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 him off balance, strategic placement of body parts, and softness to overcome hardness. Advanced Taijiquan experts also use Qigong to increase their striking power and increase their capacity to absorb strikes.
In this article we discuss several basic martial applications of Taijiquan. We take several forms from the “Simplified Yang Style 24 Form,” which is often the first Taiji form set that is taught in an introductory course to Taijiquan. Even though these are forms from an introductory course, they can already illustrate the martial power of Taijiquan. For each form, there are multiple martial applications. In this article, we show only one or two martial applications for each form.
On the Issue of Vaccination Choice
An extremely important issue that has been getting increasing discussion recently is the issue of the pros and cons of the government mandating a large number of required vaccinations in children, starting at birth (12 hours old).[1] The number of recommended vaccines by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is 48 before the age of 6. The number of government mandated vaccines may be larger or smaller than the above recommended number, and varies with the state, with NJ requiring the largest number at 60 (with four added just starting in September 2008).
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