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Tai Chi As A FIGHTING ART
Author: Erle Montaigue
PEOPLE NEVER ask how to use Karate for fighting. But I am always asked, how docs one use rai Chi for selfdefence? I guess some rai Chi instructors have "become a little jack" of the same old questions and have, therefore, tried to make it easier for people to understand how to use rai Chi by trying to make the applications somewhat like that which a Karate person would use. For example, they have takcn a look at the postures from theirrai Chi form and have tried to bring in the different blocks. counters, locks and attacks etc - just as one would expect a Karate kata to be broken down into its own kumite (or [,lInkai).
But this doesn't work with rai Chi. simply because the whole idea ofrai Chi as a fighting art has little to do with what applications one has, or how hard one can punch or kick, or how quick one is, etc. No matter how many times we take a r ai Chi posture and work it and work it and work it, it is still just an application for a certain situation which requires some conscious mind involvement. We do not wish to be hit, and so we usually stick to the tried and true: hlock/punch, kick etc. (Or, in some rai Chi sifus' repertoire - "evade, yield, push" - and then he knocked out!)
If we had some way of just moving in on any attack, as if we had some sort of shield around us so that we would not be hit - long enough to get in there and attack, ourselves - then this would be the ideal situation. We would be like the proverbial 'tank' charging in ...
Nothing is ever certain and nothing is invincihle. But one can come pretty close to thc perfect hody shield by using what is known in T'ai Chi circles - somc T'ai Chi circles -- as the hinge and p'eng method. This, comhined with the attitude of if he attacks you. attack him first' gives us a real edge. The instant that someone comes within our rang of fire, orourrange ofheing hit, we attack; whether or not he has attacked. If someone is fighting you and they come within range, then that is the same as if they have already attacked you. By their entering your space, the space that you have drawn around yourself at the beginning of the Conflict, then you have the right to attack! This means that as soon as anyone comes within range to he able to hit you. you move in - regardless of whether they have actually moved physically to hit you.
Now technically, if this is done, then no-one would be able to hit you because you would have moved in on them the very instant that they came within range. I say technically because, to be able to do this all of the time, one would have to be some sort of superman, such concentration. But a small amount of this idea will bring one just that little closer to that unreachable goal of perfection in the defensive arts.
So, what ahout a good kicker?, I am always asked. The same principle applies. No-one can kick you without coming within range of being hit themselves, can they? I mean no-one has 15ft-long legs! And even if they did, the moment that person came within fifteen feet from you, you would attack, thus negating any full kicks.
'Looking like the eagle': This is the kind of awareness that one has to develop to take full advantage of the above principles. We, most of us, usually see with only one vision; ie; fully focussed vision. We see something move and focus on it. If a shape is there, we focus on it. If it moves away quickly, we lose that focus until we catch up with it again and re-focus. However, there are three main visions that we, as Martial Artists, should use. Focus, large peripheral and middle peripheral. The middle peripheral is the one that is used more in the Martial Arts, as we usually are faced with only one attacker; if more, then we use large peripheral vision.
But it's not that, simply, as the eagle has something more. Called follow vision. In this way the eagle is able to literally lock onto an object's space and so, no matter what shape that space is, it can only ever take up that same amount of space. So the eagle locks on to the space that the body takes up and uses middle peripheral vision so that when the object moves, or changes shape, so too does the vision of the cagle. Its body now changes subconsciously in tune with its own vision, and so we have the cagle able to move at almost the precise moment that its prey moves, and adjust itself accordingly.
This is what the T'ai Chi classics say when we are told to have the eye of the cagle. So back to the hinge/peng: We hold the arms in such a position as to be able to change at any moment to counter and simultaneously attack the oncoming object. We learn this type of simultaneous block and attack in the advanced pushing hands practice of hinge/peng push hands and small circle push hands. In this practice we use only the peng/hinge position in defence and attack. For example, if someone just attacks with any kind of punch we would come in as soon as the attacker comes within range and simultaneously block and attack using whatever portions of our peng/hinge arrived first.
We do not think about it. The position of the anns is such that we do not have to think. As soon as the arms make contact, we know the 'weighting' of the attacker and the correct palm, fist or fingers attacks to a vital point - the one that is closest to the position of impact or joining with the attacker.
So, why do we need all those tiresome forms? We need them to learn timing and, without timing then all the above principles are lost and we have to go back to using the postures as fighting techniques. This is a way oflosing, as we have literally hundreds of techniques that can be gleaned from the postures and hundreds of reasons to think about what we are doing. Using the above principles, we only have one technique to know about and the anns, legs, and body take care of themselves.
Push Hands certainly cannot be used for fighting. But if we know about the very advanced peng/hinge push hands then we can use this Push Hands training method to teach us about 'no-mind fighting', wherein the body takes care of itself and the mind looks after everything else.
This is one of the reasons I have always come out so strongly against Pushing Hands competitions, because I know about peng/hinge Push Hands and Small Circle Chi-na Push Hands. If we are to use this type of Pushing Hands in competition, then people would be knocked out by strikes to vital points, have ribs crushed by elbows to those areas of the gall bladder points on the torso, or have their eyes taken out! Ordinary 'peng, Lu, Chi and am' Pushing Hands, the one that everyone learns and usually sticks with throughout their lives, only teaches us some weighting and timing and how to move backwards out of the way of an oncoming attack. This is what most people think is 'yielding'. However, this could not be further from the truth, as this principle is wrong as far as the classics are concerned. We are told in the classics that if he goes up, we go up and if he goes down, then we go down. Then we are tvld, and here is the
incorrect translation, ifhe comes forward, we go back! This is the exact opposite!
Then we are told that if he goes back then we follow! How silly! He is evading and we move forward right into his trap! No, the classics originally stated that if he comes forward, we do the same and if he retreats, then we do the same.
So where does that leave our Pushing Hands? This is where many people prefer to stick with the beginning Push Hands and when he attacks (comes forward) we sit back and evade, then we come forward with an attack and he goes back etc. However, in advanced Push Hands, we stick rigidly to the classics. When he attacks we come forward and evade and at the same time attack. When he goes back to attack us, we also go back, thus avoiding his attack. Some would say that this would lead to force on force and we would collide and, for this very reason, most people will never understand advanced Pushing Hands - as it takes minute movement and precision to be able to work this type of pushing.
But again, this idea that we would collide is wrong, as we use the T'ai Chi principle of folding. This can be explained by using more simple single hand pushing, When we are attacked on a portion of our body - in this case the forearm - we do not resist at that point nor do we move that point away to yield, but rather we shift the fulcrum so that the force is turned away and the lever then attacks the oncoming force. This movement is very small and sometimes cannot be detected with the human eye, but its effect is felt by the attacker. As the attack becomes heavy on my forearm, I do not sit back but rather corne forward, changing my fulcrum and hinging my ann so that my elbow naturally attacks to the chest of the attacker, putting his timing right out, and have been able to make use of his unbalanced state to launch my own attack. But this has not been planned; it must happen as a result of his oncoming force in his attack. My body must just react as it should to this situation.
In tournaments we have many people looking at us, expecting us to win. So we, none of us being Gods, revert to the physical Pushing Hands, which usually ends up as a wrestling match with the strongest person winning! No 'no mind', just all mind is used in competition: we are constantly thinking of 'how to defeat this person', 'what technique will I use next' and 'what will I do against his next strong push '? This is not Martial Arts, it is a game. For those who like to play games, fine, but I prefer not to. And who gives a damn how many people become interested in T'ai Chi - which is the cry of those who are for these tournaments - it will bring T'ai Chi out, and make it popular, so what!? T'ai Chi has existed for many hundreds of years by not being popular to the masses and, in many cases, it has been a closely guarded secret. Martial Arts will always be popular with those who are willing to search out what it is they are looking for in a Martial Art. We don't need competition to make it 'popular'.
What is it they are looking for? I have still not found the true answer to that question ... But just lateiy, after 22 years of practice, I am beginning to find some sort ofreason as to why I am doing all of this. Perhaps, as one gets older and sticks with it, one finds something else other than just being good at it, or 'better' than someone else. I think I'm doing a complete turnaround as I am into my fourth decade and see the healing side ofT'ai Chi as becoming more important than the fighting.
However, I must say that one must go through the fighting part, literally to get it out of the way and be confident of one's ability to defend oneself. Only then are we able to go ahead with other areas of the Martial Arts and not be afraid of competition - or continually proving how good we are.
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