chang chuan, or long boxing after the endless flow of the Changjiang (Yangtse) River. Later, Chang formulated the 13 postures of t\u2019ai chi.&nbsp;While no one knows what his art looked like then, it is thought that the movements were practiced as individual techniques and\/or concepts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tai Chi is a series of slow controlled movements aimed at promoting good health and gently stimulating the body. The slow, smooth relaxed exercises naturally deepens the breathing and calms the mind as a form of moving meditation.\u00a0Tai Chi\u2019s aim is to balance the life force or Chi and cultivate good health and a calm [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-777","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin_guy","author_link":"https:\/\/www.banburytaichi.uk\/index.php\/author\/admin_guy\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Tai Chi is a series of slow controlled movements aimed at promoting good health and gently stimulating the body. The slow, smooth relaxed exercises naturally deepens the breathing and calms the mind as a form of moving meditation.\u00a0Tai Chi\u2019s aim is to balance the life force or Chi and cultivate good health and a calm&hellip;","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banburytaichi.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banburytaichi.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banburytaichi.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banburytaichi.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banburytaichi.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.banburytaichi.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":779,"href":"https:\/\/www.banburytaichi.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banburytaichi.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}