BEAR RIVER TAI CHI CHUAN SOCIETY

What is of all things most yielding
Can overcome that which is most hard.
Being substanceless, it can enter in
even where there is no crevice.
That is how I know the value
of action which is actionless.
But that there can be teaching without words,
Value in action which is actionless
Few indeed can understand.

Lao Tzu
5th Century B.C.

What is Tai Chi Chuan?

Tai Chi Chuan developed in ancient China as a training to promote and maintain good health, and as a martial art. Although the art of Tai Chi Chuan is still in its infancy in the West, it is rapidly gaining in popularity. Many states in the U.S. now include Tai Chi Chuan lessons as deductible under health insurance policies. Current medical research is validating Tai Chi Chuan's many therapeutic qualities. Tai Chi Chuan is one of the world's most popular arts of self-healing and illness prevention.

As a way of healing, Tai Chi Chuan exercises, loosens, and makes flexible the muscles, sinews, and "attitude" of the entire body. Through gentle, mindful practice the body learns to not resist itself with needless tensions and constriction. Special focus is placed upon relaxing and energizing the joint system, the sinew and fascia systems, and the internal organs. This systematic relaxation, coupled with a progressive development of natural, proper body alignment, enhances the flow of blood, lymph, oxygen, neural messages, and energy throughout the entire body.

Tai Chi Chuan also aims to soften, strengthen, and straighten the spine. When the spine is freed from tense attachment to the shoulders and pelvis it becomes alive and vibrant. Once the spine and head are held naturally and easily upright and the center of balance is relaxed and sunk to the waist, the entire body becomes more alert and balanced.

As a meditation Tai Chi Chuan calms and focuses the mind. It trains the mind to become aware of, and interactive with, all body parts. This awareness can help prevent new injuries and help to heal old ones.

As a way of developing and renewing body energy, the use of Tai Chi Chuan heightens sensitivity to the influences of such natural forces as water, air, and gravity. Our bodies are mostly water. Learning to use the way fluids pulse and flow inside of us can greatly improve the efficiency of our balance, motion and energy. We are surrounded by air, inside and out, but often we are scarcely aware of its existence. Tai Chi assists the lungs in relaxing, deepening and becoming more efficient in their use of air. Gravity is another ever-present force. We either resist it, in which case our body ultimately sags, tenses and breaks, or we can work with it to improve our balance and grace of motion. By understanding and yielding to these natural conditions our body conserves energy that would otherwise be senselessly squandered.

As a martial art Tai Chi Chuan offers an effective means of resolving conflict without the use of force. Through listening, yielding,, and maintaining a strong sense of personal balance aggressive force can be neutralized in a non-resistant, non-adversarial fashion. In a world ever more willing to accept the disastrous consequences of force and brutality as means of conflict resolution, Tai Chi Chuan practice is like a breath of fresh air. It offers an alternative possibility both personal and global to the ancient problem of being human in a world of human differences.

Tai Chi Chuan develops, renews and reconditions the body in a slow, natural, and gentle fashion. It is an exercise and art form that requires but a few square feet of space and no special equipment to perform. It is used by millions of people to aid their overall health and well-being.

Kayo Robertson, Senior Instructor
Bear River Tai Chi Chuan Society

Beginning Tai Chi Chuan; A Journey into Health and Awareness

Our beginning Tai Chi Chuan classes are usually made up of one third students new to the art and two thirds students who have studied from a few years to a few decades. The foundational nature of the art requires much study and practice of the most basic principles. The value of beginning classes cannot be over-rated. A student can always benefit from revisiting foundational principles. The mixed skill levels in our beginning classes allow new students a broad spectrum of experienced practitioners to learn from.

The focus in a beginning class is three-fold. First, a student learns the choreography, the movements and postures, comprising the first third of the form’s 37 postures. The postures or “frames” in the Tai Chi Chuan solo form are in somewhat the same as relation to the art as the notes are to a selection of great music. Their intrinsic value are as vehicles to the central principles of the art. The second focus of a beginning class is to understand and experience the parts of the body and how they relate as a whole and unified expression of standing and movement. Much attention is paid to body dynamics and structure. The third, and ultimately most important study, is understanding the classical principles that define and guide the art of Tai Chi Chuan.

When a student has a good beginning grasp of the first third of the Tai Chi Chuan form and can demonstrate to some degree its principles, they are eligible and invited to learn the rest of the form. Students may then join all classes including tui shou or “push hands” and form correction as well as all workshops.