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Performativity and the Art of Tai Chi: Understanding the Body as Transformative

The art of Tai Chi can be examined as both a spiritual practice as well as a form of meditative exercise; in doing Tai Chi, the corporeal practice is transformative. This paper expands on recent research on the geography of religion and examines individual, bodily experiences of sacred space through a qualitative, empirical investigation of the Tallahassee branch of the Taoist Tai Chi society. Interviews conducted with members reflect both an awareness that the body is transformed through the practice of Tai Chi as well as an understanding of the body as something separate from oneself, and thus something that is capable of being transformed. The practice of Tai Chi presents evidence of the importance of examining the body’s physical engagement with the spiritual as well as reflects the notion of Eliade’s hierophanic conception of sacred space. The performance of Tai Chi triggers a hierophanic, transformative event with the body at the center of the spiritual experience.