Chenhan Yang and Helen Liang do T'ai Chi

Liang Shou-Yu does T'ai Chi 24 Form

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).
 

How T'ai Chi Builds Confidence (3) Believing

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T'ai Chi brings about confidence this way:  By studying (knowing) and practicing (doing), we come to believe that we can do the movements.  We may have to encourage ourselves, or seek encouragement from others, to keep it steady and to keep at it.  We believe that we can do the movements, because we show ourselves and others actually doing them.
 

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.
 

Song of 13 Postures (3) Stillness

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Be still, when touched by the opponent; be tranquil and move in stillness.

Reference: Song of the Thirteen Postures.

The Song of Peng (4)

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Even if the opponent uses a thousand pounds of force,
he can be uprooted and made to float without difficulty.

Reference: Songs of the Eight Postures, by T'an Meng-hsien.

An (Push) is Pushing Energy

Lesson 13: After sinking and gathering energy, Push releases energy in an upward, uprooting movement.

Lesson 14: "When applied [Push] flows like water - hardness and strength concealed in gentleness."

Lesson 15: To uproot your partner with Push, make sure your own root is... rooted.

Ji (Press) is Pressing Energy

Lesson 10: Done in a flow, Press stores energy in the waist, then releases it via arms and shoulders.

Lesson 11: T'ai Chi is about practice, practice, and practice on a daily basis.

Lesson 12: The power behind Press comes from the spiraling arms, turning waist, and rooting to the ground.

Lu (Roll Back) is Deflecting Energy

Lesson 7: Lu is about keeping your center of mass downward, and turning from your waist.

Lesson 8: The Classics say to use four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds. That's Lu.

Lesson 9: Use adhering energy to deflect your opponent downward and to the side.

Peng (Ward Off) is Expanding Energy

Lesson 1: "Péng is an energy [that] pushes out in all directions to create a protective buffer around the core."

Lesson 3: This clip is for practicing, and consolidating, Lessons 1 and 2.

Lesson 5: The rounded arms and back - circles within circles - are a key to deflecting force.
 

Elaborating Wu Wei, by Edward Slingerland

In this 5-part Big Think Mentor workshop Edward Slingerland teaches you how to apply the ancient Chinese concept of Wu-Wei to your everyday life. Following the teachings of four philosophers (Confucius, Laozi, Mencius, and Zhuangzi) you will learn strategies for attaining the seemingly paradoxical state of "effortless action." In other words, you will learn how to cultivate your inner spontaneity - how to try not to try. Slingerland is an expert in Chinese thought, comparative religion, and cognitive science. This workshop is an accompaniment to his latest book Trying Not to Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity.

This first video lesson is an introduction to idea of effortless action, the concepts Wu-Wei and De, and the four philosophers that will be covered in the workshop.

Being in the flow, being in the zone.  Yes, athletes sometimes find themselves in this state, while in the midst of competition or performance.  T'ai Chi practice promotes wu wei.  T'ai Chi practice facilitates wu wei.  Take time to learn about it, make effort to practice, attend the right classes, and get it a try in your everyday life.  What Slingerland relates, in this and the preceding article, is really good for that learning.

Introducing Wu Wei, by Edward Slingerland

Dr. Edward Slingerland on wu wei, the Confucians and the Daoists' key to political and spiritual success. Slingerland's is the author of Trying Not to Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity. 

Transcript.  Wu wei is an early Chinese term that means literally no doing or no trying. But I think a better translation is effortless action. And it's the central spiritual ideal for these early thinkers I look at. So the Confucians and the Daoists. And what it looks a little bit like flow or being in the zone as an athlete. So you're very effective. You're moving through the world in a very efficient way -- social world and physical world. But you don't have a sense of doing anything. You don't have a sense of effort. You don't have a sense of yourself as an agent. You kind of lose yourself in the activity you're involved in. 

And you're not only efficacious in terms of skill in the world. You also have this power that the early Chinese call -- unfortunately the Mandarin pronunciation is duh which sounds kind of funny. But it's often translated as virtue. It means like charismatic power. Charismatic virtue. It's this energy you kick off, an aura that you kick off when you're in a state of wu wei. And this is why these early thinkers want wu wei because for both of them, the Confucians and the Daoists it's the key to political and spiritual success. So if you're a Confucian getting into a state of wu wei gives you this power duh. And this allows you to attract followers without having to force them or try to get them to follow you. People just spontaneously want to follow you.  If you're a Daoist it's what relaxes people, puts them at ease and allows you to move through the social world effectively without harm. So everybody wants this because it's a very -- it's the key to success. But they're all involved in this tension then of how do you try to be effortless. How do you try not to try.

So the first strategy is the early Confucian strategy which I refer to as carving and polishing strategy which is essentially you're gonna try really hard for a long time. And if you do that eventually the trying will fall away and you'll be spontaneous in the right way. So you practice ritual, you engage in learning with fellow students and eventually somehow at some point you make the transition from trying, to having internalized these things you're learning and being able to embody them in an effortless way. The second strategy, the uncarved block or going back to nature strategy is the Daode jing or the primitivists Daoists. And they essentially think the Confucian strategy is doomed. If you are trying to be virtuous, if you're trying to be a Confucian gentleman, you're never gonna be a Confucian gentleman. Anyone trying to be benevolent is never gonna actually be benevolent. They're just gonna be this hypocrite. 

So their strategy is undo all this learning that you've been taught. So get rid of culture, get rid of learning, actually physically drop out of society. So they want you to go live in the countryside in a small village. It looks a lot like kind of 1960s hippie movement, you know. Back to nature and get rid of technology. Get rid of all of the bad things that society has done to us. There's good points to this strategy, too. One of the main insights I think of the Daoists, these early Daoists is a way in which social values, social learning can corrupt our natural preferences. So we're, you know, body images in advertising teach women that they have to be anorexic if they're attractive. We're taught that we always need to have the latest iPhone. So, you know, we have a perfectly good iPhone but then we see the new iPhone and suddenly our old iPhone isn't good anymore. 

There's a lot of good literature on this in psychology on the hedonistic treadmill. We're never quite happy with what we have. As soon as we get it we want the next thing. And the Daode jing thinks Confucianism encourages that. And the solution to get off that hedonistic treadmill was to just stop and go back to nature and be simple. So that's the uncarved box strategy. And probably which strategy is the best varies by the situation. So it probably varies from situation to situation what your particular barrier to spontaneity is in the moment. And it also probably varies person to person. So people who have innate personality differences that probably determine which strategy's the best for them. And then also, you know, we've got -- people are introverted who need one sort of push. And people are extroverted, you know, the other kind of maybe be getting pulled in. And also probably varies by life stage.

There is a lot to this talk to reflect on.  But in essence wu wei is about following the Tao - the Way of Nature.  From T'ai Chi practice, to our personal, social and professional activities, wu wei is about finding what works naturally, what works best, where we are most inclined, and even where fate seems to lead us to.  Defining wu wei as effortless action is right.

Mind, Body and Spirit of Bruce Lee's Punch

Bruce Lee

Drawing upon both physical and neuro power, Lee’s devastating one-inch punch involved substantially more than arm strength. It was achieved through the fluid teamwork of every body part. It was his feet. It was hips and arms. It was even his brain. In several milliseconds, a spark of kinetic energy ignited in Lee’s feet and surged through his core to his limbs before its eventual release.

Reference: The intriguing science behind Bruce Lee’s one-inch punch.

This is a good review of the biomechanics of Bruce Lee's devastating punch.  In brief, he nurtured an amazing ability to converge mind and body, and spirit, too, no doubt, onto a target and to do so with breathtaking speed and power.  This happens only through countless practice sessions, as Lee was known to practice his martial arts constantly.  These sessions are not just physical, but also mental and neural, offering testament to the T'ai Chi Ch'uan principle of the mind being the commander (i) over the chi and over the body.

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.