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The Benefits of Tai Chi and Internal Martial Arts for Self-defense: Part 1 of 2Internal Martial arts such as Tai Chi, or Ba Gua can be extremely effective for self defense if trained correctly. There are a few strategic principles in Chinese internal Martial Arts that can provide a tactical advantage in melee combat. I will outline them in the following sections: Body Alignment and Changing, Friction and Sensitivity, Timing, Initiative (these last two I will explain in part two of this article). You will notice there is no magic to any of this – it is all science. For more information on tai chi, self-defence and kung fu please visit Martial Arts London Ontario (MALO).

Body Alignment / Posture and Body Changing

The first thing about internal chinese martial arts like Tai Chi and Ba Gua is that they are based off of the chinese system of medicine. This system has been well aware of things that chiropractors and sports physiotherapists are just starting to learn about the human nervous system and spinal cord, meditative benefits, and muscle/tendon functional excellence. Like gymnasts and dancers, internal arts practitioners do difficult and challenging exercises, drills, and forms in order to literally change their body’s metabolism, balance, structure, tendon strength, speed and flexibility. The more serious one is with their body changing training, the more results they will see. Doing Tai Chi once per week without the requisite secrets is not good enough. At first this training is extremely difficult, just as jogging is extremely difficult for the beginner. But after years of practice, the internal martial artist’s body starts to change, and they start to see the health and martial benefits as they begin to move as a functional unit and cease using “awkward force”. They also get damaged less often in hard martial arts sparring. This body changing also includes tendon conditioning, thus making an internal artist “seem” stronger as they move as a more functional unit. Tendons are as strong as steel. If you can learn to use them, and to strengthen them, then you will move as a more functional and solid (yet fluid) unit.

Friction and Sensitivity

Another key aspect in internal arts like Tai Chi, or Ba Gua (Cheng Sher and Magui), is friction, or what is sometimes called sticky hands. With this body changing, and two person “push”, “search”, or “sticky” hands practice, practitioners become more sensitive to the movements of others, and by using this sensitivity, internal martial artists can use a foe’s force against them by placing them off balance. And by using friction, the practitioner can deliver more kinetic energy per second than a straight punch. All boxers know that more friction means more damage, so too does this apply to throws and arm drags. The more friction when throwing an opponent, the more kinetic energy you deliver into them, the faster they hit the ground. Also, using friction properly

By: martial arts london ON

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When the small tai chi master from China threw me to my basement floor, I realized the real power behind this misunderstood martial art. I laughed at how easily he threw me down. He laughed, too.

I stood up and we touched wrists again. I stepped at him and again found myself on the floor, looking at my carpet in a whole new way.

I was on the receiving end of a tai chi master’s skill and power.

Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing (pronounced “shou-shing”) is a direct descendant of the man who created tai chi. He visited my home for a week and I spent quality time finding out first-hand why so many people misunderstand this powerful martial art.

Around the world, tai chi is used as a slow-motion exercise for health and meditation, but that’s not why it was created. Many martial artists call tai chi a “soft” art, but that’s because real tai chi is rare in the United States. Every movement in tai chi is a self-defense technique.

The art was created in the 15th Century by Chen Wangting, a retired warrior in Henan Province, China. His family still practices it as a martial art. They say you have to “eat bitter” to develop tai chi skill. Real tai chi training, especially with the Chen family, involves pain.

The idea of tai chi is to break your attacker quickly and end the fight. Tai Chi is practiced in slow motion so students can develop the body mechanics and structure to deliver the self-defense techniques powerfully. To the average observer, tai chi appears relaxed and fluid. Underneath, the body structure gives it an iron-like strength.

I studied tai chi for a decade before being introduced to the real art, and I was stunned at its power. In the years since I began studying the Chen style, as my skill has increased, I’ve met many tai chi students who have been in the art for over 20 years but they don’t know the proper way to move. Most teachers don’t understand the “secrets” of the art. As a result, students don’t learn real tai chi.

The real secret of tai chi and the “internal” arts of China is simple: these are physical skills that take years to develop. Too many teachers focus on developing “chi,” a mysterious energy they claim is circulating through the body. Their students focus on chi and miss the body mechanics that can make them powerful.

This lesson was driven home to me in my basement as Grandmaster Chen kept throwing me to the floor while he remained relaxed. I began to realize what he was doing, and the subtle way he was making me lose just enough of my balance that I could be easily thrown. It was a valuable lesson. After he left my home, I was more determined than ever to keep practicing so I could develop higher-level skill in this very hard “soft” art.



By: Ken Gullette

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