The Way of Least Resistance

This morning we filmed an application of the last two movements in taijiquan, "apparent closure" and "cross hands".  As a joke, my students filmed one application with some " hopping " - à la the " fajin fantasists ". I belong to various Facebook martial interest groups.  One in particular is a skeptical internal arts group called The Fajin Project. After uploading the video to my YouTube channel, I posted a link to the group.  The conversation that followed has to be read to be believed! The internet is indeed a strange and wonderful place. Copyright © 2015 Dejan Djurdjevic

Introduction Five years ago I did a piece on countering kote gaeshi - the wrist out turn.  In the intervening time I've learned a lot more about thwarting or converting this lock, so I thought I'd share this with my readers.  Some of the techniques have already appeared in my recent series on taijiquan qin na , but I thought I'd do a kind of summary of the additional defences against this simple, but potentially devastating, small joint attack - all in the context of my last taiji qin na essay. The "cloud hands lock" In my first kote gaeshi article , two of the options involved falling out of the lock.  I don't propose to go over that ground again but I encourage readers to revisit that piece if they are interested. The third option involved a counter-lock that I have recently identified as an application of the move "cloud hands" in taijiquan.  Back in 2010 I had also identified it as an application from baguazhang. Essentially you can...

Let me say this upfront: I have  absolutely nothing against people practising any martial art for non-defence/combat reasons. In fact, my own reasons for practising martial arts have, for a long time now, mostly been of the "non-fighting" variety.  I love the "art" side of it: the physical expression through movement, the perfection of form, the development of skills and coordination.  I love the exercise, the movement that ensures practical flexibility into old age despite the toll of wear and tear from injury, illness... and just life . If you're looking to martial arts for "effectiveness" in the sense of an activity that will keep you physically and mentally well, I can't recommend martial arts enough - in particular the Chinese martial arts and even more so the Chinese "soft" or "internal" arts. But effectiveness for "fighting"... well, that's another story. To examine that issue, we first need to...

Introduction Readers will recall that in my previous article I discussed how kata comprise what I call "stem cell movements" - ie. movements of a "elemental" or "fundamental" nature, capable of morphing into any number of different applications. In fact, this is the very essence of kata: to give you a foundation of essential motor learning and kinaesthesia . I also argued that how these movements "morph" depends largely upon the experience and skill of the student. In this article I would like to give some concrete examples of exactly what I meant. My video on "stem cell movements Once again, I will be referring to the kata heian shodan (pinan nidan) to illustrate my points precisely because it is a "basic" kata - ie. one that is "easier for beginners to learn" and/or "depends less on previously acquired knowledge". While it might appear to the casual observer to be overly "formal" and ...

Introduction I have often spoken of kata as teaching "principles" rather than "techniques". It occurs to me that one of the best ways to illustrate what I mean is by reference to the most "basic" kata in karate. Why these kata? Because even if they are less "realistic" than more advanced kata, the methodology remains the same: they achieve their effect through "principles" not through "actual technique". In this regard it is important to note that kata are not intended to comprise "shadow boxing" routines with movements you would (or should) actually use in a civilian defence situation. Rather kata put your body through specific movements designed to promote motor learning and essential kinaesthetic awareness . This kinaesthesia and motor learning is central to so many different aspects of martial technique that I often compare these "fundamental" movements to to stem cells : ie. they are "...

A common criticism of traditional eastern fighting arts is the emphasis those arts place on solo practice - often at the expense of 2 person practise. Indeed, many traditional fighting arts are so steeped in solo forms that they have barely no partner application at all. When they do, it is often stilted, stylised and unrealistic. This criticism has led many martial artists who are interested in pragmatism to abandon solo forms - be they full kata/xing/patterns or shorter drills such as "deflect/strike" combinations - in favour of going straight into 2 person application. I can see the issues - however I still think that, depending on the technique being taught, some level of "solo" training is essential if you want to hone correct, efficient form. In my experience, the need for any "delay" in moving to 2 person drills is a function of just how sophisticated (ie. complex, but for the purposes of gaining greater efficiency) the movement is that you want to...