Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Nice Little Taiji Fighting Demonstration



Here's a nice demo of the basic Tai Chi Chuan energies; Ward-off, rollback, press and push. Of course, these techniques are done on a willing student, but the dynamics displayed are pretty good.
I like the risky but definately cool changing-hands turnaround wrist lock.
also, the alternative uses of Press, such as palm striking the opponent's hitting fist, sending power up the arm into his torso and root. Some pretty good concepts and I'm sure the un-named Master in this demonstration could mix it up pretty good in a self-defense situation. It's always nice to see the real martial side of Tai Chi Chuan!

4 comments:

JoseFreitas said...

I liked it a lot. Cool stuff for practitioners of Yang style. Also, even though you see that the "demonstree" is not offering a lot of resistance, you can see that he is REALLY being thrown around, not launching himself, as some students do to make their teacher look good. The slapping motion in press, where you slap the inside of your hand as it rests against your opponent was kinda new. Reminded me of Tongbei Quan.

Dojo Rat said...

Jose-
I had seen the slap against your own wrist (press), against the opponent. The one I hadn't seen was slapping the extended fist of the opponent, connecting all the way into his body. Pretty good stuff!

BSM said...

So how does one find the martial side of it? Do you look for a certain name/style of taichi?

Or do you rely on visiting and talking to the instructor.

This stuff is on my mental list of future martial arts...

Dojo Rat said...

Bob:
As you might know, most Taiji in the States (and elswhere) is conducted like new-age yoga.
You might be able to contact Yang Jwing-Ming's people and see if they have qualified instructors in other states.
The more I do Tai Chi Chuan and now some Bagua, the more similar I find Aikido techniques, and the Chin na of your Mantis school. If you were to begin learning the Yang-style form, for instance, you will probably be able to search out the applications, especially with resources like Dr. Yangs books and videos.
I feel fortunate as my current instructor Michael Gilman is really into application, and he was a push hands champion also. The seminars with Mike Martello and Tim Cartmell have been extremely valuable for bringing out the fighting aspects of the internal arts.