T'ai Chi is many things to many people. It's important to have a sense for why you come to T'ai Chi so that you can focus your efforts and get what you need. You'll get out of T'ai Chi what you put into it.

I teach the Yang Style Short Form as adapted and taught by Professor Cheng Man-Ch'ing. Professor Cheng brought this form to the United States in the 1960s. He condensed this form from the Yang Style Long Form by eliminating some repetition and a few postures in order to make it more accessible to the lifestyle of the Western world. As anyone knows who has studied this form, it is challenging enough in its length and complexity.

T'ai Chi Ch'uan is an "internal" art which seeks to develop and harmonize the human energy system in the context of a martial arts form. In my teaching, I emphasize the energetic or health and self-development aspects of T'ai Chi.

As a beginning, T'ai Chi enables us to recognize and actively release tension. This opens the way for us to develop balanced, free-flowing energy which creates the conditions for optimum health and well-being. T'ai Chi has been called moving meditation since its practice quiets the mind by centering us into body awareness (and, later, energetic awareness). The deepening of awareness integrates body, emotions, mind, and spirit.

Ultimately, T'ai Chi can be practiced as a comprehensive system of self-development. When you are proficient at T