Tai chi quan translated as supreme ultimate fist, embodies philosophy which stems from China's native religion Daoism;

"The main concept of Daoist philosophy is that the universe is going to change and we should not fight with it, but work with it. Action should always be effortless and come from creativity without mental or physical effort."

"Daoism is about working within the laws of change and not opposing them, opposing change is seen as a waste of energy. Daoist philosophy states change is constant but, by understanding change and acting in accordance with the laws that govern it, we can work effortlessly to achieve our aims. Tai chi is about union of mind and body which makes movements into effortless interaction."

I had always been intrigued by Tai chi quan. Part of a fascinating and ancient culture Tai chi has been practiced in China for Century's. In our recent history, tai chi along with many other martial arts has spread all over the world. Today there are millions of people worldwide who practice the art with varying degrees of dedication. I have become one of those millions. Practicing Tai chi and Qi gong in Scotland for more than a year, I learnt that the more I practiced the more I discovered I knew very little.

After graduating from university I met Lee, a then keen practitioner of Tai chi and he told me about a class not far from where we worked. Lee said that he found doing Tai chi very rewarding in terms of keeping healthy and active. The class was Yang style Tai chi quan. Yang style dates back to the 1800's when it was created by Yang Luchan, a disciple of the Chen style master Chen Changxing. The form that we were going to learn from our teacher Tina was the basic Yang style 24 step created by the Chinese Sports Committee in 1956. That year, 4 Tai chi teachers came together to create a simplified form for the masses. They shortened traditional styles and used key components to compile a form that could be completed within 8 minutes. This form has since become the worlds most widely practiced. I was eager to take this opportunity to do something I have always admired and wanted to do.

Every week I would head to the top floor of an old converted church to practice for almost two hours. Although many people around the world tend to associate the slow methodical movements of Tai chi with old people, I was a strapping young 24 year old when I first started practicing! Others in the class were as young as or younger than me; Owen, then 19 said that he wanted to learn something that could keep him healthy and that had a martial aspect. Some in the class were there practicing for health, anti-stress and even spiritual reasons. I remember one student who had her own personal Buddhist monk instructing her in spirituality! Our teacher Tina had studied Tai chi in China at Beijing Sports University and at the birth place of Tai chi, Wudang Mountain. Tina and her father are both excellent and dedicated in their practice of Tai chi. Having studied for extended periods and having been trained by the world's foremost experts, Tina was more than capable of giving me the right start in the world of Tai chi. Practicing Tai chi, Qi gong as well as some Daoist meditation I was about to begin learning something that could be of great benefit to me.

Early lessons focused on how the ancient Chinese system of flowing movements can benefit the human body. Tina tells us that because the movements are slow one is meant to feel what goes on inside the body. Focusing on the shifting of ones balance during a move will strengthen the legs while conditioning the tendons and ligaments of the ankles knees and hips. These joints are all considered very important in internal martial arts like Tai chi. According to tradition the body has a flow of energy known as 'Qi' which Chinese philosophy attributes to giving 'function' to our bodies and everything in the world around us. Chinese medicine places great importance on keeping the bodies Qi flowing like circulation so as to maintain a healthy and balanced body. The joints of the human body are places where Qi may become blocked due to stiffness caused by stress, bad posture or simply through bad alignment. Some exercises that Tina taught us including shoulder and hip circles would help increase the joints range of motion making them more resilient and less prone to injury. "Our Qi would flow more easily."

We would typically start the lesson with stretching and warming up using a series of exercises that included the entertaining 'balancing plates'. This exercise is designed to warm up and loosen both the arms and shoulders. Holding the palms of the hands in an upright position as if holding plates, the idea is to move the arms around and above the body in a spiraling motion all the while not moving your hands so as not to 'drop the plates'. Tina usually didn't face the students during this part of the warm up because she wasn't keen to see her students in disarray trying to bend their arms all over the place. After slowly stretching out each and every vertebrae of the spine with 3 'spine circles', we would usually go through a breathing exercise before coming to a standing meditation position. After a couple of minutes in this posture Tina would come around the class making sure that everyone was standing correctly. Both hands placed below the stomach, almost in a sitting posture with the spine and neck perfectly straight letting gravity pull my bones towards the ground. I could feel my body weight in the soles of my feet. My joints were not supporting my body, so they could relax. Gravity fixed me firmly to the floor as I tried to relax every muscle in my body. The form itself contains a host of exotically named moves such as White Crane Spreads Its Wings (Báihè Lìangchì), Snake Creeps Down into Golden Rooster Stands on One Leg (Xiashi Duli) and Fair Lady Works with Shuttles (Yunu Chuansuo). For the most part we concentrated on trying to perfect the intricacies of each and every movement. Tina would break every move into two parts, legs and arms. The hands pushing forward and the legs stepping backwards in the move 'repulse monkey', and the complex movements involved in 'snake creeps down' were easier to grasp after being broken down. The movements are slow so it becomes easier to concentrate on their every single aspect. Tina was able to direct my focus towards having the correct posture, the right movements and keeping every movement rounded. We were encouragingly told that if we get enough practice we will gain the strength needed to make the appropriate flowing, circular movements. After this we can then progress to a level where each flowing movement and each posture creates a different energy flow which has beneficial effects on our overall well-being.

"…Tai chi reflects the principles of yin and yang using a sequence of continuously flowing movements which represent change, harmony and balance. Once the movement begins, it grows, ends and empties, and then another movement begins until the sequence is completed. The aim of the Tai Chi form is to create streams of energy to flow through the body."