Tai Chi is a Fighting Art.

I've taken the following from my own comments in a social media forum regarding the true nature of taijiquan and why people in the west refuse to acknowledge the martial aspect of the art, which, some of us feel, means your practice of taiji is incomplete... "In western culture, value tends to be placed on the "bigger, better, stronger, faster, meaner, nastier" in practically everything if you really think about it, but perhaps especially with martial arts. Internal arts, or "soft styles" just don't LOOK mean enough to the western eye.
On the other side of it, the kind of people that get into "alternative healing" and such in western culture are often also vegans, pacifists and other such types. These people spend a lot of time training their brains into this "harm none" mentality to the point that they literally do not see the violent potential in these slow and graceful movements found in arts like taijiquan, it just looks "pretty" and like "moving meditation" to them. There is no shortage of published material out there, books, videos, internet articles, etc, that reinforce that misinformation, so even if you confront them with the truth about taijiquan, they can easily relieve their cognitive dissonance with a quick Google search.

The fact is, slow, deliberate movement as seen in practicing taiji forms actually builds lean, flexible muscle, and greater fine motor control. THAT is why it's practiced in this way. Bulky muscle as seen on body builders and boxers makes you slow and limits mobility, so it just doesn't work for taijiquan. Look at some of the more martial styles of taijiquan and you will find more short, fast movements intermingled with the slow and graceful. That's the all important "fa jing" or "explosive power" as seen in the famous "one inch punch" or the rapid punches of wing chun. Many have never even heard of qin-na (chin na) which is a grappling art meant to accompany taijiquan.

Yes, there are health benefits if taiji practice. Bring the qin-na into it and, guess what? You end up learning acupressure and tui na by proxy. The ability to heal yourself, your training partners, and even potentially your enemy once subdued was actually an integral part of many traditional arts. It is looked down upon as "weak" or "girly" by the harsh and patriarchal west, but self care is to self defense as an ounce of prevention is to a pound of cure, as the saying goes. Furthermore, consider the psychological implications of dominating your enemy so completely as to break their body, then show then how you can put it back together again. That's dominating the SPIRIT, which subdues them much more completely, not to mention makes you look real good in court."