All martial arts start 'for health only'. Health is the most important. It far outweighs fighting applications. You can't be a martial arts master without a healthy body as a foundation. If you've ever taught beginners, you know that the first step is to get them into decent shape. Any combat applications come later. And mastery comes much later. That being said, very few people ever become masters. Most of us slog through our practice and acheive some level of competence. Speaking for myself, mastery seems so far away from me that I don't even think of it as a goal state anymore.

Tai Chi/qigong for health only is one of the greatest contributions of our practice to humanity. We're all getting older. We all have to take care of the elderly - our parents, our friends - to see help see them through their autumn years. Being able to share the health aspects of our practice is wonderful. They will never reach the highest levels of martial arts, nor even some of the lowest levels, but they will be better persons for it. And so will we, when we share.

I saw the senior tai chi class where the teacher had broken down the basic yang moves into 'calls' not unlike in a square dance. He'd get the music going and call out the moves and the students would all dance about. It was great. They were all so enthusiastic and joyful while getting some exercise. The teacher was really charismatic - he was no master, but he did have some skill. More important, he used his tai chi to heal instead of to harm. That's real tai chi when you can do that.