Tai Chi's Secret Speed: How to 'Arrive First' in Combat Completely Explained

[@lsporter88]

Deceptive and subtle. Tai Chi Incorporates so many things. No wonder it can be called, "Supreme, Ultimate Boxing". Great video.

[@ragemydream]

This was fantastic. I loved every moment of it and it's great that you are demonstrating how the approach to fighting differs with Tai Chi. Also that someone's intention can be felt and being overwhlemed by the counters as the main intent is so strong.

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

Thank you I'm very glad you enjoyed the presentation! I will be going into this topic with more depth as to how you bait, set up, perform counters, and follow through in the coming videos. Because as much as we enjoy learning martial art moves, and how to do them better, it's also important and helpful to know how to use them, and when to use them, is it not? Thanks for your kind comment and support! 😃🙏

[@petertuongnguyen7999]

Many of us know that real Internal Taiji is a formidable Fighting Art… However, it would take a super great teacher (like our Sifu Chester), who is generous enough and willing enough, to share the secret codes of this wonderful Art with us. I’ve been searching non-stop for nearly 40 years to find such a teacher. Now, I’ve found him. How lucky are we?.. Thank you Sifu Chester, with much ❤ and appreciation. Peter Nguyen (Cairns, Australia).

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

Thank you for the kind and generous words! I will continue to teach and share so that we can all grow together. I appreciate too all the other comments with their unique perspectives and experiences because those are all opportunities for us to learn too. 😃🙏

[@colinchtsang]

Thanks Sifu Lin. Your videos are always full of "materials". I can always find myself picking up a bit every time I watched a video of yours. But even a bit is a big deal for me. Anxious for your neijing program sometime in October.

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

Thank you! I’m glad you are picking up a bit each time! The Neijin course is coming along nicely, judging by how my students are doing with the material as we go through the lessons. I look forward to sharing it with everyone soon! 😃🙌

[@LightsOnMultiMediaMindArts]

This is gold. I'm reminded of my Aikido training where we were taught to "move on Ki." Also there is a theory that the two halves of our brains don't always perceive time in the same way. One hemisphere might be a fraction of a second ahead of the other. It doesn't operate that way all the time because it would be confusing. But at certain times one hemisphere may be slightly ahead. This could explain the feeling of déjà vu as well as the ability you describe at the end.

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

That is a super interesting idea about how the two sides process or experience time differently! It certainly would explain how overthinking or being drunk affects how one dances ha ha. And yes, move on Ki! In Neijin Mastery, it is very much about allowing your body to move in harmony with the Qi, so that we can move totally naturally with as little effort as possible. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about all this! 😃🙏

[@MustAfaalik]

Thank you Sifu! With respect & gratitude.🙏

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

Thank you for your kind comment! 😃🙏

[@TheSubwaysurfer]

Taught from this perspective, tai chi is very much like wing CHUN because of that sticking aspect

[@cplim4842]

OMG, I kind of worked out most of that the painful way. Yep being attacked with intent. Those not committed attacks result in nothing. I also find that to contact the approaching fist is harder than to contact the forearm or the elbow. Once I achieved contact I am in my comfort zone. Even when they kick, I find it easier to contact their knees to thighs to disorient their committed path of action. Also if I am in the 'kill zone' where they can strike me with one move without telegraphing their move, I will feel the strike. However, if I am outside the 'kill zone' where they have to move their centre of gravity to reach me, in other words, more time needed to reach me = telegraphing their move. I can contact disorients and guide them whilst I am in my comfort zone. Thanks for explaining it so well. Another painfully learnt way to survive; is the time you see the opponent just started to initiate their reflex blinking, you can move in, because by the time their eyes open and receive the blur images of your approach and process the information, send instructions to their nerves to respond, you would have reached your comfort zone already. Please keep up your good work. Thanks for spreading the good and very interesting art of Tai Chi Chuan.

[@billscott71]

Good evening Master, I wanted to know if Taiji Qin Na work like ai ki do joint lock ... I have some friends that practice ai ki do I can do a counter joint locks without any technic just by feeling but I do not know how really it works in my body because I don't have the knowledge... I just use song and the connection with my partner...But without the knowledge I can't improve my technic...An it does not always work because I don't understand precisely how it works...And sometimes as you said in one of your video ...Maybe It's by chance, but I don't have the tools analyse my success or not ;) ... Again thank you for your great work...for making this marvelous martial arts accessible for everyone, always with a great simplicity and kindness.

[@highdefinitionarchitecture8208]

Thank you so much for the enlightening and inspiring video! Many questions come to mind and I will find time this weekend to ask one or two more but the one I am really curious about is this : when we talked about song state among others there is the ideea of not tensing the muscle because that segments the fascia and energy will be blocked there. In min 19:05 when Mo assists you by pushing I see your arm muscles contracting (I may be wrong). Is there a point in ones training where qi can flow regardless of muscles tension or some muscles still are active while (for example) you accept his force and return it to him? Sorry for the long comment, didn’t knew how to shorten it further haha

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

That’s a really great question. The optimal muscle state of Song is to tense only to the extent that it does not excessively constrict and deform your fascia structure, which interferes with Qi flow. So it’s not that you can’t tense. We must tense some amount to stay in any position besides lying flat on the ground, right? 😃 The goal is to not constrict and deform the fascia. One way is to keep your tension low so that you don’t cross the threshold. This is like Tai Chi movement training. Another way is to strengthen your muscle so that even a small effort is enough to support the forces you experience without impacting your fascia. This is training the external until it facilitates the internal. Another yet is to strengthen your fascia so that it is not easily deformed. This is like the tendon transforming and low stance work type of training. You can train any and all of these methods, and each will improve your Song in their own valuable way. As long as your awareness can tell you when your fascia is being used well or not, you’ll be able to continue to make progress with your Song capacity. We cover this, along with exercises to develop these qualities in the Song Mastery course. Thanks for bringing up this important question! Because I think it’s one that many wonder about and can benefit from! 😃🙏

[@highdefinitionarchitecture8208]

@@phoenixmountaintaichi thank you for your clear answer!

[@andrewearlwu554]

First again 😊

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

I might have to mail you a medal! 😂🥇

[@rtuain]

There is a lot here. I’m going to need to watch this a few times. It feels like it’s really close to chess. I googled Chinese Chess and it’s a real game. Were any Tai Chi masters strong players of Chinese Chess?

[@rtuain]

Google says Chinese Chess is based on Chinese military strategy and philosophy. Were any Tai Chi masters military officers?

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

@@rtuainYang Luchan the founder of Yang Tai Chi was appointed to train the highest battalion of the Qing military, the Shenjiying (神機營) which combined classical military weaponry with the new weaponry from the West at the time. That was an extremely high honor as well as a very high responsibility in terms of military involvement! And you’re totally right about similarity to chess. How you provoke the pawns to advance outside of their safe range. How to limit their angles of access to your own tools. How to isolate and take away their pieces and tools. I will be following up this video with more to explain all of this in more detail and practical applications! Thank you for bringing up this really cool element and relationship with chess strategy! 😃🙏

[@Dr.Chisao]

Pull counters are cool. I had embrace them also or else you just walk into punches.

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

Good point! Definitely don’t want to walk into punches. 😃🙏

[@shangovaanorisham2759]

🙏

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

Thank you for your kind comment. 😃🙏

[@shangovaanorisham2759]

@@phoenixmountaintaichi thank you for the awesome content!

[@TeShan-lf7kq]

🙏🎸☯️🕉️

[@nathanielbrundige5982]

Any chance there might be a technique/strategy drills video down the road? I'm used to Wing Chun thinking, but I'd like to get more into the Taijiquan mindset when sparring.

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

Yes it is absolutely the plan to explore this strategy further with drills and techniques. This is just the tip of the iceberg. 😃🙌

[@tsimpthenightcrawler2704]

Ooooh this would be AMAZING

[@zasmirko100]

All fighting exercises must played realistically - I mean not necessarily fast or with force and so on, but at least trajectories of the blows must be realistic. One of problems with Chinese traditional martial arts is they for some reason always starting from diagonally crossing hands touching and strikes are performed mostly in straight line. In real fight its very very hard to get that diagonal hand-placing and blows are mostly boxing-like big hooks. In fights 99% there are not diagonal handset for defending, its takes just too long to reach across your body there, mostly hand-contact are between the hands of the same side. No sword-fencing crossed-swords-like hand position, not in the beginning, not in the fight. That doesn't mean you can't use TaiJi principles, but everybody have seen many times how wrong presumptions and ideas about fight made TaiJi "masters" loose shamefully. Real Taoist art springs from real movements of the world, not some kind of imaginations, however traditional (unchangeable) they are. Reaction for changing World (specific street-violence in the modern West, quite different from that of the old China)) must be changing, that what can be unchanged are Taiji inner principles.

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

This is a really good comment! I totally agree about how matched side arm crossing is much more common and a total priority in training! Thank you for bringing this up and sharing your insight! 😃🙏

[@billscott71]

Thank you so much Master … and if some day you could explain how to make an efficient Qin Na ;) in Taiji …As usual great educational video ☯️☯️☯️🙏🙏🙏🧘‍♂️🧘‍♂️🧘‍♂️🪴🪴🪴

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

Tai Chi and Qinna is very interesting in how your tai chi skill helps you set up the joint lock as well as how it helps you to complete it in an efficient and powerful way! I will make a video of that some time. 😃🙏

[@Daniel-qr6sx]

alright now do this in a pressured environment.

[@MustAfaalik]

There are moments in combat when opportunities to apply Tai Chi presents itself. Just different situation, different techniques. For eg. if you are a wrestler, then you wait for the chance to grapple. I find this very useful. Get the idea?

[@josemartins7299]

This is lyric talk. Aaginst a real boxer tis is completly solved in a secon!

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

Yes real boxers who are skilled are counter hitting demonstrate this with every second that they are in the ring. Let's take a look at two real boxers I really admire. Jersey Joe Walcott, in the 1950's, he became the oldest man to take the heavyweight championship belt at the age of 37. He did so with absolutely beautiful evasive footwork that was not that fast, but spontaneous, fluid, and deceptive. He famously fought, while 38 years old, against Rocky Marciano at Rocky's prime age of 29, and was winning the round scoring until the 13th round, when Marciano "arrived first" with a right hook at ended the match! Despite the loss, to fight at a scoring advantage with Rocky Marciano who exemplifies peak speed and power, while being older and slower, is totally admirable. In recent times, Floyd Mayweather Jr has fought numerous opponents, many younger, and definitely ones who were faster and or stronger than him. He holds a fantastic victory record and he is a master of baiting the opponent, landing counter hits that arrive before theirs can. Check out these clips of Jersey Joe Walcott demonstrate his awesome Song and footwork. A true inspiration! 😃🤩 kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKXao3qQo9VsmJI

[@cplim4842]

Please advise how to survive when one is attacked suddenly by ten experienced killers welding swords???

[@MustAfaalik]

@@cplim4842 Get advise from Smith & Wesson!🙄

[@MustAfaalik]

@@cplim4842 In that case, better to get advise from Smith & Wesson.

[@monnoo8221]

nope, not true. Boxing is ritual, they only box. They are not acting holistically, perhaps except the greatest of them. Boxing lacks the roper level of abstraction and insight. yes they are dangerous, but incomplete.

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

Baiting is very much like how you would play with a cat, using a cat toy. Cats are much faster than humans both in their hand speed and their lunge speed. So to them, our movements look very slow and casual. It is not easy to excite a cat, that's why they mostly ignore you ha ha. But when you present a toy target, then now there is something kind of tempting. And if you wiggle it in and out of its reach, at just the right distance that they are tempted to pounce at it, but not quite close enough to pounce at it, unless they wind up a little more, then several things happen: 1. They began to get most interested in pouncing it. 2. They began to load up to prepare to pounce for it. While their pounce is much too fast for us to respond to, their load up getting ready to pounce is something we can observe and respond to. So now you can know when to pull the toy out of the way so they miss it. But if you pull the toy too far away too fast, they'll realize it's out of reach and they won't pounce. So you have to time it just right. This is the principle of baiting a faster opponent, to become committed, while slowing them down at the same time. The Tai Chi mastery skills of Song Mastery helps your movements to be spontaneous and unpredictable. Neijin Mastery allows you to misalign their power and speed if they make contact with you. Yi Mastery allows you to read their intention and really stretch out the time they need to aim, wind up, and act. If you can avoid a lightning quick cat, you will be able to avoid fast humans too, will you not? Hopefully this inspires you to practice more Tai Chi and play more with cats! Let me know if you have any questions! :)

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

Our 5 Stage Curriculum to Tai Chi and Internal Arts Mastery represent a structured system to completely and reliably teach a total beginner to develop the internal skills of Tai Chi. The 5 Stages are: Stage 1 - Fascia Mastery - Controlling Fascia to Transform Force Without Resistance Stage 2 - Song Mastery - Releasing Fascia Tension for Effortless Force and Energy Flow Stage 3 - Qi Mastery - Mastering Yin and Yang of the Qi Within Stage 4 - Neijin Mastery - Manifesting Internal Force to Neutralize and Control Stage 5 - Yi Mastery - Manipulating Intent to Preempt Opponent's Actions Each stage presents one step up the mountain, that you can learn successfully and effectively, while helping you to improve in a way that makes the next climb just as easy and accessible. When you have all the steps, and each step leads to the next, real success is possible, is it not? They represent our offering to help all of you who love these internal arts to really learn and achieve the skills, that you have always known to be possible. Because these arts are too valuable to be lost, and I think the world would be much more wonderful, if there are more masters of these arts. I want to see a whole new generation of internal arts masters! Thank you for being a part of this journey! 😃🙏

[@monnoo8221]

the metric is: how many scratches after 10 min LOOOL

[@phoenixmountaintaichi]

@@monnoo8221lol they are truly formidable opponents! 😅❤