Tai Chi Walking

... she leaves, he goes on walking. He sees this city is... closer. Thanks to his particular tai chi shoes, the footsteps are impossible... of Titan City, seeing her walking toward them, bow and leave...

... she leaves, he goes on walking. He sees this city is... closer. Thanks to his particular tai chi shoes, the footsteps are impossible... of Titan City, seeing her walking toward them, bow and leave...

... exercises for healthy aging?   A) Walking B) Sitting C) Sleeping D) ... good for improving balance?   A) Tai Chi B) Weightlifting C) Sprinting D) ...

... the time. They go swimming, walking, to the gym etc. Instead... a little, like stretches, basic tai chi etc. After the muscles have... called hypertrophy(muscle growth). Just walking is amazing, cardiovascular (transporting oxygen... you are physically active). Just walking will get her heart pumping..., but sadly, most walking she does is in between...

No difference from Tai Chi Walking

... que se reunían para hacer tai chi. Fue inspirador ver cómo mantenían.../05/2026 5276 Daily Activity,Walking Height 170cm Weight 65 kg...

... your body? Or even walking slightly quicker? A large new.... That means things like: Walking. Yoga. Tai Chi. Light cycling. Casual sports... exercises like yoga and Tai Chi appeared particularly helpful for memory...​ 20-30 minutes of brisk walking is one of the simplest...a mind-body activity​ Yoga or Tai Chi combine movement with focus and...in the kitchen. Yes, even walking slightly faster than usual! These...

... un grupo de personas practicando tai chi. Me llamó la atención la... me contó que lleva practicando tai chi durante más de diez años.../05/2026 6874 Daily Activity,Walking Height 170cm Weight 65 kg...

... me and I enjoy my walking with the dogs, I have... on zoom with them and Tai Chi once a week too. My ...

... me and I enjoy my walking with the dogs, I have... on zoom with them and Tai Chi once a week too. My ...

.... I am usually very active- walking, tai chi etc, my lower back is...

... and physical activity, such as walking or tai chi, are essential for stimulating...

... just plain walking You could also look at YT Videos for Tai Chi &...

... comentarme sobre una clase de tai chi que se ofrece allí los.../04/2026 7267 Daily Activity,Walking Height 170cm Weight 65 kg...

... grupo de adultos mayores haciendo tai chi; había algo muy inspirador en.../04/2026 9286 Daily Activity,Walking Height 170cm Weight 65 kg...

... un grupo de personas practicando tai chi. Era un espectáculo hermoso, lleno.../04/2026 6066 Daily Activity,Walking Height 170cm Weight 80 kg...

... grupo de personas mayores practicando tai chi. Era inspirador ver cómo se.../04/2026 9609 Daily Activity,Walking Height 172 cm Weight 70...

... daily movement. So this means walking as much as possible to... exercise e.g. yoga, running, tai chi or other hobbies e.g...

... session of some type of Tai Chi would be fun. Seems like... bendy. I see advt. for Tai Chi walking plans. Have never tried that ...

... you deal with seeing things walking through the middle of town... very well. It's like the Tai Chi of magic." "It works but...

... you deal with seeing things walking through the middle of town... very well. It's like the Tai Chi of magic." "It works but...

... - Monthly Vitality Competition," introduced Tai Chi experience classes, and regularly held... organized activities such as brisk walking and seaside strolls and chats...

... un grupo de personas practicando tai chi. Me llamó la atención una... me contó que lleva practicando tai chi durante más de 20 años.../04/2026 6972 Daily Activity,Walking Height 175 cm Weight 72...

I don't need the chair Tai Chi, but I understand most of them will give you options for both. You don't need a lot of space. Movements are doable in your own living room and though there are free apps, I am willing to buy into one of the programs if results are guaranteed. Since I live in Florida and the hot summer months are coming, I need cool options. What has anyone heard about it? Any ...

I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/Vast_Result_8543 Originally posted to r/Waiting_To_Wed Waiting to Wed: 9 Years Trigger Warnings: mental health struggles, emotional neglect ---- Original Post: April 16, 2026 OG: I’d (29f) been with my partner (30m) for 9 years, and from jump I said I wanted to get married and have kids. He told me he did too. To say I love this man is an understatement. I put him on such a high pedestal, which was probably always a part of the problem in our relationship. We moved multiple times for my career, and I always assumed it was coming. However, it never did. We had many conversations about it, and he told me he didn’t know why he didn’t want to get married. I waited. I just waited. At one point he had a ring from his family and I was so excited. I’d run around the house when he wasn’t home wearing it. Loving the idea that FINALLY it was happening. That was a year ago. This became such a painful topic for me that I didn’t even want to get married anymore bc I didn’t want a shut up ring. And I felt like such a cliche: the girl that is badgering her bf to marry her. I ended it yesterday. I’m devastated but I know this is right. I know that another nine years would pass and I’d still be waiting. Reflecting on this, I’m not mad at him. Maybe I should be, but I’m not. What I am recognizing is I have zero self confidence. Like none. And THAT is what I am feeling most. Just this emptiness because I put myself on an island. I figured, I must be a piece of shit, because the man I loved didn’t want me. I know that is not the truth but it’s what I am actively trying to heal from. I know this will take time, and I’m devastated. How did you build back up your self esteem and self worth in the beginning? Update 4/17/26: I am with my folks now, and my mom and I read through everyone's comments last night. She actually printed them out for me and tucked them into my backpack. I hope you all know that this has been such a lifeline, and I am so very grateful. Tomorrow, my AMAZING parents are driving 10 hours with me to pick up some of my stuff, and my dogs and I will be living with them over the summer. I'm excited to fully dive into my work and imagine a new future. VERY weirdly, yesterday I was driving, and "Silver Springs" by Fleetwood Mac came on, and whilst I was working at a coffee shop, it played TWICE. TWICE. I know it was probably Sirius XM doing what it does, but I took it as a sign. Relevant Comments Commenter 1: It’s time to put yourself on a pedestal. Commenter 2: Yep 28-29 is when your life actually starts, and it’s the perfect time for a rebrand. I decided to get my shit together at 25, now I’m 28 and I’m the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been. I can’t wait for my 30’s to see how I’ll continue to grow. Now that OP has ditched the dead weight she can lock in and find a serious person. Rooting for you OP!! OOP: Thank you! It ebbs and flows but I think more than anything, I am excited for the next chapter. I am a PhD student so I will FULLY be able to focus on that without waiting for someone to come home, or like me. Commenter 3: Good for you for taking control of your life. You should have left the first time he told you he didn't want to get married. Do not let him back in. He had a decade to make you his wife and chose not to, so anything he says now is meaningless. Invest in individual counseling to help you figure out how to move forward and recognize healthy relationships. Commenter 4: Therapy definitely helped me unpack and make my life different after ending my 8 year wait. It crushed that the last 5 we were engaged but he kept moving the goal posts OOP: I was always so quiet about this with my therapist because I was embarrassed. When I finally told her what was going on, she said, "I am going to take off my therapist hat for a second and tell you clearly, you deserve better." With the amazing support of my friends and family, I am starting to believe that. submitted by

I (61M) am thinking about it. My walking is good but it’s not getting me toned. 7 minutes a day in a chair I think I can do but is it a scam? submitted by /u/Fun-Flounder1292 to r/over60 [link] [comments]

(NZ) work in the Fraud area and a recent scam is linked to all those ads you see for Tai Chi walking or chair Tai Chi etc - this requires an app for the exercises but the app itself is malware and gives remote access to scammers. We have seen people's accounts drained overnight. So please be very careful about what you download to your phone or device. Only buy from the official Apple or Google store! While I am in NZ this will be an international issue. submitted by /u/Own_Ad6797 to r/Scams [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/ScraggySkuntankFan to r/aislop [link] [comments]

Scams? Trend? New science? Wha submitted by /u/Marius-78 to r/taichi [link] [comments]

For example this obe with 2 SKINNED women 😭😭😭 Also, this ad isn't against TOS i believe, so i can't report it submitted by /u/No_Kick9434 to r/youtube [link] [comments]

First,i was about to inscribe in a judo dojo,but i have an injury on my leg that is a total break of kneecap tendon. I had this accident on a road driving a escooter. Now after a surgery,some rehabilitation and time,i can walk normally,i can say the injury is 99 per cent recovered. As i stated,i was about to do judo but people recommend me to not do it,first for the injury and second due my weight (129 kilos,1'78 metters tall) i am a bit fat. And due those two things,i can not do judo. And asking the IA and some people on martial arts fòrums,they recommend me the tai chi due is "soft" and friendly for my injury. I know judo and tai chi are worlds apparts,but i like asian cultures,and i like tai chi too. So,you recommend me tai chi for turn slim and treat my injury? Ty so much in advance. submitted by /u/Lluis-Xim to r/taichi [link] [comments]

A couple of weeks ago, I was scrolling through instagram reels and came across a tai chi walking app ad. It caught my attention as I was thinking about trying out something like that long time ago (I think my phone is already reading my thoughts.. 😂) Anyway, I looked through what they offer and decided to give it a try. My main goals were to improve my posture, as I'm an office worker, and sit 10 hours like a sea horse, and also to add more mindfulness to my lifestyle (lots of stress, so I needed to calm down a bit ). First of all, I checked some forums with Harna tai chi walking reviews just to see if it's worth it. As for every subscription - based app, the Harnafit app reviews were mixed, saying it's scam. However, I saw many girls saying it's a great fitness app for their routine. I beleive the girls! I got paid plan to motivate myself more, so I wouldn't quit after the first classes 😎. What I liked from the first sight, it's pleasant and easy-to-navigate interface. I answered the questions from the quiz and immediately found the Harnafit tai chi program I needed. I appreciated the app feature of TV casting as it is much easier to train . I've had 6 tai chi workouts, and noticed that I'm already paying more attention to my posture and how I sit, and overall feel calmer and more energised. How about you ? Have you found out some other tar chi walking benefits that I didn't mention ? submitted by /u/Next-Promotion-539 to r/workout [link] [comments]

I tried it today and it surprised me how I felt the blood moving in my body. However it is not a common exercise among young people, people are usually suggesting weights, pilates and other harder forms of exercise. submitted by /u/Fickle-Course to r/NoStupidQuestions [link] [comments]

I know it sounds lame as hell but hear me out. my VA doc told me to try it and they have free classes at my VA. I'm sitting at an 80% rating with bulging discs, vertebrae that fused together on their own, torn both rotator cuffs, torn labrum in my hips, fucked up knees and ankles, and plantar fasciitis. I did two half marathons while I was active duty with the last one being 10 years ago, and I'm 20lbs heavier than when I got out. This time last year if I'd have attempted a 5k I would have been in excruciating pain for the next few days and barely be able to walk. My baseline was not being able to stand for more than 20 min at a time. I been doing this shit a year and decided to fafo and sign up for a 5k with zero practice. I definitely would not pass the pft with my finish time but I finished under 45 min and I am NOT IN PAIN. My knee got tight during it and I just walked it off and changed my socks and it's fine. Again I know how corny this shit sounds but I wanted to share this with y'all because I know a lot of y'all go through life with chronic pain. I still have pain to be fair but it's manageable enough now that I can enjoy life again and work without the pain being a distraction. I care about you bros. submitted by /u/NemoHobbits to r/USMC [link] [comments]

Open Use Notice: Everything in this guide is free to use, share, adapt, or build on in any way you like. The only thing I'd ask is that you mention it came from our community, r/ProgressionFantasy. This is where it started, and that's worth remembering. All views presented are my own, shaped by years of personal reading and experience. Cross-reference, form your own opinions, and don't take any of this as gospel. TL;DR: Wuxia is about moral choices, not kung fu. Xianxia is about becoming something inhuman, not leveling up. Xuanhuan is that third category you didn't know existed — most "cultivation novels" you've read are actually this. And "face" is not ego, it's social currency in an anarchic world. This post covers all of that, plus a full glossary, book recs, and a breakdown of sect structures, economic systems, and cultivation paths as design tools for writers. Fair warning: this got long. I kept trying to cut stuff and kept going "no wait, you need this context." Get some tea. Intro I've been lurking on r/ProgressionFantasy for a while now, and I keep seeing the same questions. What's Xianxia? What's Wuxia? What's a Dantian? Why do some cultivation novels feel completely different from others? So here's the thing — I'm Chinese. Born and raised. I grew up on the 1986 Journey to the West TV series. Every kid in China watched that show. It holds some kind of world record for reruns during summer break. After that came Investiture of the Gods — gods, demons, Daoists, and Buddhists all fighting across three realms during the fall of the Shang Dynasty. Back then I didn't know any of this had a genre name. It was just the air you breathed growing up. Wuxia meant Jin Yong and Gu Long. In middle school, everyone passed around Jin Yong novels under their desks during class. The teacher would confiscate one, you'd borrow another copy the same afternoon. Gu Long came later, during that teenage phase when you think brooding loners are the coolest thing alive. Jin Yong writes about how a person stands firm in a chaotic world. Gu Long writes about how a person survives loneliness. Two completely different flavors of the same genre. Then came the internet era and web novels exploded. From the earliest ones like Zhu Xian and A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality, to later hits like Battle Through the Heavens, Shrouding the Heavens, and A Will Eternal — I lived through the entire arc of Chinese web fiction, from its wild west days to full industrialization. So this post is my attempt to lay out everything I can think of, from someone who grew up inside all of this. Not an encyclopedia — more like a tour guide. I'll walk you through, point out what matters and why, and you decide where to stop and look closer. I'm sure I'm missing things, but I'll try to cover every important piece I can. Quick disclaimer: Everything below is my personal take. I'm not an academic. I'm not a professor. I'm a reader and writer who grew up marinating in these stories. Everyone has their own angle on this stuff — this is mine. If you see things differently, tell me in the comments. We learn from each other. This guide is written for two groups: readers (you want to know what you're reading and what to read next) and writers (you want to know how big this toolbox is and how to use it). I. Where This All Comes From — You Already Know More Than You Think Before we get into Wuxia and Xianxia proper, here's something worth pointing out: a lot of you have already encountered this stuff. You just didn't know it. The training system in Dragon Ball? Toriyama borrowed the skeleton from Chinese wuxia. Qi, martial techniques, master-disciple lineages, martial tournaments — all wuxia bones. The four-element bending system in Avatar: The Last Airbender? The martial arts driving each bending style are all Chinese kung fu (Tai Chi, Baguazhang, Hung Gar, Northern Shaolin), and the energy system runs on qi and meridians — though the four elemental categories themselves aren't directly from Daoist Wuxing. Naruto's chakra system? Chinese meridian theory, filtered through Indian yoga, then shipped to Japan. Even the word "cultivation" becoming a thing in the English PF community — that only happened because so many Chinese web novels got translated and there was no existing English word for what the characters were doing. So the community had to invent a usage. Chinese storytelling goes way back — Song Dynasty oral tales, Yuan Dynasty plays, Ming and Qing Dynasty epic novels. But you don't need a full literary history lesson. What you need to know is this: China has been telling stories with an industrial base for over a thousand years, and from the very beginning, it was pulling from multiple sources. Daoism gave cultivation fiction its skeleton — internal alchemy, talismans, formations, ascending to immortality. Buddhism brought in reincarnation, karma, the six realms, and the concept of tribulations — when you see "Heavenly Tribulation" or "karmic debt" or "transcending tribulation to ascend" in a xianxia novel, the roots are Buddhist. Even some religions you wouldn't expect left traces: Zoroastrianism entered China during the Tang Dynasty, and elements of light-vs-darkness dualism and sacred fire worship seeped into Chinese narrative tradition. The Ming Cult in Jin Yong's The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber comes directly from Manichaeism (which shares deep roots with Zoroastrianism) — their fire worship is preserved intact in the novel. Nestorianism (an early Eastern branch of Christianity) also arrived during the Tang. Some of its concepts — like a "final judgment" style of ultimate reckoning — may have indirectly influenced the logic of "Heavenly punishment" in later narratives, though that chain of influence is harder to trace. Beyond these big philosophical and religious traditions, regional folk culture from different parts of China fed a massive amount of material into cultivation fiction. Miao border-region Gu sorcery (巫蛊术 — cultivating venomous insects to harm or control people) became "Gu Cultivators" (蛊修) in xianxia — a fully independent cultivation branch with its own rules and aesthetics. Western Hunan corpse-driving (赶尸术 — legends of making the dead walk home for burial) evolved into all kinds of corpse cultivation and corpse-refining settings. Then there's Maoshan Daoism, Southeast Asian-influenced sorcery (降头术), folk exorcism and demon-hunting traditions... each of these regional folk beliefs and practices came with its own rule system, its own taboos, its own visual style. Plenty of xianxia novels weave these regional elements into their world-building — maybe a sect's core technique descends from ancient Miao Gu arts, or a faction's signature skill is actually corpse-driving reimagined for a cultivation world. This gives xianxia a kind of cultural density that other genre fiction struggles to replicate — it didn't grow from one unified system. It grew from dozens of local traditions across different regions, different ethnic groups, different corners of China. Journey to the West is the best example of all these streams merging: a Buddhist pilgrimage story, starring a stone monkey who cultivated through Daoist practices, fighting demons from every tradition, in a world where Buddhist and Daoist heavenly courts run side by side. The "throw anything in" freedom you see in modern web novels? That wasn't invented by modern authors. It's been this way for a thousand years. Just as Western fantasy has a throughline from King Arthur to Tolkien to Sanderson, Chinese narrative tradition has a throughline from Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods to Jin Yong to today's web novels. The difference is that China's line was blending different philosophical and religious systems from day one, so the toolbox was always bigger. And here's the scale part: Qidian (China's largest web novel platform) alone has roughly ten times the number of active serials as all of Royal Road. What does that volume mean? It means every niche you can imagine, every narrative experiment, every system design variant — someone in the Chinese web novel world has already tried it. The toolbox in front of you is bigger than you think. II. Wuxia — "Xia" Matters a Hundred Times More Than "Wu" Most Western readers naturally focus on the "Wu" part of Wuxia — combat, martial arts, kung fu. Fair enough. That's the most visible piece. But if you're willing to look one layer deeper, there's something interesting going on. "Xia" is the real soul of Wuxia. What Is Xia? Xia ≠ hero. Xia ≠ knight. Xia ≠ paladin. Xia is a behavioral choice: a person with power, in an unjust world, chooses to use that power to do what's right — even when it costs them. Jin Yong wrote a line in The Legend of the Condor Heroes that basically defines the ultimate value of the entire genre: "为国为民，侠之大者。" "To serve the nation and its people — that is what makes a true hero." Looks simple. But the entire wuxia genre can be read as a relentless interrogation of that sentence. What counts as "the nation"? What counts as "the people"? What if the nation itself is unjust? What if protecting the people means turning against your own master? Gu Long went in a completely different direction. His version of Xia doesn't care about nations or grand causes. It cares about how one person keeps their soul intact in a world that's lonely and absurd. Gu Long's protagonists are always drinking, making friends, losing friends. Li Xunhuan (from Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword) has tuberculosis, is arguably the best fighter alive, and spends his entire life paying the cost of good deeds he's already done. Jin Yong's wuxia is worldly — it cares about society, justice, the fate of nations. Gu Long's wuxia is solitary — it cares about loneliness, friendship, existence. Both are wuxia. That's how wide this genre really is. Jianghu: The Wuxia World Engine "Jianghu" literally means "rivers and lakes." What it actually means is a parallel social order running underneath official society. In the wuxia world, there are courts, officers, laws. But wuxia characters don't live in that world. They live in the Jianghu — a parallel society with its own rules, its own factional hierarchies, its own system of debts and blood feuds. This concept alone is a complete world-building kit. You don't need to invent a magic system. You just need to ask: What does the underground layer of this society look like? Who has power there? What are the rules? What happens when you break them? If you're a writer, think about it this way: Jianghu is the "second society." In Sanderson terms, it's your world's second magic system — except this one doesn't run on energy. It runs on favors owed and grudges held. What Combat Actually Does in Wuxia Here's something a lot of Western readers miss: In good wuxia, martial arts aren't the point. They're the vehicle. Fight scenes don't exist to show who's stronger. They're narrative engines: - A duel between two characters is actually a collision between two philosophies of life - Learning a new technique doesn't mean "leveling up." It means understanding something - The lineage of martial techniques through sects is really about loyalty and betrayal between masters and students The best fight Jin Yong ever wrote — Qiao Feng fighting a hundred men alone at Juxian Manor in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils — isn't about Qiao Feng being strong. It's about a man who just learned the truth about his identity, who's been abandoned by everything he believed in, choosing to face everyone alone. The fists are the action. The story is identity and choice. If you're thinking about writing in this space, a few things worth keeping in mind: - Wuxia's central conflict isn't "beat a stronger boss." It's moral dilemma — what's the cost of doing the right thing? - The power system can be dead simple (internal energy + techniques). Complexity comes from relationships and jianghu politics - Don't measure wuxia characters by "level." Measure them by the choices they make - Wuxia's closest Western parallel isn't fantasy — it's closer to noir, hardboiled detective fiction, and 1970s kung fu films - Recommended study: Jin Yong's Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, The Smiling, Proud Wanderer; Gu Long's Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword, Legend of Chu Liuxiang III. Xianxia — Less Power System, More "What Am I Becoming?" If wuxia asks "how does a person live in an unjust world," xianxia asks "can a person become something that isn't human?" The literal meaning of "修仙" (xiuxian): to cultivate toward immortality. Not getting stronger. Not fighting bigger enemies. It's about transforming yourself from a mortal being into a different kind of existence. This is one of the sharpest differences between xianxia and a lot of Western progression fantasy. Take Cradle as an example — Lindon goes through deep changes over the series. The arm fusion, the soul mutations — real transformations. But they're mostly changes in what he can do. In good xianxia, a realm breakthrough hits deeper than that. How the character experiences time shifts. Their relationship with mortals changes. What "death" even means to them changes. Not a stronger version of the same person. Something else wearing the same face. That's what "修" (xiu) actually means. You're not improving. You're turning into something else. Daoist Internal Alchemy: Where It All Started Xianxia's cultivation system wasn't invented by web novel authors. It has a real philosophical foundation: Daoist internal alchemy (Neidan, 内丹学). Here's what Neidan looks like: Three Treasures: Jing, Qi, Shen (精、气、神) - Jing (Essence) — base life energy, bound to the physical body - Qi — flowing energy, tied to breath and meridians - Shen (Spirit) — consciousness, awareness, the spiritual Three Dantians: - Lower Dantian (abdomen) — stores Jing - Middle Dantian (chest) — processes Qi - Upper Dantian (between the eyebrows) — condenses Shen Four Stages of Transformation: 1. Refining Essence into Qi — converting bodily energy into flowing energy 2. Refining Qi into Spirit — converting flowing energy into spiritual power 3. Refining Spirit into Void — dissolving individual consciousness back into emptiness 4. Merging Void with the Dao — becoming one with the fundamental principle of reality Notice the pattern? You never "get more" of anything. Every step replaces what you were with something new. That's why calling xianxia a "leveling system" misses the point entirely. Most web novels simplify this system. 99% of xianxia novels use a single dantian (the lower one) and reduce the whole process to "absorb energy, break through, get stronger." Authors know the full system exists — they're cutting it down on purpose. Serialization demands simpler systems. Readers need to keep up without getting lost. But the best xianxia authors know how deep the original system goes, and they selectively pull from it. A side note — orthodox Daoism has a bunch of concepts that get borrowed by web novels but rarely understood correctly. Like "Wu Wei" (无为) — it doesn't mean "do nothing." It means "don't force against natural law." This shows up in a lot of high-level breakthrough designs: the harder you try to break through, the more you fail. Or "Yin and Yang" (阴阳) — not a good-vs-evil binary, but two forces that exist simultaneously in everything and are constantly transforming into each other. That's why some cultivation systems have a principle of "extreme Yang births Yin" — cultivate to the extreme and you have to face your own opposite. And the Five Elements cycle (五行相生相克) — not just "fire beats metal." It's a circular system of checks and balances. Good authors use it to design factional dynamics and counter-relationships between sects, not just as an elemental attribute table. Qi vs Qi (气 vs 炁) I mentioned this in a previous reply, but it's worth saying properly. The "Qi" (气) most xianxia novels use isn't actually the same concept as what Daoist classics talk about. The classic texts use "炁" — same pronunciation, different character. 气 (qi) — breath, air, generalized energy. You can sense it, direct it, quantify it. 炁 (qi) — Primordial Qi. The original essence from before Yin and Yang separated. Can't be quantified, can't be stored. Can only be experienced through transformation. Most web novels use 气 because it's easy to understand, easy to write with, easy to build stat systems around. But some of the more literary xianxia novels use the concept of 炁, and you can feel the difference — cultivation in those stories doesn't feel like "charging a battery." It feels like molting. Side note for anyone building a cultivation system: you don't need to use 炁 to write well. But knowing this distinction exists helps. If your cultivation system feels like "numbers going up" instead of "qualitative change," the reason might be here — you're using 气 logic (accumulable energy) instead of 炁 logic (irreversible transformation). Cultivation Paths — Each Path Comes With Its Own Character Design Xianxia isn't one road. Chinese web fiction has developed a huge number of branching paths, each with its own logic, its own costs, its own narrative flavor: Body Cultivation (体修) — Refining the physical body. Minimal dantian work, minimal meditation. You torture your body through extreme methods until it becomes something else. Pain is the progress bar. Soul Cultivation (魂修) — Advancing through Spiritual Sea (识海, a mental space). Power manifests in spiritual forms — illusions, mental attacks, consciousness invasion. Sword Cultivation (剑修) — Binding your entire cultivation to a single sword. Person and sword become one. The sword is the dantian. Extreme focus traded for extreme attack power. Spirit Cultivation (灵修) — The "standard" path. Using dantian and meridians to circulate spiritual energy. The default mode for most xianxia novels. Formation Cultivation (阵修) — Cultivating through building and understanding formations. Not personal combat power — it's spatial control and rule manipulation. Here's the thing that matters: which path you pick for your MC directly determines where the narrative gravity of your book sits. Body cultivation stories naturally lean toward physical limits and willpower. Soul cultivation stories lean toward psychological horror and consciousness exploration. Sword cultivation stories lean toward focus and sacrifice. This isn't just "swapping abilities" — it's changing the entire tone of the book. The Real Problem with Realm Design Every Western author who wants to write xianxia spends a lot of time naming their realms. Qi Condensation, Foundation Building, Core Formation, Nascent Soul... The names don't matter. What matters is: what does your character give up at each step? In the original Neidan process, each transformation from Jing to Qi to Shen is irreversible. You're not upgrading. You're abandoning part of who you used to be in exchange for a new form of existence. The best xianxia novels preserve this: a breakthrough rewrites what you are. You gain abilities you never had, sure — but you also burn away things you can't get back. Your connection to mortals. Certain emotions. The option of going home. If your realm system is just "numbers go up each level," it's closer to a Progression Fantasy that happens to use an Eastern aesthetic — which is totally fine. Lots of very successful novels do exactly that. But knowing the difference helps you see what kind of design choice you're making. IV. Xuanhuan — Half the "Xianxia" You've Read Is Actually This Alright. Here's something most Western readers have no idea about: A lot of the "cultivation novels" you've read on WuxiaWorld and WebNovel aren't xianxia. They're xuanhuan. Xuanhuan (玄幻) literally means "mysterious fantasy." It's a broader category: it can have cultivation, it can have levels, it can have Eastern elements, but the core doesn't necessarily root itself in the Daoist system. Battle Through the Heavens? Leans xuanhuan. Soul Land? Xuanhuan. Coiling Dragon? Xuanhuan. Martial Universe? Xuanhuan. These novels all have cultivation systems and realm progression, but their systems have a weaker connection to Daoist internal alchemy. Their cultivation mechanics are largely author-original — they use "Battle Qi" (斗气) instead of "Spiritual Qi" (灵气), and their world-building often blends in Western fantasy elements. (Of course, the boundaries between these categories are always blurry — lots of novels have both xianxia and xuanhuan elements. Think of it as a spectrum, not boxes.) Why does this distinction matter? Because if you bring xianxia expectations to a xuanhuan novel, something feels off. You go "why doesn't this cultivation have any Daoist feel? Why does this system feel so gamey?" Answer: because it was never xianxia to begin with. The flip side: if you're writing a story that has cultivation elements but doesn't want to root itself in Daoist principles — congratulations, you're writing xuanhuan. Nothing wrong with that. Some of the most commercially successful Chinese web novels are xuanhuan. Battle Through the Heavens alone has generated enough adaptation revenue to buy a small city. Quick comparison: Wuxia Xianxia Xuanhuan Core People in the Jianghu Cultivating toward immortality Mix whatever you want Power Base Internal energy, martial techniques Spiritual Qi, Dantian, Daoist systems Author-defined End Goal Justice/survival through righteousness Ascend to immortality / merge with the Dao Up to the author World Ancient China + Jianghu Cultivation world / Immortal realms Any setting Western parallel Noir / Hardboiled No direct equivalent High Fantasy Representative works Jin Yong, Gu Long A Mortal's Journey, Renegade Immortal Battle Through the Heavens, Coiling Dragon V. The Terminology — Design Tools, Not Just Labels Heads up: this section gets into the weeds. If you just want book recommendations, skip to Section VIII. But if you're interested in how any of this works under the hood — or if you're building your own system — this is the good stuff. Chinese xianxia novels have a massive vocabulary of specialized terms. Most translations give you an English equivalent and call it a day. But these terms aren't labels — each one represents a design choice. Spiritual Root (灵根) The innate condition that determines a character's cultivation aptitude in xianxia. Common design: Five-element roots (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth). The worst is having all five (you can cultivate everything but master nothing). The best is a single root (one element, extremely pure). Deliberately counter-intuitive: "More versatile = worse." This is the opposite of Western RPG logic where maxing all stats = strongest. The reason? Mixed roots create Qi interference. Purity > versatility. This is Daoist philosophy at work — the Great Dao is simple, less is more. A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality's Han Li starts with bad spiritual roots and works his way up through careful planning and patience. The "Mortal Flow" (凡人流) subgenre was born from this — no cheat, no system, just a mediocre-talent person using brains and patience to cultivate. Meridians (经脉) Channels through which spiritual energy flows in the body. Unblock more meridians = more energy bandwidth. Western readers might recognize this from traditional Chinese medicine or Avatar: The Last Airbender. In xianxia novels, meridian design is usually more specific — different cultivation methods require opening different meridian routes, and getting it wrong causes "Qi Deviation" (走火入魔, your energy runs wild inside your body — minor case: injury, major case: you explode). Qi Deviation is one of the best built-in risk mechanisms in fiction. You don't need to invent external enemies to create tension — cultivation itself is dangerous. Every step of progress carries the risk of losing control. Golden Core / Nascent Soul (金丹 / 元婴) The two most iconic realms in xianxia. Golden Core: condensing all your spiritual energy into a pill-like core inside your dantian. A qualitative shift — from "borrowing the world's spiritual energy" to "having your own energy nucleus." Nascent Soul: growing a "soul infant" inside the Golden Core — another you. This is where xianxia gets truly ontological: there's now an independent life form inside your body. The point here: these aren't "upgrades." They're metaphors for something scarier. Golden Core = you stop depending on the outside world. Nascent Soul = you start splitting into plural existence. No going back. And every step changes how you relate to everything around you. Heavenly Tribulation (天劫) Lightning from the sky during critical breakthroughs. This isn't a boss fight. It's a filtering mechanism. The Heavenly Dao (the universe's rule system) doesn't allow too many beings to break through to higher levels, so it actively tries to kill you. The stronger the cultivator, the more terrifying the tribulation. And if you ever need a climax scene that writes itself: Heavenly Tribulation. A character accumulates an entire volume's worth of cultivation, then faces the test. Succeed and you transform. Fail and you die. You don't need an external villain for tension — the sky itself is the enemy. Dao Heart (道心) A cultivator's will / core conviction. Dao Heart isn't "courage." It's closer to "absolute certainty in the path you have chosen." Dao Heart shatters = you start doubting the path you've been walking = cultivation regresses or collapses entirely. Honestly, this might be the single cleverest thing about xianxia as a system: your psychological state becomes a hard combat stat. Waver internally, and your power drops — doesn't matter how much energy you've stockpiled. Which means the most dangerous enemy in a xianxia novel isn't the guy who hits harder. It's the one who makes you doubt yourself. Emotional manipulation, faith attacks, even plain old heartbreak — all can be lethal strikes. If your cultivation system doesn't have something like "Dao Heart," consider adding one. It solves one of progression fantasy's biggest problems: when a character is powerful enough, what can still threaten them? Answer: themselves. Fortuitous Encounter (机缘, Jiyuan) A once-in-a-lifetime cultivation opportunity that can't be forced — ancient ruins, mysterious inheritances, rare treasures hidden in the world. This is one of the most important plot drivers in xianxia. It explains why the MC can surpass people with better innate talent: talent determines your ceiling, but encounters determine your trajectory. Many xianxia plots are structured around the pursuit, discovery, and competition over these encounters. Karmic Fortune (气运, Qiyun) A character's "fate score." High fortune = encounters come to you, disasters turn into blessings. Low fortune = everything goes wrong. Some novels design this as a lootable resource — kill a "Child of Fortune" (气运之子) and you can steal their luck. This creates one of xianxia's darkest narrative tools: the MC might not just be fighting for power, but literally stealing someone else's destiny. Divine Sense (神识, Shenshi) A higher-order perception ability that advanced cultivators develop. Lets you scan your surroundings, identify objects, and communicate remotely using consciousness. You'll see this in virtually every xianxia novel. It's basically radar, but it also creates interesting limitations — stronger cultivators can detect weaker ones using Divine Sense, which means stealth and concealment become real tactical concerns. Lifespan (寿元, Shouyuan) Each cultivation realm has a corresponding maximum lifespan. Foundation Establishment might give you 200 years. Golden Core, 500. Nascent Soul, 1000+. Running out of lifespan before breaking through = death. This is one of xianxia's strongest narrative pressure tools. A character might be powerful enough to handle any enemy, but they're racing against a clock that never stops. Storage Ring (储物戒) A spatial artifact where the inside is much larger than the outside. Standard equipment in xianxia — every cultivator carries one. Think of it as a pocket dimension on your finger. Kill someone? Grab their storage ring first. It's also a common source of plot-driving treasure discoveries. Karma (因果, Yinguo) Actions generate karmic bonds. At lower realms this doesn't matter much. At higher realms, accumulated karma becomes a real obstacle to breakthrough — you carry the weight of everyone you've killed, every debt unpaid, every oath broken. Some novels make Karma Tribulation a specific type of Heavenly Tribulation. Split due to Reddit's character limit. Part 2 | Part 3 Edit: Corrected the Avatar/Five Elements comparison per reader feedback. The bending system's martial mechanics are Chinese, but the four elemental categories aren't a direct simplification of Wuxing. submitted by /u/No-Ride-3370 to r/ProgressionFantasy [link] [comments]

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As the title suggests I’ve come to a fat camp in China. It’s very good value for money working out at £500 a month for food, accommodation and training. However it is extreme - there’s 3x 1.5-2 hour fitness sessions a day with the expectation to do extra steps in the breaks. We’re also put into teams and compete against the other teams to see who can lose the most weight, with the overall winner getting a certificate. I feel like I’m on the biggest loser! I’m on day two and have lost 2kg so far. Just felt like I needed to let the world know this place exists! Update: wasn’t expecting this much interest so I thought I’d give you the one week update. The good: Today marked the end of my first week. Overall it’s been an interesting experience, I’ve lost 4.3kg (and was second place biggest loser). Yeah most of it is probably water weight but it’s still nice seeing a lower number on the scale. I loved spinning and I love getting up early and going for walks in the local park watching the old aunties doing Tai Chi. Most of the people seem very wholesome and a lot of people here are very positive about making healthy changes to their lives. The bad: Sharing a room is not for me. There’s someone I share a room with who online games until 3am every night and then can’t get up for training in the morning. I hate sneaking around in the morning and getting dressed in the dark. I also feel like while most of the training sessions are good, they might be too long for their target audience. Most gyms where I’m from do 1 hour classes. 2 hours of body pump is a lot for anyone but especially for people who might be coming and haven’t done much exercise before. Expecting overweight people to do 6 hours of intense exercise seems a little excessive to me. The ugly: there is a culture of hiding food from trainers, missing meals to make up for weight gain caused by normal daily fluctuations and creating unsustainable habits. Each day we are sent a spreadsheet of our teams weights and you can see if friends have lost or gained. This causes embarrassment for people who have hit a plateau and I can see it leading to some uncomfortable behaviours. submitted by /u/ReditReader9 to r/loseit [link] [comments]

I admit it I play way too many games in my iPad so I see a lot of dumb ads. But what’s getting me lately is most of them are for tai chi ads. Over 50? Over 40? A man over 50? A woman over 50? Then tai chi is for you! Watch our ai generated health experts tell you how fat and flabby you are but in a few short days you’ll start to lose weight just in time for that high school reunion you don’t want to go to anyway. submitted by /u/Head-Change-7681 to r/CommercialsIHate [link] [comments]

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I keep seeing all these ridiculous `get ripped by doing chair exercises' AI tai-chi videos everywhere. Obviously fake but it sparked an interest. So is there a legitimate way to do tai-chi in your home from using videos or some other way? Any recommendations? submitted by /u/Terrible-Group-9602 to r/taichi [link] [comments]

These obviously AI ads of a buff elderly man saying Tai Chi builds muscle better than going to the gym are all over YouTube and TikTok. I can imagine this campaign will do nothing but create a backlash to Tai Chi than attract anyone to the art. submitted by /u/MixedMartialLaw to r/taichi [link] [comments]

It's time to sign up for winter classes at the senior center. I took my first line dancing class this past session and found it to be a good challenge mentally and adds some lateral movement I wasn't getting from walking. I'm thinking about adding tai chi next to improve balance, strength, flexibility etc but I have not even watched a tai chi class. I'm doing some reading, but would like to ask your experiences good and bad. Will I be able to do anything at all during the class, having no experience? Should I expect to be able to keep up. (In the sense of being able to keep up with an aerobics or step class, which I could not do right now). I typically allow 6 weeks in a class for it all to gel and feel like I "get" it and am not just the fat newbie in the back. Is that a reasonable expectation? Any other thoughts? submitted by /u/Silkyiniquity to r/over60 [link] [comments]

Okay then submitted by /u/GallifreyOrphan to r/MoDaoZuShi [link] [comments]

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