Understanding Tai Chi’s Martial Perspective

By Sifu Alan Ludmer

My first Tai Chi Chuan teacher Professor Huo Chi Kwan taught that Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) is boxing for physical and mental health, the self-defense is secondary.  However, self-defense is the key to harvesting the physical and mental benefits.  The self-defense serves as a metaphorical Rosetta Stone.  Like the Rosetta Stone which helped scholars interpret ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs, studying self-defense is the key which unlocks the art’s secrets.  

New Tai Chi Chuan students face a special challenge.  Far too many Tai Chi Teachers have little or no understanding of Tai Chi’s martial aspects.  They see the martial as confrontational, unnecessary, and way too scary.   These teachers can be kind, decent and certainly well meaning people, but if they don’t understand the martial, they are limited in what they can teach.  I understand that they just want Tai Chi’s health benefits.  The older I get, the more I too want and need the health benefits.  However, you can’t get the physical and mental benefits without understanding the martial aspects.

My initial martial arts exposure was boxing and Shotokan Karate.  It was rough, tough, and real old school.  I loved it.  Yet, when I was first exposed to marital Tai Chi Chuan, I was entranced but I quickly discovered that learning  proved challenging.   Long complex forms made little sense.  Softness and relaxation were completely counter initiative to my external training. Fortunately,  Professor Huo, used the martial aspects as a teaching vehicle which proved critical to my understanding of Tai Chi.

This article will introduce several concepts based on my personal experience and exposure to great teachers.  I believe that these are critical to beginning Tai Chi  study, no matter if your goal is martial, health or both.  This article isn’t meant to be comprehensive, nor an in-depth thesis. It is not a criticism of anyone else’s approach.  The Buddha said that all roads lead to the top of the mountain.  Tai Chi is a life long learning experience, and after 50 year plus years of study, I still have  more questions than answers.

Conceptual Overview

Tai Chi study should initially address key concepts critical to understanding Tai Chi.  Concepts help us to see the big picture. They give us an idea of where does Tai Chi help us go and how does it help us get there.  I believe that there are two core Tai Chi concepts:

1. TCC is built upon specific concepts/principles which enable you to be in the present in what psychologists would call a state of heightened situational awareness.  Being present allows you to respond appropriately to any physical, mental, emotional, etc situation.  The concepts are presented in a martial format which is an ultimate reality therapy.  If a punch is coming at your nose, you better be aware.  The better you understand the concept of what awareness entails, the more your art will grow.  

2.  TCC principles are contextual.  Specific situations dictates what and how concepts are applied.  It is said that the only constant in life is change. The martial echoes this with teaching to expect the unexpected. Dependent upon your level of understanding, principles can be modified and even changed to reflect various situations. Tai Chi is an art of infinite flexibility and constant change. 

Learning the principles and concepts of Tai Chi gives you the ability to make the art your own.  Professor Huo stressed that Tai Chi was an art built on specific principles/concepts and that it was the understanding and implementation of these principles that enables one to master the art.  He used the analogy of learning to play music.  You could copy moves and mimic one song, or you could learn the principles of music: melody, rhythm, composition, reading music, etc and then play your own music.  

Start with Centering

My present teacher, Tuey Staples, teaches that Tai Chi study begins with  centering.  This is both a physical and mental construct.  It is discovering where you are.  Centering teaches how to create a constant heightened state of awareness by focusing upon being in the present.  Every Tai Chi move is a centering move.  Centering does not mean stopping or physically stressing, it is not a static action. Centering provides a physical and mental clarity. It is an introduction to being in the now.

Centering is usually introduced with standing postures.  I began my training with holding postures for extended periods.  It was challenging, but eventually I begin to recognize my tension and stiffness and focus on body awareness.  I learned to sink into my feet and then into the ground.  Powerful centered stances form the basis for light powerful movement.

Centering technique works well with any posture or form move.  The old teachers holding each form posture to learn the move’s true essence. Once students begin to relax physically and sink into their feet, they began begin to relax mentally.  They learned to be where they were instead of rushing to another move. Once they learned to center, then they were ready to start understanding how the energy moves and that there is stillness in movement and movement in stillness.

A good place to start is to hold the ball posture for 1 minute.  When you can hold the posture for 1 minute comfortably, increase your time in small increments.  The plan is to relax and become aware of your tension.  Visualize your energy falling into your feet and then into the earth. When you are ready, start holding various moves from your form. Learn to feel what is happening.  In 1975, I was fortunate to attend several classes with Professor Huo’s friend and colleague, Professor Kuo Lien Ying.  Master Kuo was a legendary internal boxing master and fanatical about holding postures.  His classes reinforce many of  Professor Huo’s teachings.  They both stressed holding postures to learn centering.  

Why is Non-Opposition and Not Stopping Important?

Tuey Staples states that there are only two absolute Tai Chi principles/concepts, don’t stop and don’t oppose. Why?  Stopping breaks your chi/energy flow.  Think of moving a stalled car. The hard part is getting the car moving.  Once it is moving, then it is relatively easy to keep it moving. Remember Newton’s laws of motion.  An object in motion stays in motion.  Motion does not mean to stop centering.  You are always centering.  In time, you will learn that you can move and center simultaneously.

Avoid opposition because it will cause you to stop. Your art will descend into an unproductive who’s stronger contest.  Focus on moving around your opponent. Think about walking in a crowd. You don’t crash into people, you move with and around them.  Avoid adding emotional context to moves. This will cause a stop at a move’s end. Tai Chi’s energy comes from mass in motion which is why we don’t stop or oppose.  A bus can be moving very slowing, but still you don’t oppose it.  

Using Direction to Avoid Opposition

One of the primary way to avoid opposing is to understand directions. The classics teach that Tai Chi is the square within the circle or the circle within the square.  Start with seeing the corners of the square.  When you visualize your opponent, see him as your north direction.  When you face him, his corners are your northeast and northwest. Start by learning to move to his corners.   Understand even as you and your opponent move, he remains your north direction. Your movements always go around your opponent, they never oppose.  Visualizing moving around a tree; you can closely circle the tree, you can’t walk through it.  How to execute non oppositional strikes is a topic for another article.

Internal movement is not intended to crush an opponent, but to engulf him in a move.  When movement is conducted with an opponent, he becomes part of your move.  You help him, he helps you.  To do this successfully, you need to be able to utilize the space around your opponent.  You don’t oppose.  The goal is to interpret energy, accept it and then redirect it.  Visualizing water can be helpful.  Water flows, it goes around, and it doesn’t oppose.  Relax, a drop of water does not fear the ocean.

Movement is Mass in Motion

Internal movement is mass in motion.  Tai Chi generates great power with a light touch because you are touching with your entire body mass.  It is essentially getting your weight behind your moves. When the body leads and the limbs follow in a sequential manner, you will have your mass behind your movement.  My boxing instructors taught that there were only two types of punches, those that had your weight behind them and those that didn’t.

Slow down and listen to your body. All Tai Chi Chuan form moves are comprised of beats. Listen to the beats to avoid rushing to the next move.  When you focus on physical and energetic sequencing, it will enable you to move as a unit.  When you execute form moves, move your body first then arms.  Focus on legs and waist, arms are a distant second. Legs should be constantly bending and straightening. Minimize waist moves to maintain your balance and center.  Your light touch should easily rotates your opponent creating torque.  

Caveats

Some things to keep in mind as you begin your Tai Chi study.

1.  Never be afraid to respectfully question your teacher.  Strive to understand the what and why of what you are doing. Understanding the why will help you to create your own art.  Good teachers should be able to answer your questions in ways that you can comprehend.  

2,  Beware those who respond to questions with Master Somebody said that we  always do it this way. Tai Chi is an art of constant change.  Avoid those who say it is always this, or it’s never that.  Learning is liberating, not encapsulating. Good teachers should provide the tools to help you find your own answers.  

3. Be skeptical of magical answers.  With all due respect to the old Chinese Masters, they learned and taught within the parameters of their own culture.  We can and should honor their culture and abilities, but we’re 21st century westerners. We’re not better, nor worse, just different.  Like everyone else we learn best within the context of our own culture.  Good teachers will explain things in language that you can understand.

4.  Don’t rush. Tai Chi is practiced slowly so that you can listen and feel what is happening. Use the move beats and constant centering to discover what is happening.  I always seemed to move too quickly and Tuey taught me to inhale on beats 1 and 3, exhale on beats 2 and 4.  The purpose was to slow me down and force me to listen.  If you can’t do the moves slow, you can’t do them quickly. Good teachers will constantly try to slow you down so you can listen.

Summary

Wither you’re boxing for self-defense or for physical and mental health, the art is the same.  It is a treasure of knowledge and insight into physical and mental well being.  Being present enables you to appropriately address any physical, mental, and emotional situation.  I’ve found that our real life opponents are mental, physical, and emotional issues.  They’re are far more prevalent and dangerous than a thug in a parking lot.  

I have very briefly touched on several very sophisticated and complex topics.  Any one of these would warrant years of study.  There are others topics that I didn’t even attempt to discuss.   There is an old joke that goes, how do you eat an elephant?  The answer is one bite at a time.  My goal was to highlight places to take the first bites.  Tai Chi is a lifelong learning, chew your bites carefully. 

About the author

Alan Ludmer was a private student of Prof. Huo Chi Kwan from 1969 to 1978 and has been Master Tuey Staples’ student since the late 1970s.  Alan has both studied and taught western boxing, Shotokan Karate, Tai Chi Chuan and Ba Gua Chuan or Zhang martial arts.  He has authored numerous articles for various martial arts magazines and is a frequent presenter on Internal Martial Arts and other topics. He currently lives in Saint Louis, MO and can be reached at alanludmer@gmail.com.