Because You Asked Thai Chi

   Hi Everyone, I have had a couple of questions in regards to Thai Chi lately so I thought I would start by telling you first of all how I became interested in it. I was about 22 and I was in a park on a bright sunny morning in Saskatoon.  I saw a group of elderly  Asians. They moved through their steps and I was mezmorized  at the beauty, the slowness, the peaceful feeling from watching them. They were amazing, so centered, so in touch with nature. It was one of those moments, like the first time you see a ballerina dance,
or you watch syncronized swimming, or you watch two beautiful butterflies fluttering before you. 22 years later I remembered the flexibility of these individuals. I  had been ill for five years, my muscles were deteriorating because until they got the medications right, well I  was pretty much sleeping most of the day. Thai
Chi got me going again. I am not graceful, but I do the best I can, within no time at all my flexibility came back, I was centered in  my mind, started to realize I could only control so much. I was grounded. Also I was very surprised at how sore my muscles were at the beginning. Also every morning and evening, living in a different city I see a group of Asians that go by walking morning and night. They will live long lives and I am sure Thai Chi is one of the many reasons.....Below I have a video, you will see that every motion and movement is beautiful. I would recommend it to anyone....I hope you find it interesting.  Enjoy.
Here is some information that I have taken from Wikipedia, finding info about Thai Chi, I do the am and pm Thai Chi for beginners....the one I do has the focus on the 13 steps of Brokay(not sure of the spelling)

Tai Chi, as it is practiced in the west today, can perhaps best be thought of as a moving form of yoga and meditation combined. There are a number of so- called forms (sometimes also called 'sets') which consist of a sequence of movements. Many of these movements are originally derived from the martial arts (and perhaps even more ancestrally than that, from the natural movements of animals and birds) although the way they are performed in Tai Chi is slowly, softly and gracefully with smooth and even transitions between them.

 In Chinese philosophy and medicine there exists the concept of 'chi', a vital force that animates the body. One of the avowed aims of Tai Chi is to foster the circulation of this 'chi' within the body, the belief being that by doing so the health and vitality of the person are enhanced. This 'chi' circulates in patterns that are close related to the nervous and vascular system and thus the notion is closely connected with that of the practice of acupuncture and other oriental healing arts.

Another aim of Tai Chi is to foster a calm and tranquil mind, focused on the precise execution of these exercises. Learning to do them correctly provides a practical avenue for learning about such things as balance, alignment, fine-scale motor control, rhythm of movement, the genesis of movement from the body's vital center, and so on. Thus the practice of Tai Chi can in some measure contribute to being able to better stand, walk, move, run, etc. in other spheres of life as well. Many practitioners notice benefits in terms of correcting poor postural, alignment or movement patterns which can contribute to tension or injury. Furthermore the meditative nature of the exercises is calming and relaxing in and of itself.Thai Chi also has, particularly amongst eastern practitioners, a long connection with the I Ching a Chinese system of divination. There are associations between the 8 basic I Ching trigrams plus the five elements of Chinese alchemy (metal, wood, fire, water and earth) with the thirteen basic postures of Tai Chi created by Chang San-feng.