Defensive Training

The sequence above shows a proper taiji-like response to a threat. A quietly mindful and well-centered response to threats can be fostered through training in Taijiquan.

But seriously, what about defensives? Is Taiji "practical" on the street? Can Taiji people "fight"? Is it a "realistic" martial art?

I have seen Taiji masters, including my teacher, handle combative adepts and street fighters of all body types and levels of experience and attitude. But the most important question isn't what others can do, it's what you can do.

Most martial arts are not particularly relevant to self-protection and survival. Most arts have either a sportive, self-cultivational or cultural/social focus. That's wonderful! But no matter how athletically impressive or culturally deep most arts may be, they aren't highly relevant to your survival in real confrontations.

The factors that really count to insure your survival in situations of potential inter-human conflict are as follows:

1. Awareness: Spot trouble early and don't be there when it arrives. Most arts will openly or subtly train you into a "face off" mentality - as though you are one samurai facing another in a kind of sportive or life-and-death "match". Forget the "face off" mentality. There is no face off. Don't ever face off with anybody. Learn to listen to your body and your own inner voice. Trust your instincts and you'll avoid most problems. Don't take my word for it, please read the book "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin De Becker. Awareness, and self-knowledge, will get you through or avoid most problems. By the way, if you don't drink alcohol, and you stay away from people who do, you've already cut your risk of inter-personal trouble in half or more.

2. Improvised weapons: It's true that anybody can miss the signals and get into trouble. Now what? Now be creative and realize that most of the objects around us are really nasty. Any ordinary implement can be an "improvised weapon". That phrase doesn't mean home-built guns or prison molded "shank" knives or anything weird. It means picking up some handy ordinary object of daily life and using it to fend off an attacker. A book, a pen, an empty soda can, soda bottle, coconut, belt, chair, credit card, stone, or hat can inflict really nasty damage if applied with just a bit of common-sense and target awareness. But the target awareness doesn't need to be terribly sophisticated. Just throwing your hat into your assailant's eyes can buy you all the time you need to get out of there. What you need more than years of "technique" training is just a free and adaptable, creative mind. To learn to free your mind, and learn to see all the possibilities in your environment, I suggest you view the single best training video known to me on this topic: "Improvised Weapons" by Vladimir Vasiliev, a former trainer of the Russian Special Forces. Again, you don't need to be able to clone Vladimir's extremely slick "moves" - just his mindset of flexibility and creativity in adapting what is at hand to your needs.

Those two (above) are the critical factors. If things really fall seriously apart, then yes, as a final backup there's always the fallback of:

3. Hand-to-hand targets: If awareness fails, improvised weapons don't come readily to hand, and you end up "grabbed" - then it is indeed useful to have some basic hand-to-hand and grappling skills and experience. More knowledge is always good! For these extreme situations, it is good to know a few basic vulnerable points of human anatomy, and to learn to apply relaxed and focused power to those areas, and finally to learn to relax out of holds, chokes and grabs.

Notice that each of the 3 important factors of survival listed above has an implied distance and timing "zone of application". Awareness is your entire environment, before there's necessarily any immediate threat. Improvised weapons are a closer zone, when there's a definite threat, and can be used pre-emptively in response to a closer specific danger. Hand to hand and grappling skills, and striking of basic vulnerable targets, are for intimate range application when all else fails.

But! ... How does any of the above relate to Taiji training? At the most basic level, the above suggestions are just good advice for anybody, no matter what kind of practice or activities s/he may additionally pursue for self-cultivation. I will only note in passing that high level Taiji people can apply tremendous power with a light, quick, soft touch, and can relax out of any hold or grab. That's because Taiji trains the mind and body to a fantastic level of sensitivity. Historically, the very best Taiji people have been peerless "fighters" when attacked. But they rarely got into a "situation", because they had developed superior sensitivity to environmental vibrations. But perhaps the same could be said of any great historical figure in any traditional martial art.

The best reason to practice Taiji is for personal enjoyment and gradual cultivation of one's internal energies.