If only there were evil
people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary
only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.
But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human
being.
And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
(Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)
Deterrent
The aim with self defence is to deter the assailant. If
you can walk away without violence, you should.
Tai chi is not an
aggressive art.
It is responsive, not
forceful.
Our intention is to dissuade the attacker. We are not in a movie or a
competition.
There is nothing to prove.
Your goal is to walk away unharmed.
The syllabus offers an
ascending scale of response; from the innocuous-seeming to the downright
lethal.
We prefer to be mild and
considerate,
rather than leap for overkill from the onset.
Don't over-react
When somebody threatens you with danger, it is important to do only what
you need to do.
Hence, verbal insults and threats are irrelevant; they harm only the
ego.
Until somebody tries to touch you, there is no need to even move.
A way out
Both
Tao Te Ching
and The Art of War advise you to avoid backing the attacker into a corner,
either physically or psychologically.
If you do not allow the person an easy way out, they will have no choice
but to fight you.
Given that our aim is to avoid harming people, we must look to a peaceful
resolution of conflict.
This means that your emotions need to remain
calm and you
must be polite but
impersonal with the
aggressor.
Even if you can seriously harm the assailant, give them the chance to
walk away.
Should the situation rapidly escalate beyond your control, you may have to
harm your attacker(s).
Again, seek only to do what is necessary.
Face
Humans are psychologically invested in their faces.
If you hit somebody in the face, it is not
respectful
and typically produces emotional upset.
When protecting yourself, try to strike the body rather than the face.
A good
fa jing or gravity
strike to the torso will deter most attackers - leaving them winded,
incapacitated and/or on the ground.
They now have time to ponder the
foolishness of their actions.
This process grounds the attacker. It takes them out of their
minds and back into their bodies.
They will suffer no long-term damage. Only the ego has been hurt.
Facial striking
Facial strikes in our school are never extended blows. They are more
whip-like.
The aim is to stun or incapacitate the attacker.
We also use the head during 'dying ground' training and chin na practice.
No one
Good tai chi skill looks like nothing special and is so subtle that most
people miss it altogether.
They are totally unaware of what happened.
Your skill is demonstrated by the manner in which you respond to aggression.
Ideally, you must be
ego-less.
The assailant must feel like they are attacking a nebulous
shadow.
Page created 2 January 2006