which martial art?

[hazza]

hi!

im new to martial arts entirely. its something ive always wanted to do, but have never got round to.

anyway, i started a new job last week. and on the friday i discovered that a tai chi teacher comes in and does a half hour session with those who want to join in, which is awesome. so i went along to see what it was all about.

i used to be really scepticle about the flow of the body's energy and yin and yang etc. but a while back i went to see a kinesiologist (hope i have the spelling right ) and really felt a benefit from it! the use of such different methods to find out what the body needs nutricionaly, structuraly etc. it was here i was taught about the energy, yin, yang ect ect. i found it fascinating!!

so when i turned up to the class it seemed really cool.

the thing is, i dont know what style of tai chi he teaches. before a few hours ago, i didnt even know that there were different styles...

basically, what i was hoping you all might be able to help me with was what tai chi is all about?? what the different styles are and where do the come from? what are there purposes etc?

to be honest im not sure if tai chi is the art i should go for, perhaps kung fu or something might suit me better.

i guess what im really after is a lowdown of the different martial arts and mabe some advice on what the options are and the benefits for each.... any help/thoughts would really be appreciated!!

i might add that i am EXTREMELY unfit and... well... rather weak
but that's what im looking to improve

cheers,
-harry

sorry, this has turned out to be a bit of an essay so thanks if youve read this far!!

[HtTKar]

Congratulations on starting your journey. It is good that this class is convenient for you. For that reason, I would stick with it for a while. It will teach you balance, coordination, etc. and make you want to improve physically.
Below illustrates the evolution of Tai Chi

I cant upload images Heres the link to the picture.

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Taichi/Images/origins.gif

More history

http://web.singnet.com.sg/~limttk/historg1.htm

Since you are most likely Yang school of Tai Chi here is history for that

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Taichi/yang.html

4 basics of Yang style
- use calm against action
- soft against hard
- slow against fast
- and single against a group

[bbbb]

Chen?

If you do a stomping action whilst the right fist settles into the open left hand then I would say it is Chen style. But I have never tried anything else. I just know it's cool fun. It is Kung Fu in itself, though.
PM me when you learn something!!(So I can learn something about it aswell haha).

[Dragonfire671]

Which type of Tai Chi???

Soft Hand? Crane? Bear?

[Marius666]

The four major Tai Chi Styles are:

Chen
Yang
Wu
Sun.

Although there is much argument about tai chi history, it goes a little something like this:

Chen was the original Tai Chi style, based on a Shaolin "form" or "drill".

From Chen, Yang Style Tai Chi evolved. Yang Style is the most vigourous, violent style of Tai Chi.

From Yang style Tai Chi came Wu style Tai Chi. Wu Style is said to be the most graceful Tai Chi style.

Sun style Tai Chi finds its influences in all of the previous styles, but combines traditional Tai Chi movements with techniques from Ba Gua and Hsing Yi Kung Fu.

Hope that helps somewhat...