Many people think that taijiquan (tai chi) uses yielding as a primary strategy for self defence. The truth is that tai chi strategy is much more direct.
Ian Sinclair makes an important point: While T'ai Chi is soft, relaxed and circular, it does not mean that its martial arts applications are weak, passive or indirect. Still softness and relaxation, plus rooting and centering are the foundation of these applications.
How so?
The softness, for example, allows a practitioner to sense and absorb an opponent's energy, then redirect to his root and into the ground.
I'd argue, though, that yielding is a primary strategy for T'ai Chi self defense. It comes from wu wei, which some translate as yielding. But it means more like non-action, or more specifically following the Tao or the Way of Nature. So if an opponent lunges at you with a hard punch, the incorrect thing to do is to meet the force head-on and counter in kind. Instead, T'ai Chi says we can step aside quickly with a Ward Off, then a Roll Back in the direction of the attack. This way, we slip out of harm's way, while upending the opponent from his root.
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