ARTICLE ARCHIVE
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Learning to breathe correctly is crucial to developing your chi.
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Spiritual alchemy is perhaps Tai Chi's most important gift to the practitioner.
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Attention and Intention in Tai Chi Chuan
In Tai Chi, the mind is the most powerful weapon.
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Some people claim they can see auras of light surrounding other people. Can they, and if so, how?
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Most psychic phenomena are a complete mystery, but maybe it's as simple as one-two-chi.
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Chang San-feng: His Life and Deeds
An apocryphal biograpy of the legendary founder of Tai Chi Chuan.
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Chan-ssu Chin: An Introduction
One simple exercise can help empower your Tai Chi.
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Some Christians claim that chi is a demonic energy. They couldn't be more wrong.
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The body's biofield, being composed of energy, is affected by other energies that impinge upon it.
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Photos from a Tai Chi book in Chinese by Chen Wei-ming
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Is Following Jin simply a learned skill, or is something else going on beneath the surface?
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A Historical and Personal Perspective on Tai Chi Chuan
A look at the background and functioning of this timeless martial art.
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There are a lot important aspect to Tai Chi Chuan. The Infinity Twist is one of the foremost.
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In the Tai Chi, the loser wins.
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My friend died too soon, but he did love Tai Chi.
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David Carradine may just be the second most important actor in martial arts cinema.
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Among the many benefits ascribed to Tai Chi Chuan is that of longevity. What, exactly, does this mean?
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Mass Marketing of the Martial Arts
Mass marketing has been an element of the martial arts for centuries, but in this century, it has reached new heights—or depths.
Mathematical and mechanical systems that exhibit Tai Chi behavior
Translator Paul Brennan is quietly making a big splash.
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Where does the truth of the martial arts lie? Is it in perseverence and dedication to form or in gut-level, spontaneous violence and backlash?
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The next time you stand up to do Tai Chi, sit down!
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There are a lot of reasons to practice Tai Chi slowly, not the least of which is to develop speed.
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Symbolic Movement: The Taijitu and Tai Chi Chuan
The tai chi symbol holds many secrets.
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Tai Chi Chuan’s correct operations are dependent on the practitioner assuming a solid foundation.
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Toys and play that exhibit Tai Chi behavior
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Let a lens magnify your Tai Chi.
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Lessons in Tai Chi can come from many aspects of reality. This series explores some of the ways that reality grants us insight into the art of Tai Chi.
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TAIJITU RESOURCES
Links to sites with good information, mostly on the taijitu:
Definition, Background, and Manipulation
Taijitu
The Wikipedia article on the tai chi symbol.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taijitu
Yin and Yang
An excellent and detailed article on the taijitu and many of its aspects in the Chinese Buddhism Encyclopedia.
http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Yin_and_yang
Zhou Dunyi’s Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate Explained (Taijitu shuo): A Construction of the Confucian Metaphysics
by Robin R. Wang
This appears to be an in-depth academic work that originally appeared in the Journal of the History of Ideas (v.66,#3, July 2005), but only a brief summary is free here.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/188687/pdf
The Genesis of an Icon: The Taiji Diagram’s Early History
by François Louis
A 27-page book chapter on the taijitu.
http://www.biroco.com/yijing/louis_taiji_diagram.pdf
About the Taijitu: Sacred Symbol of Taoism
A sort of New-Ageish view of the taijitu and Taoism, but not without merit.
http://salishcircles.org/iching/taijitu.php
Where Does the Yin Yang Symbol Come From?
An interesting mapping of the taijitu onto solar and seasonal cycles from Chinese Fortune Calendar.
http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/yinyang.htm
Taoist Visual Symbols
by Elizabeth Reninger
An excellent slideshow with definitions of a number of important Taoist visual symbols, including the taijitu.
http://taoism.about.com/od/visualsymbols/ss/taoist-visual-symbols.htm
Drawing the Taijitu
Drawing the Taijitu
This page presents a simple yet mathematically precise way to draw the taijitu to exact specifications using only a ruler and compass.
http://www.1728.org/taijitu.htm
Drawing the Taijitu
Jim Bumgardner presents a program that will instruct a computer to draw the taijitu, but it also is possible to use the techniques to draw one with a compass and straightedge.
https://krazydad.com/tutorials/circles_js/showexample.php?ex=taijitu
Bisection of Yin and Yang
A visual catalog of different ways it is possible to equally divide the taijitu into to two parts, each with an equal amount of black and white areas, using only a compass and a straightedge.
http://www.cut-the-knot.org/pythagoras/YinYangBisection.shtml
General Reference
Chinese Internal Martial Arts Dictionary
A glossary of major terms and concepts used by the internal Chinese martial arts. Following the glossary is an extensive list of links to a great deal more information on the internal martial arts.
http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/gloss1.htm
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