Qi Gong / Tai Ji Quan

Tai Ji Quan

« There is neither beginning nor end, the Universe is a perpetually, vast balancing
of Yin and Yang, charged with luminous tones. »
Kar Fung Wu

Tai Ji QuanTai Ji Quan

What is Tai Ji Quan ?

Tai Ji Quan (Tai Chi Chuan) is considered by chinese civilisation as a path to enlightenment. It is a road to unification and to pacification of the self. Tai Ji Quan illustrates one of the most subtle principles of Daoism (Taoism), that of “non-action and the middle-path.” Its true meaning is “action without force”, that moves with the flow of Yin (shadow and depth) and Yang (light and radiancy), the natural forces that are permanent elements of cosmic nature.

The ideogram Tai means great dimension, Ji means peak, apex, whilst Quan means the fist or to punch.
Tai Ji Quan is the supreme surpassing, the supreme accomplishment.

The practice of Tai Ji Quan entails a sequence of 108 slow movements, originally inspired by the fight between a crane and a snake. Each movement allows us to develop our centre as well as our energy breathing, which we experience like the endless, unfolding dance of the ribbon.

 

The practice of Tai Ji QuanThe practice of Tai Ji Quan

 

The Wu Style

The 5 different styles of Tai Ji Quan are shaped by the characteristics of their respective founders. The Wu style was created at the end of the 19th century by Wu Jian Quan, a Manchurian from Mongolia and a horseman par excellence. Master Wu was a nomad and a warrior who liked expanse, to open out, to go through and to go beyond. This style developed especially the rounded and the oblique, reminding us of the rotational movement of the earth’s globe.
It reveals our internal axes of light at 45°.

The practice of Tai Ji Quan

The practice of Tai Ji Quan enables new brain coordination.
It eliminates compensatory axes and at the same time allows new axes to be drawn.
We rediscover the internal order of the body by progressively abandoning our old defences and corporal mechanisms.
Tai Ji Quan is like acupuncture, without needles.
Tai Ji Quan is a profound path towards clarity. It helps us to relive the steps of our internal maturation, so that we can henceforth realise our human potential.
Regular practice of Tai Ji Quan helps us to develop existential confidence grounded in the supreme void.
Then we can joyfully live our true nature.