T′ai Chi Ch′uan
Meditation & Training
Rainer Maria Kohl
T’ai Chi Ch’uan is a very old Chinese Art of Movement.
Effortlessness is the basis and the root is Tao.
Dr. Chiang Tao Chi
T′ai Chi Ch′uan
(Tai Chi Chuan, Taiji Quan)
is a complex practice-system of extraordinary variety. It is a Taoist art of movement, integrating remedial exercises, internal martial art and meditation. The practice keeps body and mind healthy.
As a health stimulating exercise, T’ai Chi is of preventive nature, and an important instrument in the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The maintenance and the stimulation of Chi, the vital energy, are crucial.
T’ai Chi is an internal martial art, based on the Taoist insight, that the soft shall defeat the hard. It is internal Kung-Fu, highly efficient and effective. The fight is always a fight with and about oneself, and an essential meditative aspect.
As meditation exercise, T’ai Chi is a way of self-realization, aiming to the "Becoming-One" with the TAO, the supreme whole, the creative principle. To overcome the feeling of distinction, felt by the Ego, is not different from the realization of the own true nature, one’s own Buddha-nature, similar to the Satori of ZEN and the Samadhi of Yoga.
Everything is connected, the whole universe is inter-woven. The part cannot be separated from the whole, and this mutual dependence allows the order of the cosmos. The practice of T’ai Chi reflects this Taoist insight – sequence, coordination and intention corresponding in this context.
Yang Style
My classes are taught in the classic Yang Style of
T’ai Chi Ch’uan. I teach:
- "Short Form" (37 form) in the tradition of Cheng Man Ch’ing
- Long Form (108 form) in the tradition of Yang Ch’eng Fu
- T’ai Chi sword in the tradition of Dr. Chiang Tao Chi
- Push-Hand and partner exercises.
Warm-ups, Chi Kung exercises, energy work and Taoist breathing exercises are practiced in all classes. We practice standing and sitting meditation. We talk about this "way", the principles of T’ai Chi Ch’uan and meditation in every class.