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Tai Chi - the Most Misunderstood Martial Art

When the small tai chi master from Chinapracticed in slow motion so students can
threw me to my basement floor, I realized thedevelop the body mechanics and structure to
real power behind this misunderstood martialdeliver the self-defense techniques
art. I laughed at how easily he threw mepowerfully. To the average observer, tai chi
down.  He  laughed,  too.appears relaxed and fluid. Underneath, the
body structure gives it an iron-like
I stood up and we touched wrists again. Istrength.
stepped at him and again found myself on the
floor, looking at my carpet in a whole newI studied tai chi for a decade before being
way.introduced to the real art, and I was stunned
at its power. In the years since I began
I was on the receiving end of a tai chistudying the Chen style, as my skill has
master's  skill  and  power.increased, I've met many tai chi students who
have been in the art for over 20 years but
Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing (pronouncedthey don't know the proper way to move. Most
"shou-shing") is a direct descendant of theteachers don't understand the "secrets" of
man who created tai chi. He visited my homethe art. As a result, students don't learn
for a week and I spent quality time findingreal  tai  chi.
out first-hand why so many people
misunderstand  this  powerful  martial  art.The real secret of tai chi and the "internal"
arts of China is simple: these are physical
Around the world, tai chi is used as askills that take years to develop. Too many
slow-motion exercise for health andteachers focus on developing "chi," a
meditation, but that's not why it wasmysterious energy they claim is circulating
created. Many martial artists call tai chi athrough the body. Their students focus on chi
"soft" art, but that's because real tai chiand miss the body mechanics that can make
is rare in the United States. Every movementthem  powerful.
in  tai  chi  is  a  self-defense  technique.
This lesson was driven home to me in my
The art was created in the 15th Century bybasement as Grandmaster Chen kept throwing me
Chen Wangting, a retired warrior in Henanto the floor while he remained relaxed. I
Province, China. His family still practicesbegan to realize what he was doing, and the
it as a martial art. They say you have tosubtle way he was making me lose just enough
"eat bitter" to develop tai chi skill. Realof my balance that I could be easily thrown.
tai chi training, especially with the ChenIt was a valuable lesson. After he left my
family,  involves  pain.home, I was more determined than ever to keep
practicing so I could develop higher-level
The idea of tai chi is to break your attackerskill in this very hard "soft" art.
quickly and end the fight. Tai Chi is



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