Technical skills | ||
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Technical knowledge
The tai chi martial skills must be refined many,
many times before they are truly 'combat' ready.
The nuance of each movement, the possible ramifications, applications,
variations, off-shoots and follow-ups must be examined thoroughly. How the body
moves. How the power is being generated.
As your overall skill in tai chi grows, your body and mind change
considerably, and these training methods will change with you. Layers of
meaning, purpose and application will unfold.
Efficiency, subtlety, grace and power become your main focus.
Paper tiger?
Without neigong, tai chi lacks teeth. In simple terms, neigong is the process
of gaining whole-body movement. A soft, loose, relaxed, integrated network of
body parts is necessary for the art to work.
Each neigong quality is essentially a subject in its own right, and there are at
least 50 to incorporate. Patient study, reflection, faith and enduring practice
are necessary.
Training your body to incorporate these concerns (to the point where they are
entirely habitual and unconscious) requires patience and commitment.
Most students find that they have gained whole-body strength without even
realising it. When they apply the art, the effect of their actions seems
disproportionate to the effort.
Shuai jiao
The emphasis is upon spontaneity, upon meeting the needs of the immediate
moment. All forms of planning or anticipation are discouraged.
A student must learn to manifest a very wide range of shuai jiao skills
naturally and comfortably. To adapt, change and improvise.
As the practice progresses, an increasingly diverse repertoire of skill emerges.
The shuai jiao applications become more evident within the form(s), drills and
combat training.
Success is measured by the ease of the application, the effect, and the sense of
naturalness. Ideally, it should feel as if the student made no effort.
Chin na
A technical grasp of chin na
entails the study of many different facets.
Not only is it necessary to understand how to chin na, but also how to
position your body in order to have the opportunity to chin na.
There are 5 main areas of skill:
Cavity press
Dividing the muscle
Misplace the bones
Sealing the breath
Seizing
Beginners begin with a very superficial outline of
chin na and then learn how to turn the joints.
Misplacing the bones concludes with 'flowing chin na'; the ability to
spontaneously switch leverage without conscious thought.
Seizing is considered throughout the
syllabus.
The last three chin na skills are instructor-level,
and require on-going practice, correction and
study.
Jing
The refinement of jing is
potentially the most difficult skill for many student.
It requires considerable awareness, sensitivity and practice.
Jing is all about touch.
Some jing are concerned with sensitivity: feeling, monitoring,
understanding, following. Most jing are about the expression of kinetic
energy in different ways.
Form applications
The form practice teaches the body to move into shapes that can be applied
in fighting. Each movement has countless potential combat applications.
Practicing the application of form movements is a way of understanding what
the form can mean.
It teaches the student how to move their body relative to an opponent,
meeting force softly, yet countering with power and stability.
Learn how to flow
In tai chi, one application rolls into another and another. Sifu Waller
has successfully extracted hundreds (if not thousands) of tai chi
applications from every form in our syllabus.
Students begin with simple form applications.
Learn to see
It is very important to apply the tai chi form. Doing so helps the student
to understand the essence of the art. The real skill is to find different
ways in which that particular movement can be used.
Clarity of presence and imagination are essential.
Kinetic energy
Form serves to shape movement. It is the movement that matters rather than
simply a fixed application. Shaped energy removes randomness and renders the
movement tangible.
Tai chi is the movement, the essence. We must explore what that movement
can be used for in combat.
Do not fixate on the final shape; focus instead upon the means that produce
that shape, how it occurs and what drives the body to generate the required
jing.
Tai chi fighting method
The Tai Chi Classics
highlight considerations and qualities
necessary for tai chi.
The student must study the Classics carefully and apply them according to
their own skill and insight.
Without the characteristics outlined in The
Tai Chi Classics, the training cannot be called
tai chi.
Tactical skills
There are many tactical skills that must be applied in combat, including:
3-D
Balance, rhythm, timing
Becoming the centre
Countering
Disintegration
Energy drainage
Entry methods
Everybody falls
Finishing off
First hand, second hand
Floor work (control)
Folding
Holding down the pillow
Impact
Kinetic pathway
Large rhythm, small rhythm
Latent movements
Leading and following
Melee
Minimalism
Monkey paws
Mutual arising
Neutral state/composure
Newton's Laws of Motion
Overwhelming attacks
Pushing peng
Redundancy
Sparing yourself
Unite upper & lower
Yin body
Proficiency in these
skills will radically alter
the effectiveness of your tai chi.
Discipline
Technical skills are not simply past-times for the
pedant or the perfectionist.
The accuracy and depth of your training will
directly affect how skilfully you can facilitate a positive
martial outcome.
A good, thorough, comprehensive understanding of the art is required. The
ability to implement the skills in a wide range of situations.
Without self-discipline, depth and sophistication, a student will be sloppy,
careless and redundant. Power without control is worthless; much is wasted.
Grades
Each grade learns an increasingly challenging range of technical skill. A
new starter cannot hope to learn advanced level skill because they lack the
necessary foundation.
Without context, knowledge is meaningless. New starters consider preliminary
insights. Their success in understanding and applying these factors is
directly linked to their progress.
Syllabus
Our students work through a formal syllabus. They prove their comprehension
of each level through physical demonstration. This is the best way of
assuring that a student is ready to learn more.
In addition to grading form, qigong, neigong, strength-building exercises,
partnered drills, sensitivity exercises and
martial skills, we also assess technical skill.
Interlocking
As the student makes progress, it becomes evident that the skills are
entwined. Proficiency in one area will affect many other areas. Everything
is connected.
By teaching an interlocking, interweaved syllabus of this kind, we enable
the student to find connections and associations that promote insight and
healthy growth.
The more material is encountered, the more clearly the pattern may be
discerned.
Themes and principles exist throughout the syllabus, and the keen student
will apply these to all aspects of their training.
Is your instructor offering
technical skills?
Every martial arts class should be be teaching a level of knowledge that
goes way beyond the superficial learning of patterns and routines.
If your instructor is not providing technical information, what are they
teaching you? All students benefit from a more thorough understanding of
their given art. Age or experience is not a factor.
An over-50's qigong & tai chi group should be
addressing as much technical knowledge as is relevant and appropriate.
A martial class should train every aspect of the syllabus in a manner that
assures comprehensive understanding and skill.
A little knowledge is a dangerous
thing...
Some students want a few self defence
techniques and that is all. They want a smattering of form applications
and a cursory taste of combat skill. This is pointless.
Having a few crumbs of knowledge is dangerous. It can lead to a false
feeling of competence.
If a student is unwilling to invest in the process of learning bona fide
technical skills, they should do qigong &
tai chi.
Page created
18 March 1997
Last updated
10 November 2023
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