Hello! Welcome to the online home of Absolute Tai Chi. A Chen style tai chi chuan school based in London.
Tai chi chuan
(Mandarin/Traditional Chinese: 太極拳; pinyin:
taijiquan; Wade–Giles: tai chi chuan) literally translates as ‘Supreme Ultimate
Fist’. Tai chi chuan is an internal
martial art (neijia) originating in the Henan region of China, developed by the Chen family in the sixteenth century. Although it can still be practiced as a martial art,
many people nowadays practise it for its health benefits.
Tai chi training involves five elements: nei gong (internal
energy exercises such as chan si gong – silk reeling, qigong and meditation),
taolu (forms or movement routines), tui shou (push hands), sanshou (free
fighting), and weapons (dao – broadsword, jian – straightsword, qiang – spear,
da dao – big broadsword).
Tai chi chuan is often characterised by slow movements. This
is the way that the forms are usually learned and trained, but there are faster
forms in the system and all of the movements can be applied at speed once they
have been learnt. Slow movements are emphasised to encourage good posture, relaxation,
and balance.
There are
5 major styles of tai chi chuan:
- Chen style founded by Chen
Wangting (1580–1660)
- Yang style founded by Yang
Lu-chan (1799–1872)
- Wu style (1) founded by Wu
Yuxiang (1812–1880)
- Wu style (2) founded by Wu
Quan-yu (1834–1902)
- Sun style founded by Sun Lu
Tang (1861–1932)
In
addition to these there is also the Wudang school of tai chi chuan, which is a separate
martial art, but based on the same tai chi principles of yin and yang.
We hope you enjoy our website, why not look at the activities and classes we offer or get in touch.