Although Taijiquan is better known in the West as an excellent exercise that is very beneficial for health, especially for adults and senior citizens, Taijiquan was invented several hundred years ago as a martial art. It is still an excellent martial art. It emphasizes deflection, redirection of opponent’s force, utilization of opponent’s motion to get […]
Archive for the ‘Taiji’ Category
Brief Comparison of External and Internal Martial Arts
October 2008
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How are external and internal martial arts defined? What are their basic differences? Chinese martial arts are generally classified into external martial arts and internal martial arts. The most well-known Chinese external martial art is Shaolinquan, and the most well-known Chinese internal martial art is Taijiquan. There are more external martial arts than internal martial […]
Underlying Foundations of Taiji Movements: Perspective from Martial Applications
August 2008
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In performing Taiji, the instructor usually requires fairly precise forms and movements. Although different instructors may teach the same form set slightly differently, the differences usually reflect only differences in emphasis, and not differences in the underlying foundations of Taiji. The precisions required in Taiji have their underlying foundations based on the martial arts applications […]
The Physics of Martial Arts: Breaking Boards
June 2008
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This is the first of a series of articles on the physics of martial arts. This first article is on the physics of breaking boards (or bricks or ice blocks). On and off in future releases of this website there will be articles on the physics of other aspects of martial arts. In the movie […]
