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On the list of deadly arts Tai Chi Chuan is probably the most overlooked. Oh, people do that for health, or when they are old, or any other number of reasons. Yet, the truth of the matter, after studying a wide variety of arts for over forty years, I'm convinced that Tai Chi has the most potential in a fight.
The first thing one should know is that Tai Chi does not make powerful the body. What it does is make powerful the space of the body. When you do one of those slow postures you are feeding awareness into the body, and, eventually, you reach the conclusion that all that meat and bone and stuff is merely a space within the universe.
And how, exactly, one might ask, do you hit somebody with space? Actually, if you aren't stuck in the notion that the body is a bunch of meat, it is easier to hit with space than with a body. It is far easier to move the space than it is to move the idea of objects within space.
You aren't sending a message through the nerves to move a muscle to move a mass of bone and meat to collide with a chin somewhere over there. Instead, you are outside the space, almost puffing on it with your desire. And the space of you, without being locked into any of the mechanical pieces, moves quickly and efficiently to collide.
The fact of the matter is that hitting, or striking, is colliding, and colliding is vastly inefficient when it comes to matters of combat. When you understand that the body is space, striking is usually not the weapon of choice because you have so many other weapons to choose from. Indeed, a good Tai Chi-ist rarely decides to collide.
When you harmonize the spaces involved in a combat, and unbalance those spaces, that is a lot more fun. It is much more fun than bashing your fisty bone upon the dull of his noggin. The trick is to adjust the relativity and trajectory of the spaces of the bodies so that so that the incoming missile slides on past and no more missiles can be launched.
If he draws hand back, his space retracts, which is a direction, which can be wafted away with a puff of intention. If he pushes, his space expands, which is a direction, which can be sucked past with a twist and a puff of intention. Indeed, the poor fellow, stuck on the plane of two feet, has no possible defense or attack against something which isn't there, which is what the definition of space is.
To strike is a decision that is manifest through bone and meat. Space, however, is a perception unhindered by meat, so the decisions made of space are ten times faster than decisions made of meat. The really, funny thing about all this is when you realize that your body is space, it can't be destroyed, for how can somebody destroy nothing?
The first thing one should know is that Tai Chi does not make powerful the body. What it does is make powerful the space of the body. When you do one of those slow postures you are feeding awareness into the body, and, eventually, you reach the conclusion that all that meat and bone and stuff is merely a space within the universe.
And how, exactly, one might ask, do you hit somebody with space? Actually, if you aren't stuck in the notion that the body is a bunch of meat, it is easier to hit with space than with a body. It is far easier to move the space than it is to move the idea of objects within space.
You aren't sending a message through the nerves to move a muscle to move a mass of bone and meat to collide with a chin somewhere over there. Instead, you are outside the space, almost puffing on it with your desire. And the space of you, without being locked into any of the mechanical pieces, moves quickly and efficiently to collide.
The fact of the matter is that hitting, or striking, is colliding, and colliding is vastly inefficient when it comes to matters of combat. When you understand that the body is space, striking is usually not the weapon of choice because you have so many other weapons to choose from. Indeed, a good Tai Chi-ist rarely decides to collide.
When you harmonize the spaces involved in a combat, and unbalance those spaces, that is a lot more fun. It is much more fun than bashing your fisty bone upon the dull of his noggin. The trick is to adjust the relativity and trajectory of the spaces of the bodies so that so that the incoming missile slides on past and no more missiles can be launched.
If he draws hand back, his space retracts, which is a direction, which can be wafted away with a puff of intention. If he pushes, his space expands, which is a direction, which can be sucked past with a twist and a puff of intention. Indeed, the poor fellow, stuck on the plane of two feet, has no possible defense or attack against something which isn't there, which is what the definition of space is.
To strike is a decision that is manifest through bone and meat. Space, however, is a perception unhindered by meat, so the decisions made of space are ten times faster than decisions made of meat. The really, funny thing about all this is when you realize that your body is space, it can't be destroyed, for how can somebody destroy nothing?
About the Author:
Al Case practiced martial arts for forty years. You can Find the Space of Him at Monster Martial Arts.
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