Out & About July 2017

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Tue 6.45 pm - 7.45 pm Newbury Methodist Church Intro to tai chi
Tue 6.45 pm - 8.15 pm Newbury Methodist Church Regular Class
Fri 6.45 pm - 7.45 pm NTHC,Thatcham Intro to tai chi
Fri 6.45 pm - 8.15 pm NTHC,Thatcham Regular Class
Fri 8.15 pm - 8.45 pm NTHC,Thatcham Intermediate
To find out more about tai chi classes in
Newbury and Thatcham contact:
William Mak
T: 07976 746 859 E:
Tai Chi Chuan
T’ai-chi ch’uan (also spelled taijiquan and taiji chuan) is an
ancient Chinese martial art that comes in many variations.
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.
Some stress competition, while others emphasise health
or self-defence.
T’ai-chi ch’uan is usually literally translated as ‘grand ultimate
boxing’. The ‘grand ultimate’ portion of the name refers to
the Chinese concept of the origin of the universe. That is
the principle of yin and yang. In fact, the common yin-yang
symbol is properly called the t’ai chi diagram. T’ai-chi ch’uan
is the art of the harmony of yin and yang, in tangible form.
There are many conflicting stories about the origins of Tai Chi.
The foundation concepts of t’ai chi ch’uan, which come from
Taoism and Confucianism, go back to the beginning of written
history in China. They come from Lao Tzu’s monumental text,
Tao Te Ching, from the I Ching and from various other health-
promoting and breathing exercise treatises. The actual art can
be traced back only 300 to 700 years, however.
The founder is said to be Chang San-feng (Zhang Sanfeng),
who is thought to have lived from 1279 to 1368, but no one
knows if he actually existed. Some experts claim him as just
being a myth, while others argue he did exist and there are
monuments to him in China.
Many believed Chang San-feng was a Shaolin monk who
decided to leave the monastery to become a Taoist hermit.
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.
One story tells how he had a vision between a snake and
a crane (although some say it was a magpie, an eagle or a
hawk). In theory, the crane should have had an easy time
killing the snake, but in Chang’s vision, the crane would try
to attack the snake’s head, and the snake would evade and
hit the crane with its tail. When the crane would try for the
snake’s tail, the snake would bite the crane. This resulted
in the discovery of the basic t’ai chi concepts of evading,
yielding and attacking.
Chang assembled a martial art that used softness and
internal power to overcome brute force. He is believed to have
written: “In every movement, every part of the body must be
light and agile and strung together. The postures should be
without breaks. Motion should be rooted in the feet, released
through the legs, directed by the waist and expressed by the
fingers. Substantial and insubstantial movements must be
clearly differentiated.”
This marked the beginning of t’ai-chi ch’uan, 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’ai chi. While no one knows
what his art looked like then, it is thought that the movements
were practiced as individual techniques or concepts.
©H. Kurland
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