TaiJi and XingYi For Self Defence Part 5

 

In the last post we took an initial look at a classic TaiJi text; the Pushing Hands / Striking Hands Song. If you haven’t read the previous text, please check it out before proceeding with this post. The text is as follows:

 

Ward-off, rollback, press, and push must be taken seriously.

With coordination between above and below, the opponent will hardly find a way in.

I will let him attack me with as much power as he likes,

for I will tug with four ounces of force to deflect his thousand pounds.

Guiding him in to land on nothing, I then close on him and send him away.

I stick to him and go along with his movement instead of coming away or crashing in.

 

So, assuming you’ve read the earlier brief explanations of the individual lines and terminology let’s look at how we can use these concepts to help formulate some training objectives. Due to the range of potential applications and methodologies that could be used, I have to limit myself to a few simple examples, hopefully it will be enough to help you get a flavour of what we are talking about.

 

Ward-off [Peng], rollback [Lu], press [Ji], and push [An] must be taken seriously.

These four fundamental methods of applying force against an opponent are first encountered in some of the standard Pushing Hands exercises. The initial PH exercises are cooperative and light, this is a very important training and should not be skipped or overlooked, developing lightness of touch while maintaining structure is crucial. The first two; Ward Off and Roll Back are key defensive skills.

 

Ward Off is about learning to absorb incoming force with as little tension as possible, as an example think of a hooking punch coming in at your head height. Use the outside of your arm to meet and absorb the power of the strike without becoming rigid. For example your forearm connecting with your opponent’s forearm. 

 

It’s important that as little force and strength as possible is used to meet the incoming punch, because once you make contact you don’t want to lose contact. There are two aspects to this, firstly imagine catching a hard ball like a cricket or baseball ball. You know that if your hand is too stiff the ball will bounce out of your hand and worse you will hurt your hand! The second aspect is that you don’t want to trigger an automatic response from your opponent. The moment a reasonably trained person feels firm resistant contact on the their arm they will reflexively pull away, this will make controlling their arm more difficult. This skill should be training with a variety of partners, start with a low power in swinging punch, building up speed and power over time. You have to concentrate on keeping relaxed and importantly, learn to have confidence that you don’t have to be stiff and harsh to meet an incoming attack. Note I didn’t use the term block, think in terms of connecting with your opponents arm not blocking it. As you develop the skill vary the height speed and weight of strike so you have to adapt on the fly.

 

Rollback is a defensive technique that initiates a counter attack. As a simple example, your opponent pushes against you chest, close to the solar plexus. You shift your body slightly to the right while turning your waist a little to the left, this reduces the pressure on your chest and could possible encourage you opponent to fall slightly forward (depending on their balance and the force of their push). At the same time as your body movement, you grab the wrist with one hand and their upper arm just above the elbow with the other hand (this is one interpretation of the “Raise Hands” posture in the hand form), as you shift your body you pull their arm in the same direction as they were already pushing in, then slightly ‘divert’ your pull to best take advantage of your opponent’s instability.

 

Press and Push are pretty straightforward techniques. Although straightforward, some people get caught out by the language and how the terms have been translated. Press [Ji] in typical English can be used in various contexts, very often in sense of applying pressure downward, such as pressing a suitcase lid down to close it. This is NOT the image intended in TaiJi terms rather it is a horizontal, that can be applied by any part of the body; shoulder, hip back and most commonly hand or hands. 

 

Push on the other hand in common English usually relates to  a horizontal movement; pushing a door or pushing a shopping trolley. Again this is not how it is meant in TaiJi, rather it is the act of applying downward pressure. This method is sometimes referred to as as calming or subduing hands. The idea being that placing your hands on top of the arms of an incoming attack can nullify the strength of the attack.

 

So in short Press = pushing horizontally, and Pushing = pressing downwards! If this is the only terminology in TaiJi that causes you confusion, congratulations you’ll have had an easier experience than me.

 

We’ll look at the next line in the poem in the next post.

 

 

 

#selfdefence #selfdefense #martialarts  #taijiquan #XingYiQuan #taichichuan #thirteendynamics