Taijiquan has always been a "kung fu", one of the many styles of the traditional Chinese martial arts. On the other side, yet from the beginning the practice of martial art has always been seen in China as a way to develop the personal character. During the 20th century we saw Taijiquan steering toward the cultivating, or "Wen" side of the practice. Many Taijiquan practitioners think that their cultivating practice will one day lead them toward martial skill, which is not true, while practitioner of the higher levels of the martial side of Taijiquan, or "Wu" side of the practice, think that they will in this way evolve on their cultivating path, and this is not true either.

The fall of the Qing dinasty in 1911 coincided with the end of the empire itself. Turmoils followed and the military importance of the traditional martial arts gave pace to the modern fire weapons. It is in this period of disorders that the modern Taijiquan arose, the Wen (cultivating side) acquiring predominance on the Wu (martial side).

With Yang Luchan, his version of the boxing art of the Chen village reached the imperial Manchu capital of Beijing. There he trained two of his sons, Yang Banhou and Yang Jianhou, as well as several imperial guards, including Quan You and his son, Wu Jianquan. For the imperial elites he had to develop a more soft version of the training, suited for people outside the martial circles. Here we see again the traditional divide between "Wen", the cultivation side, and "Wu", the martial side.

Taijiquan as a modern martial art and a way to cultivate the practitioner health and character, on the one hand has its roots in the ancient Chinese martial art and spiritual tradition, on the other is the result of modern development and is historically based on the experience of the Chen village (Chen style Taijiquan), the Wu brothers (Wu-Hao style Taijiquan) and Yang Luchan (Yang style Taijiquan). It developed in a period when military defending the village was a key necessity for the community.

While in the first phases of our Qigong development we find ourselves in a relaxing mood nurtured by our first years of dedicated practice, in the more advanced levels we feel pushed by our practice to make space for this new creature and modify our life style. Then, we go forward to act directly on the energy realm, the practice will be no more relaxing, but stressing instead, and the level of pressure that you will exercise on your system will be very high. This is not something that you can do aside with an already stressing and demanding routine. Advanced Qigong is sometime referred to as Nei Gong, ore internal work.

While fitness and modern yoga practices may help us enhance our mental and body health status to a certain degree, upholding our Yang energy drive, Qigong and Taichi can help us to stabilize our energetic structure, strengthening our Yin base energy. While the work on the more Yang driven aspects of our physical body encounter age related limits that actually present themselves very early in our lives, the Yin base practices open us development routes that never end.

With the term "Qi" we have bridged theory and practice, and with a quiete modern term we would refer to the action of the practitioner on his own Qi through the practice as "Qi Gong" (or "Qigong"). While in Western fitness we use to activate cardio and physical function, with Qigong we try to create a calmness that is even more still than when we usually sit in a lounge. We don't go up, if we haven't gone deep yet.

In the ancient energetic practices as well and in Chinese traditional medicine, we often see the term "Qi" used to describe the vital force to give birth to reality, life, and health. Even as the term is quiete ancient, it has been used on different circles during the centuries and it does have so different meanings in different contexts. It is something that cannot be seen, but can be perceived and operated upon in order to modify our own reality. We can operate on it with external practices like acupuncture, or with internal practices like Qigong or Taichi.

We perceive Asian philosophy as something very different from our own civilization. As this view may be right on one side, it is not so on the other. Greek philosophy and Christianity itself are of Asian origins, and both Western philosophy and science bring us to paradoxical truths that push us to open our mind to something unthinkable.

The experience of the Mind is at the basis of Taichi and Qigong practices and our own culture, if better understood, is not so different after all.

While the seminal period of the Chinese philosophy before Christ era gave birth to a basically two-folded system where Confucianism and Taoism were the two main pillars of the indigenous society, during the following centuries the foreign religion of Buddhism placed itself as a third pillar that would influence and in turn being influenced by the local spiritual tradition. Taoist and Buddhist practitioners in particular interacted each other, and the internal practices were often a blend of this two roots. A brief talk on how Buddhism and Taoism shaped during the centuries the Chinese energetic internal practices.