Taiji

Taiji can be a subtle and powerful awareness discipline; a tool to become much more in touch with yourself. Constant practice will allow you to function naturally and smoothly, uncluttered with expectations, hopes, fears and other fantasies that interfere with our natural flow.

Taijiquan (t’ai chi ch’uan) is the mother of the internal martial arts from China. Its practice gives the student timing, balance and coordination which are the prerequisites of any great martial art. The mind and body are made strong and coordinated. Taiji or as it was originally called, Dim mak (death point striking) was originally put together by an acupuncturist. Each of the moves in the Taiji forms are actually strikes to acupuncture points.

Qi (ch’i, or internal energy) cultivation is a most important aspect of one's training. Taijiquan is the greatest moving Qi Gong (ch’i kung) ever put together by the genius of past masters. We learn to develop, cultivate, store and become aware of the subtle energy flows in our bodies. With much practice, one can learn to direct the flow of Qi in one's own body, and eventually be able to help other people to get well also.

	The practice of Taiji and Qi Gong are prerequisites for the practice of acupuncture at the higher and more subtle levels. Without this practice, practitioners will never gain a subjective experience of Qi, its cultivation and direction, and will only ever have an objective, textbook knowledge of Qi.
Stephen McDermott practices the Yang Cheng Fu form of taiji on the Great Wall of China during his visit in 2000

Bayside Acupuncture's practitioner, Stephen McDermott, is a Senior Instructor with the World Taiji Boxing Association.

The World Taiji Boxing Association was founded and is headed by Master Erle Montaigue, the first and only Westerner to be awarded the title of Master from the Chinese in 1986. Master Montaigue has distilled the very best taiji and bagwazhang forms, Qi Gongs, training methods and exercises into his unparallelled system of learning the internal martial and healing arts. Many of these forms and training methods are very rare and hard to find today, even in China.

The World Taiji Boxing Association has many fine instructors locally, nationally in Australia and in over 40 countries around the world. Please check Master Montaigue's web site www.taichiworld.com for more information on instructional videos, cds, dvds, books and free downloads.

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