Tai Chi and combat effectiveness

[joesteph]

I had a senior moment last night at Tai Chi. . . . [A] certain sequence of moves had led me into the karate kata Naihanchi and my subconscious had taken over.

I got a round applause which wasn't entirely sarcastic

I'd love to see this up on YouTube, Bob. You'd probably get 1,000 hits a day.

[kamahlthedruid]

I heard that tai chi enhances any thing a person do in life by giving him or her a sense of balance. How might tai chi improve daito ryu aikijitsu? I heard that tai chi introduces advance principles early to daito ryu practioners.

[DWx]

I heard that tai chi enhances any thing a person do in life by giving him or her a sense of balance. How might tai chi improve daito ryu aikijitsu? I heard that tai chi introduces advance principles early to daito ryu practioners.

Tai Chi definitely helped my TKD. Made me much more aware of my hip movement and where I was placing my weight. I think my forms improved ten fold after doing Tai Chi for a couple of months.

[dwarf2]

Hi im new to the forum and i really like tai chi .

[joesteph]

My best friend returned from a tour of China, and he couldn't get over how, very early in the morning, he saw so many people doing Tai Chi, even hearing the music played. They tended to be middle-aged, but something told him that these were people who were not only doing Tai Chi as exercise, but even socially, that they met each morning. At one place he visited, he saw two men doing a sword form, and when I asked him to describe the sword, it was a straight one, so it had to be Tai Chi as opposed to a broader Kung Fu weapon.

I did find out a while ago that GM Hwang Kee studied Tai Chi, and that the present Kwan Jang Nim, H.C. Hwang, looks upon it as a nice complement to Soo Bahk Do (if you're going to study another art at the same time). I can swear that in the Chil Sung (Seven Stars) forms of Soo Bahk Do, there are moves that are definitely influenced by Tai Chi.

[dwarf2]

I've done tai chi appr. 22 years and it has a wide range of weapons and is really fun to do. I use fans broad sword and double edge sword and staff. I really love the art and im near 50 now and my mobility is like when i was in my 20's.

[bushido_man96]

Probably a jian, Joe.

[joesteph]

Probably a jian, Joe.

Catalogs usually just call it a Tai Chi sword; I didn't know its actual name till you mentioned it, Brian. In Wikipedia it says:

 

The jian is a double-edged straight sword used during the last 2,500 years in China. . . .

 

Contemporary jian versions are often forged . . . and assembled by mostly traditional methods for training of practitioners of Chinese martial arts around the world.

Now that's a track record for any weapon!

[joesteph]

Dave Lowry's Black Belt article, Karate Way: How to Follow up Your Martial Arts Attacks isn't actually about Tai Chi, but about stability when striking. But in the article, he says:

Broadly speaking, internal Chinese arts like tai chi are categorized as “single-footed.” That means the balance is never centered on both feet. Rather, it constantly shifts from one to the other. Balance and stability never depend on both; either foot should be able to do that job.

He explains within the article the need to be able to strike well even if both feet are not used for stability. It's an interesting read, and helps me better follow the first punch in what Soo Bahk Do calls Pyung Ahn Cho Dan, as I saw it in a YouTube video demo. I didn't expect a Tai Chi reference to be a karate aid.

[bushido_man96]

Good, sound mechanics, will transfer across the board, no matter the system involved. It has more to do with body mechanics than stylistic preferences when it comes to sound technique.