Gifts of Tai Chi
By Enid Chen
Photos by Yao Fan



本周在厦门举行的全国武术太极拳锦标赛吸引了来自全国各地的太极高手.太极拳作为博大精深的中国文化的一部分,不仅是国人的骄傲,也被众多西方人士所称道.本文介绍的来自美国的Karin就是其中一位,太极拳使她受益匪浅,不仅让她"年轻了15岁",还因此摆脱了纠缠15年的病痛.

The National Tai Chi Championship is being held this week in Xiamen, which is attracting hundreds of contestants. As an important part of the rich Chinese cultural heritage, Tai Chi is a pride of Chinese people and is highly praised by westerners. Through Tai Chi practice, Karin from California has got rid of her pains, which she had been living with for 15 years. "Now I feel 15 years younger," she says.

Every day in the morning and in the evening by the Yuandang Lake, you are likely to come across a foreign lady who practices Tai Chi skillfully and conscientiously. She moves slowly with large arm movements, strong physical balance and inner calm. She is Karin Faulkner from California, USA, who has been in Xiamen for four years.

Close to 60 years old, Karin looked much younger and more active than her age. "It is Tai Chi that makes me feel 15 years younger." Karin recalled. "Before I came to Xiamen and learned Tai Chi, I had been living with a stiff and sore shoulder for about 15 years. I walked downstairs with great difficulty. I used to be a runner, but I couldn't run. I couldn't use a computer for six months due to the pains in my wrists and arms, as I suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome. I felt old."

"However, two months after beginning Tai Chi, I was able to use a computer again as my wrists were free of pains. After four months, I could run and go downstairs with ease. After six months, the old pain in my shoulder was gone forever. My body was free and limber."

Not only are there physical benefits, but also there are mental benefits. "When practicing Tai Chi, we should think about one thing only. I focus my mind from my toes to the top of my fingers. In this way, I am not likely to be disturbed by the surroundings or other thoughts." Karin says now she feels younger, stronger and more confident as well.

Tai Chi worked wonders for Karin like magic. But all this does not come easily. Learning Tai Chi requires diligence and persistent practice. A learner can improve his or her skills only if they keep practicing and only after much time can they become experts. As the saying goes: Drops fall, if they fall constantly, they will bore through stone. For the past two and a half years, Karin has been learning from her Chinese teacher Yang Aimin twice a week and practices alone every day in the morning and evening near the lake. She began with the basic movements of Yang-style Tai Chi and gradually gained proficiency through training and practice. Now she practices with a long sword.

"When I first began learning Tai Chi from my teacher Yang Aimin, my hands were so stiff that I couldn't even curve my fingers. I was moving like a metal machine. It took me many months before I could move my arms smoothly." Karin added that she once cried, thinking she would never be able to acquire one particular movement, in which she had to step backward and coordinate her movements. Nonetheless, she can now practice this skillfully, due to her teacher's untiring patience and her own persistent practice. Indeed, there is nothing like practice, and learners of Tai Chi, men or women, young or old, will get the best possible results if they keep at it all the year round. In other words, more haste less speed.

Karin also learns other things through Tai Chi. "It's a good way to learn about Chinese culture. Learning Tai Chi can bring you closer to Chinese culture and the principles of the Yin-Yang balance, change, the chi meridians and Taoism. Unlike western sport activities, which build strength by working the body harder and faster to strengthen it, Tai Chi works its slow and soft movements to make the body strong, focused and calm. Tai Chi exercise will never hurt you."

"In addition, the guidance of a good teacher is of great importance." Karin sang highly of her teacher Yang, known as the only teacher in Xiamen who teaches Tai Chi in English. "He is an excellent teacher who is patient, careful, funny and able to work in my language."

"Perhaps the biggest gift I get from Tai Chi is to continue the way I am living. At my age feeling strong and having freedom of movement is essential to living alone and teaching English in China, and I'd like to continue for a long time."

Anyone who is interested in Tai Chi can contact Karin at karinchina@yahoo.com.

About Tai Chi



Tai Chi is part of the rich cultural heritage of China. It is an art in which slow and gentle movements are embodied with vigor and force. As a Chinese saying aptly puts it, "Inside the cotton is hidden a needle"(绵里藏针). Its technical, physiological and mechanical qualities all have a philosophical basis. It was originally developed as a martial art, but is best known as an exercise for health and meditation. Tai Chi is based on the principles of yin and yang(阴阳平衡), a balance of opposites, such as hard and soft, fast and slow, and light and heavy.

The origins of Tai Chi go back many hundreds of years. The person who is traditionally credited as being the "founder" of Tai Chi is the monk Chang Sanfeng, who was stationed at the Wu Tang monastery, and, depending upon sources, lived somewhere between 960 AD and 1460 AD.
The theory is that Chang Sanfeng originated a style that combined both existing combat techniques and other movements, primarily designed to increase the flow of chi energy through the body, thus creating a form that was a physical manifestation of Taoist thinking.

The four main styles of Tai Chi are the Chen, Yang, Wu, and Sun styles. Although each style is practiced differently, they all follow the principles of yin and yang, using the body to its most efficient use with the least amount of effort.