Tai Chi Applications
Many Westerners are often surprised to discover that tai chi can be used effectively for self-defense. However, for centuries, Chinese Tai Chi masters have practiced Tai Chi as a form of martial arts. In fact, some instructors believe that the cultivation of internal forces that can be applied in a combat situation is a crucial element of Tai Chi's health improvement process.
Internal force cultivation and the resulting defense applications are the ultimate manifestation of the principles of yin and yang. The yielding force represents the "yin" element in tai chi, while the martial applications are the embodiment of the "yang" principle. If a tai chi student has cultivated internal forces but has no combat practice, he might be capable of sustaining punches without incurring any sort of injury. However, it is highly unlikely that he would be able to defend himself in a real street fight.
Conversely, someone who has spent a good deal of time practicing martial forms without spending any time developing their internal force may find himself wasting his external energy, which his partner can easily deflect and use to his advantage. This would constitute an excellent example of two of the basic principles of martial tai chi. The principle of the soft overcoming the hard refers to the ability to use intuition to detect, divert and redirect the partner's intent to attack.
The principle of stillness overcoming movement is actually in reference to the stillness of the mind that is required in order to sense your partner's intent. Both the spiritual aspects as well as the martial applications are born of the inner intelligence that is vital to tai chi practice.
At Aikitaiji, our integration of tai chi and Aikido forms honor both the spiritual and martial applications of these forms. See Theater for videos demonstrating tai chi applications.