Traditional Chinese medicine is taught to advanced students in some traditional schools.

Physical fitness is an important step towards effective self-defense. Movement: Tai chi is the practice of appropriate change in response to outside forces, of yielding to and redirecting an attack rather than meeting it with opposing force.Meditation: The focus and calm cultivated by the meditative aspect of tai chi is seen as necessary for maintaining health (in the sense of relieving stress and maintaining homeostasis) and in the application of the form as a soft style martial art.Furthermore, the respiration of breath is coordinated with the physical movements in a state of deep relaxation, rather than muscular tension, in order to guide the practitioners to a state of homeostasis. And in the ' T'ai-chi classics', writings by tai chi masters, it is noted that the physiological and kinesiological aspects of the body's movements are characterized by the circular motion and rotation of the pelvis, based on the metaphors of the pelvis as the hub and the arms and feet as the spokes of a wheel. In general, tai chi does not specify a uniform, although teachers often advocate loose, comfortable clothing and flat-soled shoes. Some martial arts require students to wear a uniform during practice. Although the term Wudang suggests these arts originated in the Wudang Mountains, it is used only to distinguish the skills, theories and applications of neijia (internal arts) from those of the Shaolin grouping, or waijia (hard or external) styles. In China, tai chi is categorized under the Wudang grouping of Chinese martial arts -that is, arts applied with internal power. Some traditional schools teach partner exercises known as tuishou ('pushing hands'), and martial applications of the postures of different forms ( taolu).

While tai chi is typified by its slow movements, many styles (including the three most popular: Yang, Wu, and Chen) have secondary, faster-paced forms. Taijiquan is a complete martial art system with a full range of bare-hand movement set and weapon forms as in the Taiji sword and Taiji spear based on the dynamic relationship between Yin and Yang.

Zou Yan (鄒衍 305 BC – 240 BC) was a Chinese philosopher best known as the representative thinker of the Yin and Yang School (or School of Naturalists) during the Hundred Schools of Thought era in Chinese philosophy. Tai chi theory and practice evolved in agreement with Chinese philosophical principles, including those of Taoism and Confucianism. The concept of the taiji ('Supreme Ultimate'), in contrast with wuji ('without ultimate'), appears in both Taoist and Confucian philosophy, where it represents the fusion or mother of yin and yang into a single ultimate, represented by the taijitu symbol.

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