Tai Chi is known mostly for its health benefits. For this reason the combat side of Tai Chi is almost forgotton. What many martial arts students today don't realize is just how important it is to cultivate your internal skill. This is what is meant by "Bridging The Cap Between Knowing And Not Knowing."

Often you will hear Tai Chi sayings that almost sound mystical I believe this is because it is very hard to put into words what it feels like to really experience Chi flow through your body.

As you study Tai Chi longer you begin to realize just how meaningless "style" is. After all we were all giving the same tools to work with at birth. The only thing that seperates skilled martial artist from non-skilled martial artist is the ability to control pressure.

Generally the person who has better pressure control is usually the better martial artist. In the media Mixed Martial Arts is the big "thing" younger people and some older people believe that somehow this is a new concept. The reality is martial arts have been practiced for centuries.

What many mixed martial art advocates have done is critized internal martial arts as not being able to stand up to a real fighting situation. The truth is Tai Chi helps you realize that yang energy can never defeat yin energy. Tai Chi will help connect your entire body so you move more effiently. It doesn't matter if you study muy tai, karate, jujitsu etc... Tai Chi will still improve your skills.

If you are looking to just learn how to defend yourself in a short amount of time you are better off learning other fighting styles, the reason is because you will learn fighting skills faster. It takes a lot of dedicated practice to excel in Tai Chi. Its actually much easier to learn how to punch and kick... This most times is enough for self defense purposes. But if you are really looking to become a expert martial artist, Tai Chi in the long run will benefit you more than any of the other martial art styles you could study.

Personally I started out learning Wing Chun, its a very effective self defense system. The problem was my skill started to bottom out after 8 years. I pretty much stopped making improvements in my abilities, though I practiced regularly. It wasn't until i disaplined myself to really learning The art of Tai Chi that I realized what I had been missing.

By practicing the forms and playing push hands (tai chi's way of sparring) Did I see all that I did not know. Actually I should say I felt what I didn't know. Wing Chun uses sensitivity training to hone your skills, Tai Chi takes chi sao training 1 step further.

By training in Tai Chi I finally liberated myself from my own ignorance. Understanding that style doesn't matter, all that matters is your ability to stay calm and feel out the situation and maintain pressure control. Like Wing Chun, Tai Chi focus's on sensitivity.