Soft on the Streets

Inside Kung Fu Magazine February 2004

by Adrian Corrales

Tai Chi Push Hands for Self Defense

It seems that everyone has a different idea about what will work in a fight. Ask a thousand martial artists what kind of training is best for self-defense and you are likely to get a thousand different answers. Some say that punching and kicking is the way to go. Others claim that training on the ground is more practical. By dealing with what happens between kickboxing and grappling, tai chi push hands training can help prepare you for whatever comes your way.

No-holds-barred tournaments have shown time and again that it is very difficult to stop an opponent who is determined to take you down. Once things end up on the ground, much of a striker’s power is neutralized. The argument against grappling for self-defense is that it is effective only because no-hold-barred fights occur in a controlled environment. Dropping to the ground is harder to do on the streets when fights aren’t always limited to two people and you don’t know what kind of weapon your opponent might have hidden in his back pocket.

Charging Opponent

Tai chi offers an excellent supplement to any fighter’s routine. A skilled push hands player is an expert at staying on his feet. At the same time, he is capable of controlling an opponent with the expertise of a grappling master.

Sifu Ming Lau, chief instructor of the White Dragon Martial Arts School in Mira Mesa, Calif., is a student of sifu Don Tittle in grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong’s Plum Blossom Federation. A veteran of numerous push hands competitions, Lau maintains that push hands is an effective tool for self-defense.

“Push hands is a great self-defense exercise because it forces you to adapt to oncoming force that is constantly changing,” says Lau. He adds this adaptability is a valuable skill for anyone that wants to learn to fight.

Push hands teaches practitioners to either neutralize or redirect the force. Neutralizing works by applying pressure to an opponent to negate his incoming force. For example, let’s say a force is being applied to your left shoulder. By taking your right hand and placing it on the opponent’s left shoulder, you can easily turn your body and direct his energy back toward him. The force has been neutralized because he cannot push any further without disrupting his own balance. Redirection involves changing the course of an opponent’s attack. Small amounts of pressure are applied to the attacker’s arm or torso so that his force misses your center of balance. Advanced tai chi practitioners can accomplish the same thing merely by turning the body in response to an attacker’s force. This leaves the arms free to counter.

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By Judith Horstman

With slow movements as fluid as silk, the gentle Chinese practice of Tai Chi seems tailor-made for easing sore joints and muscles.

Every day, in community centers, parks, gyms and living rooms across America, people are practicing tai chi. As they move together through a series of slow and synchronized postures, it may look as though they are performing some kind of dance.

What they are actually doing is an ancient Chinese practice designed to exercise body, mind and spirit. As they move through tai chi postures, they are gently working muscles, focusing concentration, and, according to Chinese philosophy, improving the flow of “Qi ,” the vital life energy that sustains health and calms the mind. (Qi is pronounced “chee,” and is often spelled “chi.”)

In China, where tai chi has been practiced for some 600 years, tai chi isn’t just a feel-good workout: it’s therapy, a preventive measure and a remedy for almost every ailment, including arthritis.

Along with other Chinese imports, such as acupuncture and herbs, tai chi is becoming popular in the West. It appeals to people of all ages because it’s not intimidating. Seniors particularly like tai chi because the slow, synchronized movements are easy to learn and to perform.

Once scarce, classes can now be found through YMCAs, some churches, community centers, karate schools and even through some health maintenance organizations. Tai chi is taught at some summer camps for children with juvenile arthritis. In Australia, a tai chi program designed especially for people with arthritis is supported and taught by the Arthritis Foundation of Australia.

Doctors recommend tai chi for people with a variety of musculoskeletal conditions because it improves flexibility and builds muscle strength gradually.

“There’s no doubt that tai chi, done properly, can be a beneficial exercise for people with arthritis,” says Paul Lam, MD, a Sydney-based family practitioner and tai chi master who designed the Australian arthritis program.

Martin Lee, a tai chi authority and author of many books who has directed classes for years, says he has seen many people’s overall health improve as they do tai chi. “Tai chi relieves stress,” he says. “It can be very healing.”

Tai chi is an exercise almost anyone who can walk can do safely, says Dr. Lam, who began doing tai chi nearly 30 years ago for his own osteoarthritis. Tai chi takes the joints gently through their range of motion, he says, while the emphasis on breathing and inner stillness relieves stress and anxiety. Classes are inexpensive, and it can be practiced almost anywhere at any time, with no special equipment or clothing.

Peter Stein, MD, a Greenbrae, Calif., rheumatologist, says he finds tai chi especially good for people with fibromyalgia and those with a high level of muscle pain. “People in pain often can’t even do yoga,” he says. “They need something milder and more soothing, and tai chi is very good for relieving pain.”

Philip Mease, MD, a Seattle rheumatologist, says people who say they don’t like exercise enjoy and stick to tai chi. “When people enjoy it, they are more likely to continue to exercise alone, or in a group, which I think is more fun,” he says.

Meditation in Motion
Tai chi, with its focus on breathing and flowing gestures, is often described as “meditation in motion. “It emerged sometime between the 1300s and 1600s in China. Some say it was developed by monks, others by a retired general. They agree its ancient roots are in the martial arts, but tai chi movements are never aggressive. They are based on shifting body weight through a series of light, controlled movements that flow rhythmically together into one long, graceful gesture. The sequences have poetic names, such as “waving hand in the cloud” or “pushing the mountain”, and can be quite beautiful to an observer.

Tai chi movements are intended to balance the flow of Qi in mind as well as body. They use the whole body and are performed slowly, with concentration on breathing and inner stillness.

The concept of Qi is at the heart of tai chi. In Chinese medicine, it’s believed that disease is due to blocks or imbalances in the flow of Qi . Chinese use acupuncture, herbs and tai chi in the belief they can help balance the flow of Qi to cure illness and maintain health.

Most Western doctors question the concept of Qi , since it hasn’t been scientifically proven to exist or to aid health and healing. Nevertheless, some physicians who treat the elderly or those with musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis have been impressed by how tai chi improves pain, range of motion and physical balance.

See Part 2 for the rest of the article

LOS ANGELES (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Each year, up to 14,000 people over age 60 develop shingles, a painful nerve disease that comes from the chicken pox virus.. Shingles often results in extreme pain that can last for months. Now a simple exercise can protect against the virus.

Roberta Taggart knows she gives more than relaxation to the seniors in her tai chi classes. “Just by becoming quiet and doing the form, they could inwardly get in touch with their body and feel very connected,” she tells Ivanhoe.

But that’s not the only benefit. A new study shows tai chi — slow exercise and intense meditation — protects seniors against the shingles virus.

Psychiatrist Michael Irwin, M.D., of the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute in Los Angeles, says, “As we age, or as we experience declines in our immune function, this virus can express itself and produce a very painful rash.” The rash clears, but Dr. Irwin says patients are often left with extreme sensitivity to pain. “They can ultimately become depressed and withdraw from their normal activities because of that pain.”

Dr. Irwin’s study shows three classes of tai chi a week for 15 weeks boosts shingles immunity by about 50 percent. “There’s nothing currently available to boost shingles immunity to match what we did,” he says. And that’s not all. “We found significant improvements in the older adults who practiced tai chi and their ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.” He says tai chi could also offer protection against other viruses.

Gaunnie Dixon feels the benefits. “It keeps me pretty much grounded,” she says. “I’m more relaxed.”

Taggart says she was surprised at the study results. “The benefits are great. A boost in the immunity by 50 percent? What older adult wouldn’t want that?”

Each tai chi class is about 45 minutes long. Tai chi has also been shown to help illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia and arthritis. Many senior centers offer these types of classes. The Patience Tai Chi Association also offers a list of tai chi instructors by state as does a Web site devoted to tai chi chuan.

This article was originally published on March 17, 2004.

For more information about Tai Chi Visit White Dragon Martial Arts