The Inner Yoda Of The Tai Chi Chuan Practioner
Antonette Herns | November 29, 2011Tai Chi Chuan is the official name of Tai Chi, one of the most prevalent Chinese martial arts disciplines practiced around the world and with eight different schools. One matter common among these different versions is the name, which in plain Chinese means big fist. Ironically, Tai Chi Chuan may perhaps be the gentlest of the many Chinese martial arts. At the same time however, it is also the deadliest. This is because the plan behind it is to keep the body nimble and strong, akin to a strong piece of metal rod that can be bent easily to suit the purpose. By far, the best visual portrayal of the art and practice of Tai Chi could be the liquid metal concept popularized in the Terminator movies.
During a scrap, the ideal Tai Chi warrior can become both as soft and as hard as metal, interchangeably and at will. Of course, nobody achieves such ideal in the literal sense, but this is the lofty aspiration, just as most ancient Chinese fight arts have one, like flying in the air as depicted in the Crouching Tiger movie and a host of other Hong Kong blockbusters.
Mastery in Tai Chi is a long-term prospect and demands self-discipline. Unlike the karate kid, however, one does not make it through the use of brute force. On the contrary, the actual concept is to go through the steps slowly but surely. In this sense then, the premise of Tai Chi may well be likened to The Force in the tradition of the Star Wars flicks. Master Yoda of the Jedi order would make a superb example of a Tai Chi champion.
On the exterior, he is anything but scary. Internally, Yoda is formidable as a result of his strong mind, which has been trained to manipulate material objects around him just as if these were toys. Reminiscent of Yoga levitation techniques sprinkled a little bit with Yuri Geller psychokinetic power, the master is in charge of the game. So far, the parallels between the Tai Chi and Jedi arts are as near as they can get.
Where it ends is while Jedis are trained to expand their minds, the Tai Chi expert tries to develop the suppleness of his or her body in preparation for winning the war. Nevertheless, both Jedi and Tai Chi Chuan warriors prophesy the same thing: that after a while war will come over the not so distant future, hence the necessity of preparation. When that expected time comes, both combatants will be at the top of their game all because they have managed to get ready for the big event in their own extraordinary ways.
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