As we discussed in Tai Chi as a Martial Art - Parts I and II - the ultimate purpose of Tai Chi as a martial art is total control of your opponent. It then makes sense that martial students are usually taught their primary goal is to affect the opponent’s center of gravity immediately upon contact. The idea is to break your attacker quickly in order to end the fight. In martial practice, it is easy to see why chances of injury are higher than Tai Chi for health.
As we also discussed previously, many senior Tai Chi Masters feel there is no difference between Tai Chi for health and Tai Chi for self-defense or fighting. Form teaches how to move the body to gain power and speed without thinking. Learning structure, alignment, breathing, movement, and internal workings are the same for health and self-defense; and will make a huge difference in the quality of practice and benefits derived.
Let’s look at some of the principles relating to Tai Chi fighting:
Never meet force with force. Always yield to an attack.
Do not allow your opponent to escape.
Look for exposed areas where a strike would be effective.
Use your opponent’s incoming force to unbalance him/her and stick to him/her.
Turn your waist and deflect your opponent either past you or off to the side.
Direct your power upwards to knock your opponent over by uprooting.
Always protect your center (face, heart, groin, Dantian).
Always look in each and every direction for what may be coming: front, back, above, below, diagonally, etc.
Use your opponent’s force to attack back.
Martial training takes place in either close, medium, or long range, as well as everything in between., Pushes are more common than punches. Kicks are usually to the legs and lower torso, rarely higher than the hip. Fingers, fists, palms, sides of hands, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, back, hips, knees, and feet are commonly used to strike eyes, throat, heart, and groin. Advanced practitioners may also strike other acupressure points.
Joint traps, locks, and breaks are also used. Strikes could push an opponent backward or be focused in such a way as to lift the opponent off the ground, breaking their center of gravity. Strikes could also terminate the force within the person’s body with the intention of causing internal damage.
Practice frequently includes ward-off (more extreme than usual), roll-back, press, push, and elbow, shoulder, and knee strikes. Push-hands is thought to be one of the most balanced self-defense training methods when it happens at a subconscious level. It is a whole body workout consisting of weight and power changing. In this extreme version of push-hands, the push is regarded as a striking attack and may be accompanied by a grab of the wrist or the arm.
In what I will refer to as extreme martial training, students are taught to fight at a “reflexive”, or subconscious level, instantly without thinking. Some feel this is the only way to fight, otherwise, a good fighter would be in your face before you could “blink”. Attacking and continuing to attack before your opponent knows what hit him is recommended. Also using a short distance, such as one inch from the neck, with enough power from that small distance to kill, if necessary.
As you can imagine, extreme martial training is not for everyone. Some students do, however, want to learn how to protect themselves and their families. Others just want to understand the applications behind the moves. There are instructors and/or schools who do provide training at the different levels. The search for finding the right martial instructor is important. Review some of the criteria and suggestions for finding an instructor in previous blogs.
Tai Chi fighting is rarely as brutal as depicted in the movie “Man of Tai Chi”. Traditional schools emphasize that one is to show wude - a word meaning martial virtue and/or heroism - by protecting the defenseless and showing mercy to one’s opponents.
I hope this answers some of the questions about the martial aspects of Tai Chi. As you see, Tai Chi can be a beautiful, gentle health exercise, a effective self-defense martial art, or at the other end of the spectrum, one that causes serious or fatal injury. Choose wisely.