07th December 2010
Tai Chi Chuan requires complex physical skills and -- done correctly -- it requires strong leg muscles and endurance. One of the key elements of any Tai Chi training program is Zhan Zhuang, translated from Chinese as "standing like a post," or Standing St...
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05th May 2010
Around Christmas, 2007, I began feeling palpitations in my chest. I thought it was just stress from my job. After a few months, I saw a doctor and he immediately realized I had atrial fibrillation -- my heart had developed extra electrical pathways that c...
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25th March 2010
Dr. Tom Morris received his Ph.D. in both Philosophy and Religious Studies from Yale University. For more than 15 years, he was a Professor of Philosophy at Notre Dame.
In one of his books, Philosophy for Dummies, he writes about the power of belief an...
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22nd February 2010
More than twenty years ago, I stood in a kung-fu school as a black sash student (black belt) was asked what a particular movement meant for self-defense. I was not a black sash at the time. He demonstrated a couple of applications for the movement -- it w...
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10th February 2010
Tai Chi is surrounded by mystery and mysticism, but it is a martial art that was created in the Chen Village in China. A new documentary by producer Jon Braeley takes us on a fascinating journey to meet the key members of the Chen family who keep the fami...
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04th February 2010
One of the terms that you read about and hear about when you study tai chi is the "six harmonies." Rarely, though, is this concept explained clearly, and as a result, people come away with mystical explanations for something that is very physical in natur...
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01st February 2010
The students in the tai chi workshop were standing in a posture, groaning and grunting and shaking as they waited for Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang to look at them. Leg muscles strained from fatigue. A few moments later during a break, a student commented to ...
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28th January 2010
The question comes several times each year. It is almost always worded the same way. I'm asked, "Ken, I'm a Christian. Can I still study Tai Chi?"
I need to let you know that I grew up in Southern, conservative, fundamentalist Christian churches. I was...
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27th January 2010
He was one of the greatest kung-fu masters in the world, a direct descendant of the creator of tai chi, and he was asking me to show him a punch. It was an exciting moment but also nerve-wracking. Trying not to be nervous, I settled into the posture and p...
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07th January 2010
There is an article on the Internet by a tai chi instructor based in Los Angeles. It outlines the 10 most important concepts you should remember when practicing Tai Chi. And it's the reason most Tai Chi being practiced in America is so weak.
The advice...
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17th July 2008
The martial arts are full of legends--tales of masters who could fling a larger opponent across a room with the flick of a finger, or masters who could defeat a crowd of martial artists without being injured.
One legend tells of a young student who wan...
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20th May 2008
Tai Chi is a martial art that uses unique principles of movement to generate power for self-defense. If you watch a martial artist practicing karate or taekwondo, their movements will be very tense and muscular. They tend to scream a lot. These are called...
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08th May 2008
The small Chinese gentleman stood in front of me. We reached out with one hand and touched our wrists together. I took a step toward him. Suddenly, I found myself flat on my back. I laughed and so did he.
I slowly picked myself up off the carpet and tr...
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