Author · Tai Chi Chuan teacher
Tai Chi beyond the movements.
Books and writings on Tai Chi Chuan, its classical texts, martial principles, and the relationship between study and practice.
The English-language catalogue begins with Beginning Tai Chi Chuan and is being developed from a broader body of work originally published in Italian.
Understanding before imitation
Tai Chi is more than a sequence of movements to remember.
Tai Chi Chuan is often reduced to slow exercise, meditation in motion, or something mysterious and difficult to explain. Its foundations are much more concrete: structure, balance, release, coordination, sensitivity, economy of movement, intention, and the ability to adapt. When these principles become embodied, the form stops being choreography and becomes a method for understanding movement, interaction, and change.
Now available in English
Beginning Tai Chi Chuan
An Essential Guide
A clear introduction for readers who want to understand what they are actually practicing — not simply imitate a sequence of movements. The book connects the body, the mind, martial practice and the classical principles that give Tai Chi its distinctive character.
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Beyond one introductory book
A larger body of work
Beginning Tai Chi Chuan is currently the first title available in English. It comes from a broader publishing project developed over years of study: seven books published in Italian, including a three-volume investigation of the classical literature and historical traditions of Taijiquan.
The Foundational Classics
A study of the texts associated with Wang Zongyue, Wu Yuxiang and Li Yiyu: intention, structure, sensitivity, transformation and the trained use of force.
The Chen Tradition
Historical manuals and traditional writings examined through internal qualities, jin, silk-reeling, push-hands, martial practice and methods of study.
The Yang Tradition
Early Yang-family sources, texts preserved through the Wu tradition, weapons manuals and the documented development of one of the most influential Taijiquan lineages.
Not texts separated from practice
From source to practice
My editorial work begins with written sources but does not end there. The purpose is to reconnect language, historical context and technical principles with what practitioners can actually observe and test through the body.
Original sources
Classical writings and historical documents remain visible as sources rather than disappearing behind modern interpretations.
Context and terminology
Translation requires attention to language, transmission, technical vocabulary and the historical setting in which a text was preserved.
Embodied principles
Structure, intention, sensitivity, release, transformation and martial interaction become meaningful when they can be recognized and tested in practice.
About Valerio Bellone
Practice, teaching and research
I began practicing sport and martial arts at an early age, but over time became increasingly interested in approaches that went beyond competition and performance. This search led me toward Tai Chi Chuan, Qi Gong and meditation, and toward a different understanding of movement, attention and personal cultivation.
In 2014 this path became Taiji Gate, the school through which I developed my teaching work. Alongside practice and teaching, I have pursued an editorial study of classical Taijiquan texts and the historical culture of the internal martial arts.
Since 2017, that research has gradually developed into a broader body of published work. The next stage is to make selected parts of this work available to an international English-speaking readership.
Teaching & practice
Taiji Gate
My teaching activity continues through Taiji Gate, founded in 2014. The school is the practical side of the same research: a place where principles are tested through structured training, continuity and direct correction.
A place to begin
Start with the principles.
If you are approaching Tai Chi Chuan for the first time — or have practiced for years without finding a clear framework for what you are doing — Beginning Tai Chi Chuan was written as a starting point: accessible, rigorous and connected to direct experience.
From the blog
Further reading
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