What Does the Yin-Yang Symbol Mean in Tai Chi?
What does the yin-yang symbol mean in Tai Chi? Discover the meaning behind the Tai Chi symbol, balance, harmony, and how it shows up in every movement you practice.
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What Is the Dan Tian and Why Does It Matter?
What is the Dan Tian? Discover the body's energy center below the navel, where it is, why it's central to Tai Chi, and how moving from it transforms your practice.
What Is Qi (Chi) and How Do You Cultivate It in Tai Chi?
What is Qi (Chi)? A clear guide to this central concept in Tai Chi, what “life energy” really means, and the simple ways Tai Chi cultivates and circulates it.
How to Practice Dan Tian Breathing in Tai Chi
Learn how to practice Dan Tian breathing in Tai Chi, a simple, step-by-step guide to deep abdominal breathing that calms the mind and powers your practice.
What Are the Different Styles of Tai Chi? Yang, Chen, Wu, and Sun
What are the different styles of Tai Chi? A beginner's guide to the five major families, Chen, Yang, Wu, Sun, and Hao, and how to choose the right one for you.
What Is Tai Chi Sword? An Introduction to Weapons Forms
What is Tai Chi sword? An introduction to Tai Chi weapons forms, what they are, what they develop, and when practitioners are ready to pick one up.
5 Reasons to Add Qi Gong to Your Tai Chi Warm-Up
Should you warm up with Qi Gong before Tai Chi? Here are 5 reasons gentle Qi Gong is the perfect warm-up, for looser joints, calmer breath, and better practice.
What Is Ba Duan Jin (the 8 Brocades)? A Complete Guide
What is Ba Duan Jin? A complete guide to the Eight Brocades, the world's most popular Qi Gong set, including its history, its 8 movements, and its health benefits.
What Is Qi Gong? A Beginner's Guide to Energy Cultivation
What is Qi Gong? A clear beginner's guide to this ancient Chinese practice of gentle movement, breath, and energy, its history, benefits, and how it relates to Tai Chi.
How to Learn the Tai Chi 24 Form Step by Step
Want to learn the Tai Chi 24 form step by step? Here's a clear, beginner-friendly roadmap, how to break it into sections, practice smart, and master it faster.
What Is the Yang Style 24 Form and Why Is It So Popular?
What is the Yang style 24 form? Discover why this simplified Tai Chi sequence is the most popular in the world, its history, benefits, and why beginners love it.
5 Basic Tai Chi Movements Every Beginner Should Learn
Learn 5 basic Tai Chi movements perfect for beginners, with simple step-by-step instructions you can practice at home today to build a strong, relaxed foundation.
Can You Learn Tai Chi at Home Without a Teacher?
It’s a common and completely reasonable question: Can I actually learn Tai Chi on my own, at home, without joining a class? The short answer is yes, plenty of…
How Long Does It Take to Learn Tai Chi?
It’s one of the first questions nearly every beginner asks: How long until I actually know Tai Chi? It’s a fair question, and the honest answer is delightfully…
5 Common Mistakes Beginners Make in Tai Chi (and How to Fix Them)
Tai Chi is famously forgiving, which is part of what makes it so wonderful to start. But like any skill worth learning, it comes with a handful of predictable…
What to Wear for Tai Chi: A Clothing and Shoe Guide
One of the quiet joys of Tai Chi is how little it asks of you to begin, and that includes your wardrobe. You almost certainly already own everything you need…
What to Expect at Your First Tai Chi Class
Walking into any new class for the first time can stir up a little nervousness. Will I be able to keep up? Will I look silly? Is everyone else already an…
How to Start Tai Chi at Home: A Step-by-Step Beginner’s Guide
If you’ve ever watched someone move slowly and gracefully through a flowing sequence in a park and thought, “I’d love to be able to do that,” here’s the good…
The Best Tai Chi Skills for Men Looking to Improve Strength and Stability
Many men approach fitness with a focus on intensity, output, and measurable gains. While these methods can build muscle and endurance, they often come at the…
Tai Chi vs. Yoga for Stress Reduction: Key Differences Explained
Tai Chi and Yoga are two of the most widely practiced mind body disciplines for stress reduction. Both offer profound benefits for both physical and mental…
Tai Chi for Health, Stress, and Weight Management: A Nervous-System-Centered Approach to Well-Being
Modern health challenges rarely exist in isolation. For example, stress affects sleep, poor sleep affects weight, meanwhile anxiety affects eating habits,…
Tai Chi for Men and Women: Strength, Resilience, and Lifelong Movement at Every Stage of Life
Tai Chi is often described as a universal practice, and for good reason. Tai Chi adapts to different bodies, during different life stages, and different goals…
Tai Chi as a Lifelong Path
How the Art Evolves With You, From Movement to Skill, From Effort to Awareness Most physical practices are designed around a peak. They reward youth, strength,…
How Tai Chi Helps Both Men and Women Age Powerfully
Aging powerfully is not about resisting time or pushing the body beyond its limits. It is about maintaining strength, clarity, mobility, and emotional balance…
Internal Power, Martial Roots, and Advanced Concepts in Tai Chi
Tai Chi is often misunderstood as a slow, gentle exercise disconnected from martial skill. In reality, Tai Chi is a sophisticated internal martial art built on…
How Tai Chi Trains Awareness Better Than Most Movement Practices
Awareness is often described as a byproduct of Tai Chi, something that happens naturally if you move slowly enough. In reality, awareness is not incidental in…
How Tai Chi Teachers Create Transformational Student Experiences
Great Tai Chi teachers do more than teach movement. They shape how students relate to their bodies, their nervous systems, and their capacity for long-term…
How Tai Chi Supports Women Through Midlife Transitions
Midlife is a period of profound transition for many women. Physical changes, shifting energy levels, evolving roles, and emotional complexity often converge at…
How Tai Chi Reduces Stress at a Nervous System Level
Stress is not just a mental experience, it is a physiological state driven by your nervous system. Tai Chi’s greatest strength lies in how directly it trains…
How Tai Chi Improves Sleep Quality Naturally
Quality sleep is essential for physical health, emotional balance, and cognitive performance. Yet for many people, modern stress, overstimulation, and…
The Role of Rest and Recovery in Tai Chi Skill Development
Tai Chi is often perceived as gentle, slow, and non-strenuous, leading some practitioners to believe that rest and recovery are less important than in more…
Why Consistency Matters More Than Talent in Tai Chi
In Tai Chi, progress is often misunderstood. Beginners may assume that flexibility, coordination, or a natural athletic background will determine how far…
How Long Should You Practice Tai Chi Each Day to See Real Progress?
One of the most common, and most misunderstood, questions in Tai Chi training is how long daily practice should be in order to see meaningful results. Many…
The Most Overlooked Tai Chi Skill That Separates Beginners from Advanced Practitioners
Ask most people what separates a beginner from an advanced Tai Chi practitioner and you’ll get answers like cleaner forms, deeper stances, better balance.…
Why Slowing Down Is the Fastest Way to Improve Tai Chi
It sounds like a contradiction: slow down to get better faster. But anyone who has spent serious time with Tai Chi eventually discovers this is true. Moving…
The Role of Intent (Yi) in Advanced Tai Chi Practice
If you’ve spent enough time with Tai Chi, you’ve probably heard the term Yi, intent. It shows up constantly in classical Tai Chi writings, and it’s one of…
How Internal Alignment Transforms Your Tai Chi Practice
Most beginners focus on what their Tai Chi looks like, where the hands go, what the stance is supposed to be, whether the sequence is right. That’s totally…
Why Most Tai Chi Practitioners Plateau, and How to Break Through
If you’ve been practicing Tai Chi for a while and started wondering why it doesn’t feel like you’re improving anymore, you’re not alone. Plateaus are probably…
The Top 7 Ways to Take Your Tai Chi Practice to the Next Level
A lot of people practice Tai Chi for years and still feel like something’s missing. The movements are familiar, the routines are comfortable, and somehow, it…
Why Most Tai Chi Training Fails to Transfer Into Real Life, and How to Fix That
Tai Chi is known as meditation in motion, a gentle, mind-body Chinese martial art that combines slow flowing movement, deep breathing and focused attention.…
Traditional vs. Modern Tai Chi Certification: What You Need to Know
As Tai Chi continues to grow globally, the path to becoming a certified instructor has evolved. Today, practitioners are often faced with a choice between…
The Difference Between Practicing Tai Chi and Teaching Tai Chi
Many Tai Chi practitioners assume that becoming skilled in the art naturally qualifies them to teach it. While strong personal practice is essential, teaching…
How Long Does It Really Take to Become a Tai Chi Instructor?
One of the most common questions among serious Tai Chi practitioners is how long it truly takes to become an instructor. The honest answer is not a simple…
How to Become a Certified Tai Chi Instructor: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide
Becoming a certified Tai Chi instructor is not simply about memorizing forms or logging years of practice. It is a developmental process that integrates…
How To Become a Tai Chi Instructor
If you have seen a group of people slowly moving in unison at your local park, they are likely practicing Tai Chi. Tai Chi has become one of the most popular…
Benefits of Practicing Tai Chi Regularly
Tai Chi has been practiced for thousands of years and originated in ancient China. Every year, more and more people join classes or practice this martial art…
Who Benefits from Practicing Tai Chi?
Tai Chi is an ancient Asian martial art practiced by thousands of people daily. Often called meditation in motion, Tai Chi isn’t practiced with the same…
Where can Tai Chi be Practiced?
Tai Chi is an ancient martial art practiced for thousands of years to help improve inner peace and physical balance. Tai Chi is often called “meditation in…
How To Choose A Tai Chi Class Near You
Tai Chi has been practiced for thousands of years due to having many benefits. Often called meditation in motion due to the nature of calmness when practicing…
5 Benefits Tai Chi has on your Heart’s Health
Though often called “mediation in motion”, Tai Chi has shown to be beneficial to our hearts health. We only get one heart and it’s our job to keep it healthy…
What are the Disadvantages of Tai Chi?
Interested in the Tai Chi Instructor Certification Course? Tai Chi, a gentle form of martial art, often described as “meditation in motion” is one of the best…
Top 5 Questions You Should Ask Before Starting Tai Chi
Interested in the Tai Chi Instructor Certification Course? Many people’s first experience with Tai Chi is seeing others practicing it outdoors in a park. Tai…
Tai Chi for Senior Citizens
As you get older many activities that would normally be simple and easy become difficult and sometimes even dangerous. There isn’t much that we can do to stop…
5 Health Benefits of Tai Chi
Tai Chi has been known to be a helpful activity for people of all ages. But why is that? Some say that it’s because the combination of meditation and low…
Tai Chi for Muscle Flexibility, Balance & Agility
Interested in the Tai Chi Instructor Certification Course? As we age, we tend to lose a bit of our bodies to time. Whether it is due to compound injuries,…
How to Use Tai Chi for Mood Improvement
Did you know that there exists a martial art that can help with improving your mood? Yes, you heard that right, a martial art that can improve your mood. The…
Reduce the Stress In Your Life Through the Traditional Martial Art of Tai Chi
Practicing Tai Chi for Less than 1 Hour Weekly Can Lead to Stress Reduction You may have seen it at your local park or gyms, a slow moving martial art…
5 Benefits of Tai Chi
Tai Chi. Many have seen it and may not even realize it. You may have noticed individuals in the park or even groups of people making very deliberate movements.…
Tai Chi for Beginners Series Now Available on DVD!
We’re very excited to announce that our Tai Chi for Beginners series is now available on DVD! To purchase your copy, click below:Tai Chi Chuan is a slow moving…
Dr. Hoover Teaches Tai Chi Class in Nepal
Check out these photos from our International Tai Chi Class in Nepal! Dr. Hoover taught travelers from all over the globe at what is known as the Crown Chakra…
SOHMA Celebrates World Tai Chi Day
Thank you to all who attended our World Tai Chi Day.
SOHMA Shirts Available for a Limited Time
SOHMA Tai Chi is happy to announce that we’re bringing back our limited edition shirts which sold out at our Anniversary Celebration last…
Tai Chi Retreat for Trauma
On August 20th 2015, we had the privilege of facilitating a self-care session for the Los Angeles County Dept of Mental Health Wraparound Coordinators.…
Free Weekly Tai Chi Class at Signal Hilltop Park
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