You cannot separate the art of
tai chi
chuan from its application.
Tai chi chuan has two major applications:
one is the promotion of health, the other is a martial art.
(Cheng Man Ching)
Neglect
Many martial artists regard
health as a secondary concern, an
afterthought.
They are more interested in the effectiveness of their fighting skills
rather than their physical wellbeing.
Dynamic Balancing Tai Chi regards health as
paramount.
If your body is unhealthy, this will diminish your ability in
self defence.
Consider: how often do you actually need to use your martial art in self
defence?
End gaining
If you can kick high but doing so hurts your back, should you be
kicking high?
Martial artists will frequently
damage their bodies or ignore serious
injuries in the pursuit of their
art.
The danger with this is that the
injury
worsens and can lead to long-term
joint problems and
arthritis.
In our school of
tai chi, the emphasis is placed upon the way in which the
body is used.
Improved
awareness can reduce the risk of injury, as
a student learns to listen to their body rather than push for a
result.
Damage
High impact training or full
contact practice can also cause injury and permanent
damage to the body.
You may be capable of hurting an opponent, but your own body suffers as
well.
Tai chi was designed to reduce the risk of personal injury.
Impact is soft, not hard.
The
force is passed into the person,
rather than banging off the outside.
Nobody suffers sports injuries from tai chi self defence training.
Cross-training
Some martial artists like to study tai chi in
conjunction with an
existing system.
Tai chi helps to improve their awareness of
frame,
body usage and
sensitivity.
It also adds a
meditative component to their training,
allowing them to relax and become receptive.
Unfortunately, the existing martial art inevitably hampers your ability
to learn the tai chi and
perpetuates habits of poor
body
usage.
To really benefit from tai chi, it is necessary to
drop whatever martial art you are training and study tai chi by itself.
Page created 15 May 2000