Tai Chi Martial Arts, A Spiritual Journey

Tai Chi is not just about improving health and doing its gentle healing exercises to keep us fit and strong. I discovered it is more than that.

"Muscular energy is limited to one's strength and endurance whereas there is no limit to spiritual energy. The power of this form of energy increases with practice and does so without limit". says Pier Tsui-Po, an Australian Martial Arts Teacher.

I found this quote by our own Dai Sifu in "The Three Minute Coach" a small book, with a selection of quotations and stories compiled by past and present coaches and Australian champions.

For me this "quote"' embodies all I feel about Tai Chi. For as I have discovered for myself, it is so true, that even with perseverance and training, muscular energy is limited to one's strength and endurance.

I have seen in others and am finding for myself, that spiritual energy increases with discipline and learning.

The knowledge gained through the study and practice of that which is natural to human life, sets one's "self" on a spiritual journey without end.

When you start to analyze Tai Chi, your journey has truly begun. It has gone beyond an exercise to keep you fit. When you encounter the wisdom of "Taoist" philosophy, the enlightenment promotes spiritual peace and contentment.

The learning of the tai chi form is a source of happiness, it becomes a treasure of health, and it is a meditation in motion. If one practices correctly and it's doctrine is thoroughly comprehended, one's character with regard to conduct and morality will improve, as will one's health with increased vigor and increased resistance to illness.

Tai Chi Chuan is also the highest form of martial art. The skills involved in applying Tai Chi to self defense are those of "conquering strength with delicacy", of "overwhelming mightiness with puniness" and of "overtaking assertion with denial".

And so one begins, to change... "to go with the flow"... to gain in limitless spiritual energy!

Contribution by Lynne Byrne, Tai Chi Instructor

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