Helen Liang interviews Liang Shou-Yu

Yang Jwing-Ming on Shuai Jiao | Kung Fu Wrestling

Shuai Jiao is commonly used for short-range fighting and taking down an opponent.

Yang Jwing-Ming on T'ai Chi Self Defense

Practice T'ai Chi slowly and rootedly, in order to apply it rapidly and powerfully in self defense.

Clear's T'ai Chi: Needle at Sea Bottom

I learned this complex movement as Old Man Finds Needle at Sea Bottom.  The thrust of Richard Clear's martial arts application is the sinking of the whole body (i.e. tan tien) in response to an attack.  No to sink with purpose and timing is merely to use arm strength, which can be overpowered by a stronger attacker.
 

Clear's T'ai Chi: Brush Knee, Twist Step

Just as T'ai Chi movement as a whole is for health and meditation, so it is for martial arts.  Richard Clear applies Brush Knee, Twist Step, which has distinct, nearly simultaneous movement of arms and legs.  Applied at the speed of an attack, it draws on the energy and force of the attacker to repel him (e.g. Push with the right hand).
 

Ken Gullette (3) Sense center, uproot opponent

In T'ai Chi Push Hands (Tui Shou), I learned how to sense the center of a partner and thus to uproot him, all the while keeping my center and root.  Ken Gullette points out how easy it is to defeat an attacker, once you know T'ai Chi principles of posture and movement and also grasp the spirit and practice of self defense.
 

Ken Gullette (2) Practices makes powerful

The forms are a means of practicing the body mechanics to make the applications powerful.

This point is an important lesson from Ken Gullette about the fact that practice doesn't just make perfect but it also makes powerful.  This is Roll Back and Press, applied in self defense.  Notice, too, that in a movement like Single Whip, there can be multiple applications:  from the sweeping right arm, to the parry with the left arm and punch (press) with the right hand.  To learn T'ai Chi martial arts, it helps to watch instructional videos, but be sure to learn by practicing it with a friend or classmate.
 

Ken Gullette (1) A force of four ounces

From the sentence "A force of four ounces deflects a thousand pounds," we know that the technique is not accomplished with strength.

Reference:  THE TREATISE ON T'AI CHI CH'UAN | Attributed to Wang Tsung-yueh [Wang Zongyue] (18th Century) | as researched by Lee N. Scheele.

Ken Gullette is absolutely right:  Once you have sufficient mastery of T'ai Chi and self defense applications, you don't have to do much to respond to an attack.  Minimal energy, minimal effort, just a slight turn of the body and a shift in weight, and you're in a positive of advantage.
 

T'ai Chi is about higher purpose

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T'ai Chi is about higher purpose, otherwise it is merely convention and calisthenics, and that's not T'ai Chi at all. 

The wise win before the fight

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I'd like to believe that T'ai Chi eschews any sort of fighting, but I know that that's in an ideal world.  In the real world where conflict very much exists, it is crucial that T'ai Chi practitioners adopt the proper spirit and attitude.

T'ai Chi is a Martial Art

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T'ai Chi is truly benevolent and peaceful, yet it is also concentrated and determined, and no less a fighting art than Kung Fu, Karate or Tae Kwon Do.  Each movement can, and does, have any number of self defense applications.  No, of course, you don't move slowly, if you're called upon to defend yourself.  But, just as Bruce Lee emphasized in Jeet Kune Do, you move with economy of effort and abide by principles of calm and centering.  If you need to move quickly, therefore, move quickly.  If not, then don't.

Master Wong Shows How Strong T'ai Chi Is

Who said T'ai Chi was a weak martial art and was only for old people and women?  Master Wong shows just how strong T'ai Chi is, and can be, when applied for self defense.  

At the end of the day, we as practitioners may decide how to manifest the essence of T'ai Chi as a martial art.  It is often viewed as soft, relaxed and slow, but that is just in the hall or the park.  In a real life threat, we can call upon the very power (fajin) that we nurture in practice.

Advanced T'ai Chi (3) "Train" Self Defense

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The T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classics say, In self defense, use your opponent's force and energy against him.  Stepping out of his line of attack may be all you need to defend yourself.  But it may be necessary to deflect his onrushing punch with a circular arm movement, then push him to the ground in the same direction as his attack. 

Better yet, however, if you can come on board his "train" and make friends with him, then why not?  For example, much as I argued in meetings with a former colleague of mine, he and I always enjoy a nice lunch conversation together.  He'd get emotional, even critical in some meetings, and felt compelled at times to defend whomever was in his radar.  But we never took each other's rebuffs personally.  We literally absorbed each other's offense and defense, and kept more or less positive chi with one another.

This is T'ai Chi self defense at its best, where you and your opponent manage not only to sidestep a fight, but also to join energies together.

Advanced T'ai Chi (2) "Train" Self Defense

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Attacks may be so varied, multiple and sophisticated, that simple T'ai Chi self defense principles do not seem at all adequate.  Your attacker, for example, seems to leap off the ground and rain down from the sky, like a flying train.  What now?

Bruce Lee was positively philosophical yet exceeding practical, too:  You do whatever it takes to protect yourself and perhaps a loved one.  A life-threatening situation is no longer about trying to remember and apply whatever techniques you learned in class.  

You go on instinct, you sense things quickly, you react in whatever way your mind, body and spirit deem you ought to.  Perhaps scream and run, claw and bite, or talk your way out of it.

Advanced T'ai Chi (1) Train Self Defense

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You may find yourself in a more complicated, threatening situation:  There are multiple tracks, with multiple switches, and trains can come and go in all sorts of direction.  

The basic principles of what I call T'ai Chi "train" self defense applies: Use common sense, and get out of the way.  But in this situation, you clearly have to keep your senses up as long as attacks are in force, and you have to step out of harm's way more than once.

Basic T'ai Chi (3) "Train" Self Defense

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In the US, children are taught to "Stop. Look. And Listen." before crossing the street.  In the same vein, school buses are required by law to stop before crossing railroad tracks, and the driver must open the door and look left and right and listen for any oncoming train.

Remember that T'ai Chi helps us be mindful, and be aware of our surroundings.  It isn't just a cerebral thing, either.  Rather T'ai Chi helps us build our senses - sight, sound, smell, taste and touch - such as sensing another person's chi through contact such as Push Hands (Tui Shou).  

Whether I am in an urban, industrial or rural crossing, I essentially do what school children and bus drivers do: I follow signs and signals, stop if necessary, and look around and listen carefully.  

This, too, is T'ai Chi self defense.

Basic T'ai Chi (2) "Train" Self Defense

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Better yet, T'ai Chi self defense principles tell us to stay out of harm's way, to begin with.

Metra in Chicago has a good warning system.  For example, a public announcer cautions commuters that a train is coming in five minutes, then comes back on to say that a train is arriving at the station.

T'ai Chi self defense principles à la Metra encourage us to use common, practical sense:  Stand behind the yellow line, until the train has come to a full stop.  

Basic T'ai Chi (1) "Train" Self Defense

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Suppose, for a moment, that you're standing in the middle of railroad tracks and a Metra train, such as this one in the Chicago suburbs, is coming right at you: What do you do to protect yourself from a horrible death?  It's very simple but crucial.

Get out of the way.  

In its most fundamental sense, this is T'ai Chi self defense.  You are rooted, but stay light and agile on your feet, and simply slide out of an oncoming attack.  You don't have to make a big leap, as the distance you need to move may literally just be inches and you are quickly out of harm's way.

The Speed of T'ai Chi Martial Arts

This is a quick-paced video of several martial arts applications of T'ai Chi movements.  We practice T'ai Chi slowly and meditatively and with full concentration.  But obviously using any of the postures or movements to defend ourselves means using whatever speed is necessary to do so.  We don't have to be lightning quick, though.  We simply have to draw on our mind, body and spirit, in order to understand how and what to do in any given situation.  

Martial Arts Principles, by Ian Sinclair

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.