Tai Chi or Taiji is what lies within shapes and features; Wuji or Wu Chi is what lies beyond shapes and features (form). Since Tai Chi sprang from Wuji, we can conclude that Tai Chi is a blend of Wuji (Formlessness), and a blend of Form. Together Wuji and Form make Tai Chi. Also referred to as Yin Yang.

Tai Chi Practice

Tai Chi is also a name of a practice that considers Yin and Yang forces and works with form, and as such, it also works with formlessness. Taking the perfectly balanced Yin Yang symbol concept, Tai Chi (and Qigong for that matter) strive to develop a person toward the state of a balanced Yin Yang. This balance brings us toward Wuji where we are free from “conditioned response”. Conditioned response may be translated as our response to anything based on what was layered upon us or that we layered upon ourselves. With this programming, we respond to stimuli not from our true Original Self (Wuji), but more from a script that plays out in response to a given stimulus. When we achieve a balanced Tai Chi self, we are free from the conditioned responses and we can act and be as our Original Self (Wuji).

The goal of Tai Chi is thus to harmonize your being with its original spirit which is free from conditioned responses. In order to achieve this goal we must regulate our being to a firm, strong, peaceful and enlightened state. This occurs through physical practice combined with intention which is designed to alter mind and being toward a firm, strong, peaceful and enlightened state.

Tai Chi Practice And Brainwaves

Studies have shown that those who practice Tai Chi, use their brain waves in a more balanced fashion. Using a greater variety and balance of the different brainwaves frequencies can be considered a more “balanced fashion” of brain usage as this would also correlate to using a combination of Yin and Yang forces in a “balanced fashion”.

A science experiment by Dr. Shin Lin has shown that Tai Chi Increases Theta waves, Alpha waves, and Beta Waves.

Side Notes:

• Theta Waves Side Note: (brain waves observed in the temporal lobe or central brain during state of REM sleep or dreams, hypnosis, lucid dreaming)
• Alpha Waves Side Note: (waves occurring in occipital lobe or rear brain during wakeful relaxation often with closed eyes- or wake-sleep cycle-deep relaxation)
• Beta Waves Side Note: (state of alert consciousness).

With the alteration of brainwaves, Tai Chi practice will bring the mind to a very specific focus. Studies found it more effective than meditation as the mind is trained to concentrate. Since Tai Chi alters the brain waves accordingly, it is in fact a meditation, producing the results that meditation strives to achieve if we consider altering the brainwaves as such to be meditation.

Through Tai Chi practice, the brain changes into a state of relaxed concentration allowing our natural state to emerge. With a balanced and relaxed concentrated state, we can be free from our conditioned responses and the purpose of our soul’s evolution clarifies, which is synonymous with our natural state of being emerging. When the sky is cloudy, the clear rays of the sun cannot be perceived, even though we may formulate and speculate about how the sun appears. Similarly, if our Li, or purpose, is clouded by conditioned thoughts patterns, we cannot see our soul’s purpose. For ‘True Seeing’ to occur, one must be in alignment with their original Li (purpose). Tai Chi provides this alignment, and when this alignment occurs, the power of the original source comes forth to an individual. This power is called Te (pronounced DUH).

Yin Yan Theory And Tai Chi

The body and acupuncture channels are divided into Yin and Yang forces.

· Yin is; less changing, still solid, near, and feminine.

· Yang is; of greater changing, moving, far, male.

Tai Chi movements are designed to create a balance of the physical body and the mental body and also a balance of the Yin and Yang acupuncture channels. In everything, there is always some Yin within the Yang and some Yang within the Yin. So we may understand that everybody will have various Yin Yang combinations blending throughout the body. With this philosophy, even body channels or meridians that are primarily Yin would contain some Yang, and channels that are primarily Yang will contain some Yin.

The human in Taoist philosophy, is considered part Earth (Yin) and part Heaven (Yang). Or Hun (Earth) and Po (Heaven). Tai Chi and Qigong thus refer to Heaven and Earth as the two forces always working within the human. Tai Chi and Qigong practice bring about; the awareness and sensitivity of these two forces, the drawing and circulation of these two forces, and the balance of these two forces. Bringing Earth and Heaven into balance alters the conditioned mind, bringing the unconditioned mind, the Wuji state, to the foreground.

Strictly on the physical level, Tai Chi and Qigong practice is also a very healthy practice, preventing health issues though balancing the Yin and Yang meridians and bodily organs. Tai Chi and Qigong practice may even be considered as a treatment or part of a treatment for various health issues since traditional Chinese medicine considers bodily disorders to be based on Yin or Yang imbalances. The Harvard Medical School publication, “Harvard Health Publication May 2009”, found Tai Chi to be helpful as part of treatment for; arthritis, low bone density, breast cancer, heart disease, heart failure, hypertension, Parkinson’s Disease, sleep problems, and stroke.

The Ideogram for Tai Chi

The Characters for Tai Chi ( Tai Ji ) are as follows:

Tai

Tai is typically referred to as great or supreme. Chi can be referred to as ultimate. Together the ideogram has come to mean the Supreme Ultimate. The Supreme Ultimate is hidden inside each character and those characters reveal hidden practices. With a closer examination, we find that the meaning has not been broken down to its essential meaning.

The compound character Tai really means One Centered Person between Heaven and Earth. “Centered” may be synonymous with being balanced with Heaven and Earth as in Tai Chi. It would make sense that according to this translation the symbol for Tai Chi would make reference to being in balance of Yin and Yang as this is a key objective in Tai Chi.

Chi

The second character following Tai is Chi, is also broken down into several characters and meanings. (Note: Chi is not to be misunderstood as Qi).

The first part of the Chi character means Pine Tree. Like a tree, we draw from Heaven and Earth energies, and like a tree, we stand strong and balanced. When we consider the human to be a blend of Earth Qi and Heaven Qi, the tree becomes a prime representation of this. Like a human drawing Earth Qi, so does the tree draw nutrients from the earth (as well as draw Qi). Like a human drawing Heaven Qi, so does the tree convert light from the sun into energy (as well as draw Qi).

Also within this character is a square like character which means “mouth” and the X like character means “hands”. A line below is split with a centered line, meaning speaking in balance with hands and mouth.

The centered line may also be understood as the central channel, which is also a key in Tai Chi for being centered and balanced. The line below balancing the hands and mouth equally, may equate the perfect balance between the body or the being along with the words that are spoken.

With the power of our words being so strong in terms of the impact it has on ourselves and on others, speaking in balance becomes of supreme importance.

It is also possible that reference to speaking in balance with the hands could refer to the expression of our body and its movements. Meaning, it could refer to more than just gesturing with hands in coordination with our words. The hands in the symbol could represent the expression of the body movements as in Tai Chi. In Tai Chi, the body and hands moves in balance. Since in Tai Chi, the hands and body move in a balanced fashion, it would seem that outside of Tai Chi practice as well, the expression of our body can remain in this balance throughout the day. Here our bodily expression would continue to be a balance of Yin and Yang.

Even though our body movements may not be dramatic movements as in Tai Chi practice, there can still be a balanced manner of the being that collaborates and coordinates in harmony with vocal expression or even non verbal expression of the being. Just as our presence speaks volumes, possibly our very presence can be considered to be speaking in balance with our hands and mouth even without movement or without words. Thus, speaking in balance with hands and mouth might be understood not completely literally, but as and idiom of multiple meanings. So the full meaning of the Tai Chi ideogram can be considered to be vast and not exactly literal in its translation.

Tai Chi:

When we put all this together,we find the true meaning of Tai Chi to be:

“One Centered Person, Between Heaven and Earth, Standing like a Pine Tree, Using the Mouth and the Hands in a Balanced Fashion”.

In a sense, achieving this balance is the "Supreme Ultimate", so when we translate the Tai Chi character to mean the "Supreme Ultimate", we can understand that being a centered person, between heaven and earth and standing relaxed like a pine tree, using our mouth and the hands in a balanced fashion is a supreme accomplishment.