Taoism

As the indigenous belief system of China, Taoism must be recognized as highly influential in the development of Tai Chi.

Taoism does not seek recognition as a Religion because there is no single omnipotent 'god'. It does however have much in common with other 'naturalistic' beliefs of earlier civilizations such as Pagan European, Australian Aborigine or Native North American Indian. Most if not all of these peoples venerated the simplicity, power and 'spirit' of nature and they lived close to and in harmony with nature on nature's terms.

In comparison, today's 'developed' civilizations continue to assume a position of mastery and control of all nature, and despite serious and repeated warnings of global catastrophe, our technology based cultures continue to rely upon this same technology as the solution to all of our woes. Likewise, western medicine becomes more and more reliant on these same 'advanced' technologies as it continues to treat only the symptoms, giving scant regard to the cause.

Tai Chi is rooted in the mysterious, and whilst the exercises are designed to improve (or maintain into old age) the physical well being of the practitioner, it would be incorrect to assume that Tai Chi, especially Form practice, is a purely physical thing. Like all other Chinese medicine, Tai Chi was formulated as an approach designed to treat mind, body and spirit. This approach is what these days we call "holistic".