T'ai Chi Ch'uan or Taijiquan (from Chinese meaning literally "supreme ultimate fist"), commonly known as T'ai Chi, Tai Chi, or Taiji, is a nei chia ("internal") Chinese martial art. This art is often practiced for the purposes of health and longevity (some recent medical studies support its effectiveness here). T'ai Chi Ch'uan is considered a soft style martial art, an art applied with as complete a relaxation or "softness" in the musculature as possible, to distinguish its theory and application from that of the hard martial art styles which use a degree of tension in the muscles.
T'ai Chi Ch'uan is well known as one of the slow motion routines that groups of people practice every morning in hundreds of parks across China and, recently, other parts of the world. In T'ai Chi classes one is taught awareness of one's own balance and what affects it, awareness of the same in others, and appreciation of the practical value in one's ability to moderate extremes of behaviour and attitude at both mental and physical levels, and how this applies to effective self-defence principles.
