360º | ||
classes qigong tai chi kung fu about us reviews a-z
360º
If you want to use tai chi in combat, it is
important for you to have the ability to move in any direction with ease.
Spontaneity is fundamental in combat.
We need freedom of movement, ease, comfort, naturalness and
whole-body strength.
Popular approaches
The stances popularised in many schools are extremely low or linear.
They offer a certain kind of strength but limited mobility when
pressure-tested.
Large stances impede joint mobility and deny the skeleton its full range of
natural movement.
If you work on the premise that all attacks are likely to involve more than one
opponent, you make no assumptions regarding stance.
Stretching can weaken you
Boxers have fought using an upright skeletal stance for millennia, yet many
people stand as if performing yoga. Why is this?
Yoga is great for strong stretching but has no known combat
application.
It is common for exponents to over-commit themselves and
displace the joints; this is bad for combat.
If you want to do a strong stretch, do yoga. If you want to lengthen, only
stretch to 70%.
Li is not internal
Tai chi stretching is mainly internal, not
external. The stretching is mild. We address the bulk of our stretching
during qigong and leg stretches.
Be careful not to take strong stretching into combat.
Central equilibrium
The human skeleton is upright.
Standing upright, with the feet beneath the shoulders/hips maximises your
ability to rotate the hips, move the hips, knees, ankles and shoulders
comfortably.
Do not interfere with your body.
If you cannot generate power standing easily and naturally, you are relying upon
unnatural stances.
Exaggerating your art
Exaggerating the tai chi is a bad habit practiced by inexperienced students
who lack a subtle sense of the art.
Instead of moving in a way that follows the underlying kinetic energy flow, the
student takes huge steps, low stances, and extends their arms absurdly far from
the centre.
Big stances limit your ability to move the joints in a fluid, comfortable way.
The overly-extended limbs create tension in the joints that hamper free
movement.
Tai chi is not yoga.
It is about spontaneous movement, not strong stretching.
Low stances
Your body usage needs to feel as comfortable and as natural as possible.
This
will improve mobility, attract less attention and protect your
knee joints.
If you cannot get power from an everyday standing position, you are overly
dependant upon the hips and the solidity of your base.
Whole-body movement generates power in a wave-like fashion. A low stance is
simply redundant.
Human body
There is a danger in seeking to improve the human body.
Taoism encourages an attitude of going with the
flow, of working with what
you
have.
Keep your movements as natural and comfortable as you can. If it feels like a
posture, then you are exaggerating it.
Avoid fixity
Combat requires spontaneity and ease of movement.
It asks you to move in any direction at any moment.
Being fixed will not
offer you this.
A large frame offers you a gain in one area at the expense of a loss in another.
We need to remain open and flexible, free and mobile.
Stand normally, with your knees relaxed - you already have mobility. Why mess
with it?
Exotic stances
Tai chi
magazines, articles and video clips often feature
Chinese people
adopting extremely demanding postures. These are certainly
impressive.
However, such stances are merely demonstrations of agility,
strength and
suppleness.
They possess no martial value whatsoever. Adopting an exotic stance in combat
would be suicidal.
Motives
It is important to consider your motive when training tai chi.
If your intention is to perform in front of audiences, then exceedingly low
stances may well be a crowd-pleaser.
If you are seeking good fitness and martial skills, such exotic postures are
unimportant.
Tai chi is not about extremities. It is about natural, comfortable, easy
movement.
The emphasis needs to be upon the word 'movement'.
Nimble
Combat is not static or fixed.
An extreme stance represents a martial commitment that will hamper your ability
to move smoothly.
Besides, if you are a Western adult, your knees may well suffer if you try and
squat inches from the ground in a very low stance. Why bother?
Freeform
The final test of
tai chi fighting ability is freeform
combat against multiple opponents.
This will not prove whether or not you will succeed in a real life street
confrontation, but it will pressure test your art.
Do not take our word for anything. Prove it for yourself.
Try low stances against earnest opponents who launch random, unstylised punches,
kicks and grapples.
Find out for yourself what works and what does not.
One of my friends studied
judo for years and years. She was waiting for a chance to use it, but for a long
time nobody tried to attack her. Then one day somebody grabbed her in a parking
lot - and she slugged him with her purse!
And then she thought, "Oh! What happened to my judo?"
She must have been practicing judo as if it were an isolated thing. We should
always practice to let the immediacy of the moment come through. Then you always
have a sense of what you are doing now.
(Chungliang Al Huang)
Page created
18 April 1995
Last updated
16 June 2023
▲