How should Christians view Tai Chi (TaiChi)?

Tai Chi is taught as a meditative or health-enhancing form of martial art in which practitioners perform slow, deliberate martial arts movements. Because Tai Chi has its origins and beliefs in Eastern mysticism, the Christian view of Tai Chi is to avoid practicing it. Let us explain.

The full name of this martial art is Tai Chi Chuan, sometimes translated "supreme ultimate force." It is usually taught and practiced as a form of meditation, mixing thought and breath patterns with physical movement. One cornerstone of Tai Chi is the Taoist chi, qi, or ki—names for the universal energy that adherents say is the binding life force in all the universe. This force is said to move externally and internally through invisible channels in everyone's body they term meridians.

Tai Chi is thought to strengthen the inner chi, therefore producing good health physically and spiritually. Tao teaches there is no personal God, only a source or principle of creation. It teaches about yin and yang forces that work together to balance the chi. People are told they can advance this balance through diet, herbs, exercises including Tai Chi, breathing techniques, and specific movement.

It is clear to see that Tai Chi and its spiritual underpinnings are not Christian. The Bible teaches us that we are made by God in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and that Jesus Christ is the one who holds the universe together: "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16–17).

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