They also had to develop their own fighting techniques. Tai Chi descends from this. It hasn't been in the United States long. Richard Nixon was one of the first Americans to see Tai Chi during his trip to China.

The discipline

Qi Gong roughly translates as "life discipline." It's an ancient healing art developed thousands of years ago in China.

Tai Chi is a kind of Qi Gong.

OK, so what does Tai Chi mean? It's hard to nail down a specific definition because in Chinese one word often has several meanings.

Tai Chi roughly translates into "balance" or "harmony." Imagine the symbol for yin and yang. That's what Tai Chi means.

About Tai Chi

"It's moving meditation," says Aimon Kopera.

Because your mind isn't being used to think about everything you've got to do, it's thinking about moving and breathing.

"The mind is inside," she says.

The three basic principles of Tai Chi and Qi Gong are gentle movement, mental concentration and breathing.

Rankings

There isn't a belt-ranking system like in many other martial arts.

Students work toward perfection of the movements.

The teacher can sense when a student is progressing in Tai Chi, Kopera says, by looking at the energy they are using in their movements.

Movements

In general, Qi Gong is a set of movements. Put them together so the practitioner flows from one movement to the next without stopping, and that's Tai Chi.

Although Tai Chi is characterized by slow movements, don't think there aren't any cardiovascular benefits.

The movements require certain postures that strengthen the legs and get the heart beating. Just because the students move slow doesn't mean they won't leave class sweating.

Self-defense

All Tai Chi moves have a self-defense purpose, Kopera says, although in this day and age, they aren't used for that.

For example, some movements are pushing movements, others are punches and others are kicks.

Children

While there aren't classes specifically for children at Qi Mountain, children do learn Tai Chi.

The youngest student is 4 years old and another student is 9.

They started to learn yoga first, but were fascinated by Tai Chi. There are a lot of distractions in the world with video games, TV and homework.

"They are able to empty their mind," Kopera said. "4 years old? That is amazing!"