The TSI Difference

Hunyuan Tai Chi (Taiji), as taught at the Taoist Studies Institute in Seattle, is a modern system of Tai Chi and Qi Gong with ancient roots. The benefits of Tai Chi and Qi Gong encompass health, spirituality, and martial arts. As human beings, our health and integrity are our greatest assets, and with this practice we seek to increase both. We cultivate stillness to find the root of movement, and employ movement to nurture the return to stillness.

Note: we prefer the pinyin spelling "taiji" but often use "tai chi" on the website as it is more familiar.

​Substance not Appearance

Success at Tai Chi and Qi Gong requires shifting your perspective, teaching your body to move in new ways, and unlearning bad habits. This can be challenging. While it is relatively easy to learn moves that look correct on the outside, it is only through incorporating the deeper, fundamental principles of tai chi that underly these movements that they become powerful for health, martial, and spiritual applications.

TSI’s curriculum is designed to lead students through the profound changes to posture and intent that result in true skill in tai chi. Our teachers have decades of experience explaining correct tai chi and qi gong techniques while making those techniques approachable - no matter a student’s level of ability.

Proven results from skilled instructors

Scientific evidence for the health benefits of Qi Gong and Tai Chi is continually growing, but the skill to teach tai chi is not easily developed. Master ZhiCheng has been practicing and teaching tai chi, qi gong, meditation, Taoist cultivation, and internal martial arts for more than 50 years, and in that time has changed the lives of many students. 

In 2022, Master ZhiCheng taught Qi Gong in a scientific study that demonstrated Qi Gong practice is as effective or better than the current best standards of medical care for fatigue in cancer survivors.  The lead researcher, Brown University professor Stephanie R. Jones said, “It would have been hard to predict that people who perform gentle, non-aerobic, intentional movements would show the same level of improvement as those who go through moderate strength training and aerobic exercise. It is exciting that our findings establish that this is indeed the case.” The participants in the qi gong group also reported significant improvements in mood, emotional regulation, and stress. 

A unified Tai Chi system designed to nourish body and mind

The Taoist Studies Institute in Seattle, Washington, USA teaches the Chen-style Xinyi Hunyuan Taijiquan system 陳式心意混元太極拳 (abbreviated as "Hunyuan Taiji" or "Tai Chi"), developed by grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang 馮志強, which integrates Taoist internal training, Qi Gong, Chen-style Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan), and Xinyi Quan (mind-intent boxing) into a comprehensive system. The Hunyuan Tai Chi system 混元太極 is set apart from other systems of Tai Chi by its emphasis on nourishing the body and the use of mind-intent as fundamental to successful practice. The tai chi system is both extremely practical and rooted in spiritual insight.

The hallmarks of Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan are variation in speed, alternating soft and explosive movements, and a kind of spiraling movement known as Chansi jin (silk reeling energy). Emphasizing lower stances and a more energetic performance, Chen-Style Tai Chi has forms suited for beginning through advanced practitioners.

A Tai Chi system where all classes support each other

Because Hunyuan Tai Chi is a unified system, material studied in all classes both in-person in Seattle and virtually online support each other, strengthening different aspects of practice, including,

• strength, balance, and poise

• stillness and mental clarity

• qi (life energy)

• martial skill and virtue

• compassion 

• physical health

• body integration