Tai Chi in Combat

[SatyagrahaKF]

Against someone who is using karate, muai thai, or even kung fu, how effective is tai chi against these quicker styles?

[back_fist]

First of all, Tai Chi is executed quickly when applied in combat. It is practised slowly to develop your inner strength. When it is applied in combat, it should be free of any muscular strength at all, utilizing only tendon, ligament, and through opening you qi pathways. Also important to note is that not all Tai Chi systems are combatitive. Chen is the eldest and most difficult system, and the most martial based. The other systems of Tai Chi, such as Yang and Wu, were developed from Chen and focus more on overall health, by maximizing qi flow. So to answer your question, it depends on the attitude of the Tai Chi practitioner. If they focus on the combat direction of tai chi, then this question becomes just another "insert style vs. insert style". And Tai Chi can be an extremely powerfull martial art if that is its aim. I hope this helps.

[nanfeishen]

How effective is your Shaolin system against the same styles? , it is not important how effective a style is, it is how much effort you as the practitioner put in to the art.

As to the question of Tai Chi being effective, the answer is, very!! ,unfortunately many schools nowadays only ever offer Tai Chi as an alternate option to the harder styles, or as a "health" orientated martial art, the sudden interest in the art has unfortunately taken the health side a little too far.

Tai Chi Chuan , is and always has been a martial art of great strength and power, but it also serves as a safe medium for the the elderly , unfit , injured or sick to regain their health , strength and vitality in a safe manner , one that does not strain the body , internally or externally.

The sudden rush by westerners to find alternate means to health, has sparked an interest in the ideas of gaining health through the practice of Tai Chi, but with this has come a large misunderstanding of the art.

[SatyagrahaKF]

I agree 100%. My sifu always says that it is sad how people have lost the true intention of Taiji as a fighting art, not just an exercise.

[shogeri]

It's a great martial art when taught as such. There are many great Taijiquan schools out there. There are some kung fu styles that come close.

At the higher levels of aikido, one also comes close to the abilities of a Taiji Boxer, but with fewer strikes.

Aikijutsu might come close.

[lordtariel]

I would have to say that a trained Tai Chi practitioner would do very well against other artists. This being said, you have to find a sifu who actually knows the martial aspects and you need to train diligently. Some of my friends are really into kendo. I had no sword experience other than my Tai Chi training with the Dao(broadsword) and Jian(straightsword), but I could hold my own against him using only those techniques I have learned, although I had to move much faster. I found the experience very interesting. If you are interested in learning some of the basics of combat in Tai Chi, find an instructor that teaches push hands as it is great training. A good book demonstrating some of Tai Chi's combat applications is Tai Chi Chuan Martial Applications by Jwing-Ming Yang. Tai Chi is also good as a suppliment to soft style arts such as judo and akido to train your ballance and body mechanics.

[Goju_boi]

At the higher levels of aikido, one also comes close to the abilities of a Taiji Boxer, but with fewer strikes.

Aikijutsu might come close.

explain please

[pepto_bismol]

I have heard of tai chi chuan kickboxing, but never seen tai chi fighting applications.

[Gaoguy]

Try this:

http://www.taijigongfu.com/gallery.html

I'm not a Chen guy but Marin has good pedigree.

[shogeri]

As we all know, both styles are classified as internal.

There are two various levels one can achieve in Taijiquan, and indeed many systems. At the highest level, one becomes Taiji. At the lowest level of Taijiquan training, one is prominent in yang, or the external manifestation of skill and technique. As a person progresses, they move from being mostly yang to one where there is balance between yin and yang in all of their movements. A harmony if you will.

The yang movements of Taijiquan represent large physical motion.

Taiji Boxing, is just another loose term to referring to the fighting principles behind Taijiquan, which may or may not involve the higher level of internalization. Taijiquan also employs many Shiao Chiao or Chinese grappling techniques similar to those of Aikido and Jujutsu.

As one progresses more toward internalizing their Taijiquan, meaning to balance between yin and yang, their sensitivity and awareness increases, and the physical movements or responses to stimuli need not be as large due to the training of harmony between body, mind, and spirit.

In most external styles, the emphasis remains with yang.

Here are some ways in which Aikido has been described:

Aikido is more than a physical art, though. Into its techniques are woven elements of philosophy, psychology, and dynamics. It is a way of life that unifies life energy, ki, a way of being in harmony with one's environment and centered within oneself. At its highest levels, it is an effective discipline for the development, integration, and utilization of all of one's powers - mental as well as physical. http://www.stanford.edu/group/aikido/index.shtml?what_is_aikido

Aikido incorporates a wide range of techniques which use principles of energy and motion to redirect, neutralize and control attackers. http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=66jm5r3m2gjkp?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Aikido&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc04a&linktext=Aikido

Okabayashi asked me to grasp both of his wrists as hard as I could. I outweigh him probably by 60 pounds and am much larger and stronger in terms of pure physical strength, yet I found myself upside down in the air propelled 360 degrees to his side. I have no idea what he did. I didn’t feel much movement and when I asked his students what he did, they couldn’t really explain. His movement seemingly was very small – but this 220 pound man was thrown effortlessly. http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=454

"His movement seemingly was very small", this has been noted of many Aikido and Aikijutsu Masters over the years, and has also been noted with those Taijiquan Masters as well.

Not all aikidoka believe that ki is a kind of "stuff" or "energy." For some aikidoka, ki is an expedient concept - a blanket-concept which covers intentions, momentum, will, and attention. If one eschews the view that ki is a stuff that can literally be extended, to extend ki is to adopt a physically and psychologically positive bearing. This maximizes the efficiency and adaptability of one's movement, resulting in stronger technique and a feeling of affirmation both of oneself and one's partner.

...Aikido requires a sensitivity to such diverse variables as timing, momentum, balance, the speed and power of an attack, and especially to the psychological state of one's partner (or of an attacker). http://www.sotnak.com/primer/

They {TJQ and Aikido}understand and apply ki/qi differently, but with very similar results.

In both systems, the techniques used {throwing, grappling, redirection, etc} require a sensitivity and or awareness to how your body is aligned both geometrically and structurally, and when aligned properly you feel the muscles and tendons in accordance with your posture. That posture will change in the course of executing the technique, but still remain true to its foundation, form, and structure. Moreover, you will also notice and become increasingly aware or sensitive to the skeletal structure of your opponent, as well as the space between and around you and your opponent to fight effectively.

All this sensitivity is not too dissimilar to surfing where you have more of a proactive understanding and application of the movements, thus flow with a variety of factors and motion to where you're so on top of it that you're riding with the wave without thinking.

Or perhaps those people who play table tennis, and remarkable know, when, and how to respond to the ball coming into their area before it even gets there. Basically it comes down to training the mental and muscular reflexes in your body to move in a particular way given a particular stimuli.

Well, that is what I know for now. Hopefully I clarified what I was saying.

Later!