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| Relative positioning | ||
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Peripheral
If your eyes are not constantly
receiving information
concerning your attackers, you will be caught off
guard.
Do not put too much attention on any one thing.
Maintain a 360°
awareness.
Your situation
Be very conscious of where you are situated relative to your
attackers. Are you in the centre of the circle or the
outside?
Do people have a clear route of attack or are they hampered by their
associates?
Is your back to a wall?
The Art of War counsels careful
consideration of your position at every step of your
defence.
You cannot afford to become cornered or trapped at any time.
Simplicity
Over-committing yourself will lead to
instant defeat.
You must let your attackers come to you and then entangle them in one
another.
Use the least amount of force.
Minimalist
The more simple your counter, the fewer
mistakes you will make.
Be circuitous in evasion, but direct in striking.
Limit your steps to the absolute minimum without
rooting yourself to the spot.
If you can simply turn and shift your
weight, then do so.
Centred
If you become entangled or
over-committed, abort immediately and re-establish your
centre.
Only when you are centred and in control of your own body can you hope to
control anyone else.
Shadow
They move, you move. Never establish a position of
fixity. Respond like their own shadow.
Make your presence cloying and intrusive, sticky
and insubstantial - take what you need and deny them everything.
Never stop yielding; gravity is your greatest weapon.
Body shield
Take a person as a shield whenever you can and use them as a
tool.
Make the attackers strike their own
associate.
When it is time to release your shield, pitch them into somebody else.
Redirection
Redirect incoming
force so that it veers back out into the circle. The more erratic the
better.
Encourage your attackers to strike one another.
Use your yielding skills to borrow direction and power
from each attacker, slipping around
their body and subtly changing their trajectory.
Evade
There is no way that you can reasonably
neutralise every punch, kick or
grapple.
Often you must simply move aside and strike. Be
careful not to simply dance.
Use the alignment of your body to compromise
each attacker - aim to reduce their options whilst increasing your own.
Strike
Make sure that the angle of contact when striking is optimal.
Maintain the 5 bows and avoid hitting hard
areas on your attacker's body.
Do not squander strikes with half-hearted taps.
Groundpath
Find the groundpath and drop your weight deep into their centre.
Do not forget about your legs, hips, back, shoulders and the length of each
arm.
People quickly become hand-oriented and neglect to use every single part of
their body.
Never think of pushing your opponent far away - just taking them off-balance will do.
(Lau Kim Hong)
Page
created 25 August 2002
Last updated
04 May 2023
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