Don't get me wrong...

I have been thinking lately about the origins of tai hi, its actual roots. These are some of the things I have discovered:

If you are a runner nobody asks you “What is running?” The same goes for any 'athletic ' pursuit, so you wouldn't you ask a boxer: “What is boxing?” But take up tai chi (or tai chi chuan to give it its full name) and everyone, even other practitioners, asks the question. Many have opinions too.

I suppose it is not surprising; we can all run and jump, even box if we have to, but tai chi? 'All those strange arm movements – can it really be doing anything? It is, surely, just some weird 'new-age' exercise that someone dreamed up for old people? Even all those people doing it in the parks in China (so I hear) have been taken in. The orientals are all off with the fairies anyway, believe in spiritual stuff, all this magic 'chi', you can't measure it, it is all rubbish!'

From India to China and Japan, in fact across the orient, there has always been a belief that we are more than our physical bodies. The idea is that we are sustained by a life force – prana in India, chi in China and in Japan ki – it is all the same stuff and, the belief is, that by cultivating it and developing it we become stronger, live longer and remain healthy. Some believe that it can be transmitted as a healing power from one person to another.

For millennia the Chinese have been interested in the idea that certain exercises would help to develop chi thus promoting good health and longevity. It is from Taoism that we get these exercises, not quite Chinese yoga but serving the same purpose.

Before the system which we call tai chi was developed – by men, by the way, not by 'immortals' – there were a number of 'internal' martial arts practised in China. The internal ideas developed from Taoist neigung exercise practices. The neigung, or internal, exercises were (indeed are) designed to develop chi. They are soft, rather than vigorous muscle-powered,  movements and, done properly, serve to co-ordinate the body so that it moves as one unit. Martial artists discovered that by being soft, by adopting Taoist principles, they could employ chi in their movements and have much greater power than just muscles alone could deliver.

Tai chi as we know it is about 200 or maybe 300 years old. It was developed by the Chen family, probably by adapting other martial systems. According to Chen family records the system was developed sometime in the 17^th century. It remained a private, family practice until it was made public by a man called Yang Lu Chan.There are various stories about how Yang Lu Chan came to be taught it; the most popular says that he worked for the Chans in some capacity – one version has him as a pharmacist in which case he was probably well educated – and he spied on them while they were practising. When he was caught, Chen Chang Hsing made him fight his sons and he beat them all – five of them! Strangely no one questions this. Given the way we are taught these days, how is it that Yang was able to learn the whole thing to a high level, apparently, by just watching? And in a short time too.

It appears Yang Lu Chan knew a good thing when he came across it. He realised that people would pay him to teach them this new system. He took it to Peking and fought all comers earning himself the title 'Yang the Invincible'. Allegedly, although he beat all of those that he fought, he never hurt anyone. His prowess earned him an appointment as instructor to the imperial guard.

There is much talk about the 'true' transmission of tai chi. Did your master/teacher receive it? Are you, indeed, receiving the true transmission? On top of this there is the idea that at the core of tai chi there is a great secret that is being kept back by the 'establishment' – by which I mean the masters and lineage holders.

One problem is cultural. In the west we are educated to achieve goals. We are expected to go for the gold medal, the A levels, the degree. We don't want to wait, the study is a means not an end in itself. Chen Man Ching got the point. Invited to New York to teach the Chinese community he soon realised that the Americans would pay for his services too. However, according to his biographer Wolf Löwenthal, Chen would adopt a different approach with his American and Chinese students. The Chinese were happy to practise a move until they perfected it, the Americans were focused on the result rather than the journey. They wanted to get to the end and receive the certificate.

All of this I have observed, and it is a pity. What these days we call tai chi is a great system for personal development. OK it's roots are Chinese but that is no reason to think that we, with our western education and attitudes, cannot take ownership and use it for our own benefit. It just takes an intelligent approach and, you might say, a willing suspension of disbelief because we do have to accept certain things our culture says are impossible. Though it should be noted that orthodox, western medicine, is coming around to the idea that this oriental stuff might not be the codswallop it thought it was.

Learning tai chi is a journey. A marathon perhaps but more a long distance stroll. You cannot hurry it, there are no shortcuts, as Tolkein said: “short cuts make for longer journeys”. So enjoy the journey and, one day when you look back at the distance you have covered, you will be astonished at how far you have come.

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