T’ai Chi Ch’uan (also written “taiji” or “taijiquan”) means “supreme ultimate boxing or fist.” It is an ancient Chinese exercise that was developed more than 700 years ago by Chinese martial artists. 

Tai Chi can be practiced by people of all ages and most physical conditions. It strengthens the mind and body with minimal stress to the joints. It also improves body awareness, postural alignment, coordination, strength, and flexibility. Regular Tai Chi practice helps develop healthy breathing patterns and relaxation skills. It can also lower blood pressure and promotes emotional well-being.

Tai Chi originated in China around the 13th century AD. Its founder, Chang San Feng, inspired by a graceful crane and supple coiling snake in battle, devised a system of self-defense based not on brute force, but on the power of flow and returning energy. In the mid-1800s, Master Yang Luchan became the first outsider to learn Tai Chi and taught this advanced self-defense method to his men. Tai Chi soon became popular in martial arts circles and branched into 3 main styles, each named after its founder: Yang, Chen, and Wu.

 

Yang Chengfu was born into the famous Yang family of Tai Chi practitioners, Yang Jianhou's son and Yang Luchan's grandson. Yang Chengfu was one of the best-known teachers of Yang-style Tai Chi. He helped develop the art into its modern form. His students would go on to found successful martial arts schools of their own and helped spread Yang-style Tai Chi around the world.

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Choy Hok Pang, a disciple of Yang Chengfu, was the first known proponent of Tai Chi to openly teach in the United States, beginning in 1939. His son and student Choy Kam Man emigrated to San Francisco from Hong Kong in 1949 to teach Tai Chi in Chinatown. 

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Cheng Man Ch'ing, another student of Yang Cheng Fu, shortened and simplified the form to make it accessible as a health exercise. Around the late ‘60s, Grand Master Cheng Man Ch’ing moved to New York and was one of the first to teach Tai Chi openly to non-Chinese students. Since then, Masters Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo and William C. C. Chen and other students of Cheng Man Ch’ing have taught Tai Chi to thousands of people across the US and Europe.

 

Sophia Delza, a professional dancer and student of Ma Yueliang, performed the first known public Tai Chi demonstration in the United States at the New York City Museum of Modern Art in 1954. In 1961, she wrote the first English-language book on Tai Chi, T'ai-chi Ch'üan: Body and Mind in Harmony. She taught regular classes at Carnegie Hall, the Actors Studio, and the United Nations. Through her books, articles, lectures, and television appearances, Delza promoted the practice of Tai Chi for health and fitness and was one of the first popularizers of Chinese martial arts in the United States.​​