The above will be the question most people ask when they think about starting practicing Tai Chi Chuan and rightfully so. Tai Chi Chuan is a comprehensive martial art which comprises of many different elements.
The difficulty with Tai Chi Chuan is that the beginning may seem daunting because the art has so many different elements like forms, internal skills (e.g. breathing and qi control), body mechanics, application and many more. The Practice area already gave you an idea of this.
Luckily Kung Fu (Gong Fu) training has evolved from the traditional, lifelong dedication that was required from a student, but it does not mean that we can forget the basics and foundations of our training. We all agree that you will never learn a language, unless you learn its alphabet first. It is just the same with Kung Fu. Therefore the real kung fu is obtained by practice, accumulation and study.
For the modern Tai Chi practitioner it is standard to start loosely practicing the taolu or form with a group and a teacher. From there it will be easier to introduce new elements like postures, principles, body mechanics, techniques and practices like neigong. During your practice you may study the theory with which the website can help you, as well as the books and even movies I made a page for.
Getting into martial arts
If you’re really not sure about anything, we personally believe that there is in fact a way to ‘get into’ martial arts and gradually progress your confidence and interest. One good way to do that is to start from the absolute basics with a book. The following book surely helped many people tremendously since it is still a best-seller to this day.
The book claims it can transform your body and soul in 28 days, but the biggest takeaway from this book is that it introduces you to the basic stances of Shaolin Gong Fu, also called Ji Ben Gong, which is the foundation of any Chinese martial arts and part of the curicullum of the Shaolin Temple in China. Were you ever to find yourself there, this will be what you will learn. The great advantage of this book is that Sifu Shi Yan Ming is a renowned Shaolin master and that the stretching exercises in this book gradually move from easy to hard. You will add one exercise each day and accumulate exercises by learning a new one ever consecutive day.
IF you finish it, it will leave you with a thorough knowledge and foundation to start moving into other directions and hopefully a hunger to learn more about martial arts, specifically Tai Chi Chuan.
How to train?