Tai Chi Chuan

Tai Chi Chuan is a "soft style" or internal martial art form rooted in China.   It is also referred to as Southern Style Kung Fu.  Tai Chi Chuan provides an integrated approach to the cultivation of the mind, body, and spirit. Tai Chi Chuan is believed to be founded between four and five hundred years ago by an aging Preying Mantis Master named San-Feng Chang.  The legend is that Chang became too old to practice his hard style Preying Mantis techniques, his body simply became to old to complete the movements.  He began to research a "softer" style that he could adapt.   One day, while meditating on his dilemma, Chang observed a white crane fighting with a snake outside his temple.  The gentle, perfectly balanced movements of the crane didn't seem nearly as powerful as the lightning quick strikes of the snake.   However, the crane eventually defeated the snake.  San-Feng Chang thought a great deal about how and why the crane won, and developed his art of Tai Chi Chuan with that battle in his mind.  Tai Chi's slow and gentle movements rely not only on physical strength, but on mental training and awareness.

Regular Tai Chi exercise has been proven to benefit all people regardless of age or sex.   Tai Chi Chuan has been acknowledged as an unrivaled means of health maintenance.   However, Tai Chi Chuan is also a very effective means of self defense.  Tai Chi Chuan is one of the two Chinese martial arts adopted around 1851 by Grand Master Duk Soon Song into OHTC's martial arts family.

Tai Chi facilitates:

• The letting go of emotional tension
• An increase in concentration and awareness
• A decrease in stressful psychological and physiological reactions
• Improved health
• Blood stimulation
• The Build up of internal and external power through:
  a) Meditation techniques (Myong Sang Bub)
  b) Breathing techniques (Ki Gong Bub)
• Self defense skills by learning the applications of:
  a) Tai Chi empty hand form applications
  b) Tai Chi weapons forms