tes that it was invented in the late 14th or early 15th century, around the second millennium B.C., with the practice of yoga in ancient India. In China, yoga came to be developed in what is called Shaolin chuan (“chuan,” kind of means boxing). In the 13th century A.D., a wandering Taoist monk, Zhang San-feng (Chang San-feng) who had studied martial arts for many years, developed what has come to be known as Tai Chi. The monk observed a fight between a snake and a crane in which the snake won through relaxed, evasive movements and quick counter strikes. Inspired by the snake’s loose but controlled movements, Zhang San-feng created fighting form that emphasized strength, balance, flexibility, and speed. Over the centuries, Tai Chi has evolved into a system of exercise that utilizes soft, slow, relaxed movements.Now and days, Tai Chi is most commonly practiced as a series of flowing movements known as the form. The form consists of a sequence of slow, carefully coordinated movements that flow together into one continuous motion. Single movements have names such as “hand strum a lute,” “part the wild horse’s mane,” and “the white crane spreads its wings.”Tai chi includes other sets of movements as well. One, called “pushing hands,” is a sequence practiced by two people together. In it most advanced form; Tai Chi can also be an extremely powerful form of martial arts. According to tradition, a 19th century Tai Chi teacher by the name of Yang Lu-chuan fought more that 20,000 times without ever losing one single match. Pretty impressive isn’t it. Afterward Tai Chi came to be associated with different families in China. These family names came to designate the different styles of Tai Chi. The Tai Chi family or style from which all other current styles or families of Tai Chi developed was the Chen family. A man by the name of Yang later studied with the Chen family an...
