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Comment by Qz | Hacker News Reader

My suggestion would be Tai Chi (also spelled Tai Qi and Tai Ji depending on who you ask...).

You might not even think of Tai Chi as a martial art, and that's because although Tai Chi is in fact a martial art, it is also something of a meditative practice akin to yoga. Similar to the aikido suggestions below, Tai Chi is not a striking art, but is mostly about redirecting the opponent's energy, as well as moves that hinder or disable the opponent from attacking you in the first place. Tai Chi focuses on sensitivity and receptiveness rather than force or strength, so even if you do it for years, you won't come out of it looking like Bruce Lee, which may or may not be a positive for you.

I don't have a lot of experience with other martial arts, aside from a few random Karate lessons when I was young, but I've been going to a local Tai Chi class for about 6 months now and I highly recommend it.

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There are many different approaches to Tai Chi - from the 'spiritual', via 'health', the 'form', 'weapons', 'push hands', ... , all the way to 'tournament fighting'. I've just come home from a lesson where we had to wear chest protectors...

But one thing that I've heard, and I kind of agree with : I don't recommend Tai Chi to anyone. If someone wants to do it, then I'm happy to point them in the right direction. But I don't want to push people into something that they're only going to try because I've persuaded them. They've got to have an inkling that it's something they'd enjoy.

I had previously do some Jiu Jitsu (cool), and Aikido (v. nice). But what's kept me doing Tai Chi is the fact that my shoulders don't get dislocated so often (YMMV - but it's notable that many of the students at my school are musicians that have consciously chosen a martial art that won't damage them).

Another point is that while one can feel 'dangerous' more quickly doing other martial arts, that is usually an illusion : being an over-confident beginner is much more likely to get you in trouble. Tai Chi students doesn't suffer from that so much - since for the first few years, they're only directing traffic in the park :-)

I originally started in 1999 because I figured I needed some external activity to take my mind off my startup - and the health stuff has been a pleasant side effect. Mostly I do Push Hands now, with a dash of mornings in the park helping others 'tuck in'. ( ChuTaiChi.com )

    Tai Chi has been a great experience for me as well. I think because of its strengthening and stretching, balance and control as well as low risk of putting me out of work with an injury. It has been awesome for my lower back. 
    It can be very calming and has a spiritual side which you can explore if that's your thing. Tai Chi contains the roots of all other chinese martial arts so you could use it as a stepping stone off the couch. 
    I personally hope more people will find and benefit from Tai Chi.

"It's like Yoga without having to roll around on the floor :)" - me

I do taijiquan too. It can be brutal if you train it like the yang family did. Low stances, excruciating chin na, jing punches to gut.

Its sad that it sort of evolved into this slow dance. Read up a bit about how Yang Luchan and his sons used to train. They didn't get the nick name "Yang the invincible" for doing ballet.

Seconded - Tai Chi is amazing. I used to do it when I was much younger, and I like to think it's the reason I have such good balance, and I stay coordinated when drunk. :)

I've been looking at starting up again. Anyone have any recommendations for a good teacher in San Francisco?

I've been doing tai chi for 8 years now and love it. It is peaceful while being very powerful.

My recommendation to any newbies is to get past the awkward beginning stage as fast as you can...otherwise you will not progress smoothly.

When I started I went to 4 classes a week. In 3 months I still knew very little but I wasn't feeling like a n00b and embarrassed. I got over the hump.

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