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Yang Family Traditional Hand Form T'ai Chi
Why is Tai Chi a difficult martial art?
Why is Tai Chi a difficult martial art?
Tai Chi Also known as T'ai Chi Ch'üan & Taijiquan. UK based Neil Bradley. Tai Chi Chuan. Long Form Sifu Yang Zhengduo Style Taiji Quan. Sifu Cheng Man Ch'ing Health Form. |
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| Move first, arrive late. Let's assume you have completely understood and mastered all the theory and techniques of Tai Chi Chuan. You are still left with a very realistic problem. In order to turn the theory into practice you have to allow your opponent to move first, connect to them, use your instinct to react to their move, deflect the energy away and counter. No going first. A strike from a trained (or untrained fighter come to that) takes under a second. It's worth bearing in mind that Yang Luchan was an adept Hard Style boxer before seeking out Tai Chi Training. *2 Chang San-Feng (Regarded as a founder of the soft school was supposed to have been a Master of Shao-lin Chuan. *3 |
| It seems reasonable to me to assume then as now, in a real fight. You react to the situation. A person who understands both hard and soft styles would seem to have a more reasonable platform than a person who knows just one. It is an uncomfortable truth for those who know only the one, especially if they try to claim one style is superior to another. And it can all go astray against a natural fighter, trained or not. |