Taoism and martial arts. ?

What martial art is associated with Taoism (Or Daoism) ?
Is it Tai Chi?

( and can Tai Chi be used for self defense? )
Do you have any good websites also on the subject or any books you could recommend?

Thank you in advance

Abyss.

"The Art Of War" Lao Tsu.

Chen Xiaowang is the name of the descendant of the guy that created Chen style Tai Chi. Look for him and as you search around you will find others that are extremely good at this system of martial arts.

Generally there are a lot of Martial Arts that can be associated with Taoism. It's just the individual instructors and schools that you have to research and find to include it.

The Yang system of Tai Chi is generally associated with Taoist individuals. This society however doesn't really dig into the martial sides of the system as much as they do the health side.

You can look for the Chen, Wu, or Sun style Tai Chi places as they teach all really.

I don't have any real sites to recommend you, but if you look for Sensei Scandal on here, he might be able to better assist you with this area.

Taoism is not really part of martial arts per SE, it is a philosophy, or a school of thought.

The fact that martial arts and traditional medicinal practices associated with Taoism is due to the nature of Taoism, martial and medical arts and how they relate to man. Man embraces all the things that benefit man.

The Internal Arts have long been associated with Taoism, however, they have roots in Buddhism as well. So really, both can claim them.

Taichi Chuan, Hsing I Chuan, Pakua Chang are the usual arts you will find in the Taoist school but there are others like Bak Mei and White Tiger.

The only aspect of Taoism I was involved with was the martial and the sexual practices. I did not use divination and medium ship as it is not my thing.

The books I would recommend are from a master named Mantak Chia. He has written many books and is known worldwide. At first I was skeptical about his material, as it has this whole mystical appearance until I ran into one of his books in the library and out of curiosity, sat down and read a chapter. I began to understand his writing style and realized he was very knowledgeable. I have several of his books.

His school is called The Healing Tao. Just go ogle his name and you will find lots of resources for him.

Hope this helps.