Learn Tai Chi Online, also known as Tai Ji Quan Chinese Martial Arts Wu Shu

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Here's an important overview you should know before you begin to learn tai chi online. And don't forget to check out all our books, DVDs, courses and seminars that have recently been made available to the public.

Tai Ji Quan (also written as TC) translates as Grand Ultimate Fist or Supreme Ultimate Fist.

Tai means Supreme or Grand, Ji (Chi) means Ultimate, and Quan (Chuan) means Fist or Boxing. It is commonly known, and written, as just “Tai Chi (here we abbreviate it to TC)” in western countries.

TC as the "Grand Ultimate or Supreme Ultimate" while Chuan the "fist - boxing” represents the martial or fighting art of TC.

In China, you’ll see TC as Tai Ji or Tai Ji Quan. This is the official Chinese government pin yin spelling based on the mandarin dialect. You’ll also see it referred to as a branch of “wu shu” - the official umbrella name for martial arts that includes all the various styles of martial arts such as TC and kung fu.

TC or Tai Ji means the same thing. The only difference is in the various styles of TC that are taught.

The splendour of tai chi is the Taoist (or daoist in pin yin) belief that everything in the universe depends on the interaction between two polar opposites: Yin and Yang.

In TC, Yin is represented by the soft; it also indicates the night, the negative, earth, or the intellectual; whereas Yang represents the hard, the positive, day, sky, or the physical.

The balance and harmony that is aimed for while doing TC is representative of yin and yang. Each aspect contains within it a seed of the other - within yin there is an aspect of yang present and ready to manifest itself. Neither is absolute. Each depends on the other.

Practised since the 16th Century, a number of different bare hands and kicking techniques are used. These include various palm strikes, blocks, fist techniques, high kicks and low kicks, depending on your ability.

Stance training such as the horse or bow and arrow stance, and many others, lay the solid foundation that is necessary for us to perform good TC.

Push Hands are also an important component. It helps to polish up our techniques, improve breathing, co-ordination, footwork, balance and flexibility.

Various weapons such as spear, straight sword, stick or staff, the sabre or broadsword, and fan are used.

Chi kung or qi gong (again the latter is the spelling in mandarin Chinese) is also associated with the practice of tai chi so when you read about TC, be prepared to also learn about chi kung.

Today, TC is practised mainly as a health exercise. This has been supported with many scientific studies that have proved TC to be a beneficial exercise to prevent disease and improve health, for example, preventing falls in the elderly, for lowering blood pressure and for controlling diabetes.

Golden Lion Academy recommends, and teaches, a wholistic TC programme, one that focuses on health and healing plus also the martial arts. The martial aspect teaches the inner secrets, the authentic core, and cannot be withheld. In fact, the majority of TC styles evolved as a martial arts experience where effective fighting or self defence was paramount, with the health benefits being discovered much later.

Men and women of all age groups, from teenagers to the elderly or seniors, can be very skilful because the skill is not dependent on physical size or power but on internal power, calmness, precision with strength of mind and intention.

Our aim here is to offer you quality education in TC; revealing only its authentic secrets.

If you are interested in attending classes, please call us on our central telephone number 9796-1066 for class times and fees or email us through our contact-us form.

Irrespective of the style of TC you practise, most styles share similar principles. Accordingly, please see below various links to important articles that you must read to help you learn tai chi online.

1. How to do Tai Ji Quan - Stances and The Bee's Knees

2. Tai Ji Quan Basics, Relaxation and Anti Stress

3. TC Kung Fu Chinese Martial Arts Practitioners: Are you in the zone? Learn how traditional Chinese martial arts practitioners such as tai chi and kung fu can get in the zone, the state of flow, effortlessness, as suggested by Taoist philosophy to reach peak performance.

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