Pattern Language and The Principles of Taijiquan

Pattern language was defined by the widely influential architect and design theorist, Emeritus Professor Christopher Alexander, and first brought to light in his book “A Pattern Language”, and subsequently in his famous work “The Nature of Order”. To give you a feel for Alexander’s thought processes one of his statements was “No one can be close to others, without also having frequent opportunities to be alone”.

Essentially, Pattern Language is the way of describing good design or patterns of useful systemization within a specific field. Alexander also used it in an attempt to express the deeper wisdom surrounding the indefinable elements of spirit or grace that make a design inherently beautiful to the human condition. He believed that in using “Pattern Language” anyone could solve large and complex project issues.

Alexander stated that a pattern must characterize the problems that it is meant to solve, the context or situation where these problems arise, and the conditions under which the proposed solutions can be recommended.

He went on to state that these problems generally arise from a conflict of different interests or ‘forces’ and that a pattern emerges as a dialogue that will then help to balance the forces and finally lead to a decision. At this point, you can start to see great similarities between Alexander’s Pattern Language concept and Taijiquan. Taijiquan is all about balancing forces to enable resolution and a return to homeostasis.