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Tai chi
entered David Chandler’s life in 1974 not because of an intense
spiritual experience, but because of the decidedly less than
transcendental game of football. “I was at the University of Utah on a football scholarship, when I ruptured two discs in my back,” Chandler said. “I had a stiff back and was in tremendous pain.” It was around that time that Chandler, who had already been exposed to other Eastern practices such as yoga, saw a tai chi demonstration. “I was in college and I had already read the ‘I Ching,’ he said. “I was looking to open my mind.” Chandler, 54, said those first few sessions with tai chi totally changed his life, and continues to more than 30 years later. Earlier this year, Chandler, an Idaho native who lives with his wife in Quaker Hill, was inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame and honored as Tai Chi Chuan Master of the Year in New York City. And after 35 years of study, Chandler also this year received his doctorate in martial arts from the University of Asian Martial Arts Study in Dayton, Oh. “Tai chi changes the way you think and increases awareness,” he said. Tai chi was invented by Chang San-feng, a Taoist monk who lived in 15th-century China. Chang developed the 13 postures that form the basis of tai chi. Chandler said tai chi, like yoga, is based on movement and postures, and incorporates the elemental theory of opposites, such as yin and yang. “Everything is in transfer and in motion,” he said. Chandler said it is likely tai chi first arrived in America in the mid-19th century via Chinese immigrants who labored to build the Western railways. Chandler founded and still heads the Eagle’s Quest Tai Chi Center, which offers classes at Connecticut College and at Backus Hospital in Norwich as well in Ansonia, Derby, Clinton, and Middletown.“We love living in Quaker Hill and really love this area,” he noted. Chandler said tai chi has a universal appeal and is not to just limited to those interested in Eastern philosophy. “Over the past few years, I’ve taught rabbis, nuns, wiccan priests, shamans,” he said. “All religions can use tai chi to enhance spirituality—you don’t have to become a Taoist.” Also, for those not all that interested in spirituality, tai chi can be great exercise and helps with the practical, more mundane aspects of modern life, such as multitasking. “It can calm you down and help you become more creative and helps your thinking become clearer,” Chandler said. “The Mayo Clinic uses it as a complementary therapy.” Chandler, who has been long affiliated with the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, has also used tai chi while choreographing martial arts fight scenes on stage and screen.“It’s a helpful tool,” he said. Chandler counted Jennifer Garner as one of his students while she was training for a role. Also, he credits television shows such as “Kung Fu,” with, in a roundabout way, introducing tai chi to a great many people. But Chandler feels that with the economy in flux and people more stressed than ever, tai chi can provide a respite for some.“With the increase in our materialistic approach to the world, all the running and jumping around can be limiting,” he said. “[Tai chi] is about an internal aspect.” |