Originated in ancient China, Tai Chi, also known as Taiji Quan, is one of the most effective exercises for health of mind and body, and it is also regarded as an art embracing the mind, body and spirit. Although an art with great depth of knowledge and skill, Tai Chi can be easy to learn and soon delivers its health benefits. For many, it continues as a lifetime journey.

Tai Chi  bears a close relation to Chinese ancient Taoism, under the guidance of which a series of practice methods were formed for learning martial arts. It  is a perfect  combination of Chinese dialectic ideology, art and martial arts.

Tai Chi was influenced by and inherited aspects of the Taoist internal energy tradition which existed much earlier and no doubt also included aspects of body movement. Moreover, this Kung Fu style is a good regimen method to cultivate shape, breath, strength, quality and spirit of the human body. Due to these distinctions, it is considered the quintessential Chinese culture.

The basic elements are the thirteen movements (moving forward, moving backward, pressing, leaning and other basic moves). The different permutations and combinations of the thirteen movements form the various styles.

Practising Tai Chi should take two aspects into consideration: keeping the traditional elements of the thirteen movements in mind and paying attention to the physical characteristics to better guarantee fitness. Its attack styles emphasize opportunity when the weaknesses of the opponents are revealed and the strength and relative distance are appropriate. Thus it not only enhances the reaction ability as well as strength, speed and other physical qualities, but also is of great influence on the offence and defence styles.

Types of  Tai Chi ( Taiji Quan)
Tai Chi Chuan is one of the products of the Taoist Spiritual Tradition and Chinese Martial Art Culture with roots dating back far into the past. There are five main styles in existence today :

Chen Style Tai Chi
This style was created by Chen Wangting (1580 - 1660). He combined his knowledge of the Yinyang, Chinese traditional medicine Qi theory, 'Tuina' and Internal Qigong with the Chen family Kungfu to create a new martial art form -Chen Style Taiji Chuan. Generally, Chen Style is famous for the “self-twisted” of hands, feet, arms, legs and other body parts. It is considered good for body-building. Combining the breath, body and spirit, it plays well in defence by turning back, waist, even the body.

Yang Style Tai Chi 
Yang Style Tai Chi was originally created by Yang Luchan (1800 - 1873).  In his childhood, Yang Luchan loved learning martial arts. Traditionally Chen Tai Chi was only passed on to family members but Yang Luchan worked as a servant for Chen Chang Xing and eventually received teaching from him. Yang Luchan later had contact with other martial arts including Baguazhang and his own personal style evolved forming Yang Style Tai Chi. Yang Style Tai Chi is divided into Small Frame (Xiaojia) and Big Frame (Dajia) which are called “Soft Style” and “Melt Style”. These styles are characterized by “natural movements, continuity, and flexibility” as well as the distinctive and beautiful manner combining strength and softness. People of all ages, genders and physical conditions can choose it as a way to keep healthy and strengthen the body. Nowadays. Yang Style Tai Chi has been widely spread in the world.

Wu Yuxiang Style Tai Chi
Created in the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911), it belongs to the traditional Chinese Tai Chi. Different from the Chen and Yang styles, Wu Style stresses the spirit and energy. Its features are to change styles as the opponents change, to attack by the accumulated strength and to also achieve inner strength rather than the merely physical strength. It is suitable for the literates because it lays emphasis on the hands never lifting over the eyebrows, feet never reaching far out and each hand only control one half of the body. Additionally, the steps are overlapped and the feet move as if creating calligraphy.

Wu Jianquan Style Tai Chi
Wu Jianquan, the founder of this style, modified his ancestral Kung Fu to make it softer and more coherent. The style maintains the original skills and includes all kinds of corresponding weapons, such as Taiji Sword, Taiji Pair Swords, 13 Taiji Spears and others.

Sun Style Tai Chi,
Based on the Wu Style by Wu Yuxiang, the Sun Style absorbs the skills of Form/Intention Boxing (Xingyiquan) of moving forward and backward with the opponents.It attaches importance to the practice of head, eyes, hands, feet, breath and willpower and the harmony of the sword and the boxing skills. The swordplay integrates the skills of raising, stirring, hanging, sweeping and others.

High Level Tai Chi
Taiji Chuan is an Internal Martial Art system which places emphasis on the development and control of Qi within the body.This is achieved with the aid of the Tai Chi Forms, sequences of movement practised in a meditative state of mind. Practiced at the highest level, Qi enters the body through the feet and rises up to the 'dan tian' or abdominal area.

Wu Yuxiang Style, Wu Jianquan Style  & Sun Style Tai Chi were created by exceptionally high level practitioners whose personal styles evolved unique qualities which differentiated them from Yang Luchan's form. They are much less widespread than Yang Style but this in no way implies that they are not worth learning if you can find a good teacher. In fact the opposite may well be true, these styles were re-influenced by Chen Xiaojia, the small circle Chen form and may well be superior to most Yang style Tai Chi now available.

Ultimately the style of Tai Chi practised is not important, all good Tai Chi follows the internal energy movement and is the same. What is important is the quality of the Tai Chi.