Here is natural instinct and here is control. You are to combine the two in harmony.
If you have one to the extreme, you'll be very unscientific. If you have another to the extreme, you become, all of a sudden, a mechanical man - no longer a human being. So it is a successful combination of both, so therefore, it's not pure naturalness, or unnaturalness. The ideal is unnatural naturalness, or natural unnaturalness.

(Bruce Lee)

Form

Tai chi form is stylised kung fu; the strikes, throws and applications of kung fu have been smoothed together into a flowing routine.
Whilst form is not dance, it is also not fighting either.

When the edge of the kung fu is blunted, the essence of the movement remains.
Form is 'body shaped into movement'.
'Application' is movement applied relative to other movement.

By removing the precision of kung fu, tai chi turned specific moves into abstract ones.
The abstract can take many forms.


Instinct

When an untutored body responds to real danger, it adopts an instinctive posture of defence.

Our school practices the form in a manner that encourages the body to follow instinct and respond naturally.
We simply tinker with the shape slightly and pay particular attention to the biomechanics required to produce the desired movement.


Abstract

Abstract training methods such as melee accustom students to responding whilst controlling and shaping the nature of their response.
Instinct is combined with form.

The form pattern is initially learned by rote; a robotic sequence of linear moves.
Then, you learn how those moves can be generated using the spine, waist, joints and weight shift.
When the biomechanics for each individual 'posture' are physically differentiated, you find that the limbs can only move so far using the whole body and that the applications are defined by the range of the movement.

The form no longer looks quite so crisp and clear; it has become rounded and abstract in appearance.


Natural

If somebody were to attack you unexpectedly, your response would not look like tai chi.
Even after years of training, it would look casual.

Self defence is not stylised.
It is not dance, or form - it is the natural response to the requirement of the situation.


Function

The more closely your form follows the natural inclination of your body, the more likely you are to use the lessons it teaches in actual combat.

The accuracy of form must pertain to the spatial parameters of groundpath, the strength of good alignment and skilful body use.

Unnatural

You are attacked and you respond.

Later, it may be possible to consider what you did and identify movements that are form postures.
Maybe not.
The tai chi must be subsumed by your instinct and your instinctual response must be shaped by the tai chi.

Perhaps then you will have become naturally unnatural or unnaturally natural.

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