heheheh meditation... Well, yes, Tai Chi *is* a form of meditation. It is also probably the most technically superior martial art out there. Designed as a counter to the offensive and flurry-of-blows kung-fu styles prevalent in China at the time, Tai Chi was designed to not only counter the Long Fist, but also be "unstealable" due to the extremely complex series of patterns which it uses. Keep in mind that the series itself is of secondary importance, and that the positioning of the Tan Tien and all the subsequent meridians is key. So, we have a martial art whose basis is such that there is no problem until the opponent enters into the space of the practioner, who, if trained properly, will use calm and confident diversionary techniques to ward off any strikes and crisp snapping motions of the limbs to simultaneously over-extend the opponent's striking hand to the point where it just may break, or at the very least, take the opponent off balance--and that lack of balance is the martial artist's playground. Tai Chi is based upon developing the "internal" or "soft" aspects of the martial artist, as opposed to Kung Fu, which focuses on developing the "external" or "hard" aspect of martial arts. But what is surprising is that Tai Chi becomes rather like water when confronted with an assault. Its softness becomes rather unyielding the more it is (com)pressed. /lecture Jon _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/bcomm&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca