Tai Chi Chuan, which translates as "Supreme Absolute Fist," originated in China over 1000 years ago. Based on the Taoist and Chinese philosophies of Yin and Yang, taught in the Book of Changes or I Ching, Tai Chi is a powerful blend of self-discipline, self-defense and healing. It is an art which has grown over the millennia to include hundreds of forms and variations, and can easily take a lifetime to master. But the basis of Tai Chi is incredibly simple. Many of you may have seen people doing Tai Chi in the park, in the movies, or even taken a class. But the forms themselves are not Tai Chi. Tai Chi, as it was originally taught, had no form. Instead, what was taught were the principles. Based on the movements of animals, birds and other elements in nature, the forms of Tai Chi follow the principles of Yin and Yang (expansion and contraction, compression and extension, sinking and rising) through a simple series of exercises. These principles, illustrated through the Tai Chi Yin/Yang symbol, represent the synthesis of opposites which each of us carries within. Light follows dark, and dark follows light. Movement leads to stillness and stillness leads us into flowing movements.