Its amazing the number of people who visit the Tai Chi Studio asking if Tai Chi is some sort of religion or cult and I believe this is largely due to the Yin Yang symbol that most Tai Chi clubs (including myself) use in their advertising or uniform. The movements of Tai Chi are meant to be continuous and smooth representing the Tao or 'way' and this is what the Yin Yang symbol represents; it makes no difference to age, creed, gender or religion - Tai Chi is there for everyone to enjoy. Taking the dark part of the circle (Yin) as night and the White section (Yang) as day you will see how each flow effortlessly into each other. However the Yin section contains a small Yang circle and vice versa showing that one is never completely on its own. Remember even though it may be night the sun has not disappeared - it is just somewhere else! Within this context, women are yin and men are yang. Soft is Yin and hard is Yang - backwards is Yin, forwards Yang. There are many other examples, see if you can think of others. Good and bad are not examples of Yin Yang - however, you can have good or bad Yin and vice versa. For instance good Yang would manifest itself in the form of champion athletes who are capable of channelling their energy into their chosen field, whereas bad Yang energy would show itself through violence and general anti-social behaviour. Someone who is a good listener would display good yin, but someone who is very easily led or under-confident would be a victim of bad Yin.
Dave Allen |
