Taiji Grappling and Taking Advantage of Your Opponent's Energy

chen tai chi training chen taiji training tai chi grappling tai chi push hands Nov 10, 2014

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that it is a mistake to interpret the term "energy" in some mystical way. Energy can simply mean "force" when discussing the energy an opponent is directing at you.

Energy can also mean "method" to describe a way of dealing with the force your opponent is directing your way. In other words, Cai Jin (Pluck Energy) describes a method of plucking or jerking to put your opponent off-balance. There is no actual "energy" called Cai in your body.

Many Westerners are inclined to believe things literally -- Adam and Eve, ghosts and psychics, etc. -- and so mythology has developed around the energy of the internal arts. You don't gain skill by increasing chi, your "chi" increases as you work like hell, gain experience, insight, and develop skill as you do in any sport, any physical endeavor, any trade or profession.

I love the grappling skills associated with the body mechanics of Taiji -- how to feel my partner's energy and take advantage of it to put him on the ground. Push hands is one way to bridge the gap between form and self-defense, but as you work on your push hands, after you learn the patterns and applications, this is another step forward in the process.

A lot of fights end up in a clinch. The fighter who can read his opponent's energy (force) can often gain advantage, and Taiji is a close-up fighting art that requires you to sense an opponent's energy, neutralize it, redirect it and take advantage of the moment of vulnerability you have created.

These photos show one sequence as I practice with my friend and black sash student, Chris Miller. We clinch in Photo 1, then he steps in to try a one-leg trip/sweep in Photo 2. This is a common takedown in martial arts.

I maintain peng and the ground, and apply pressure to his left shoulder with my right hand in Photo 3. You can see his torso moving back. In the internal arts, you learn to take his energy where it wants to go. In Photo 3, I have caused his energy to begin moving back. Now, I want to help it go that way.

He has very poor support because he is standing on one leg during his sweep attempt, and as I maintain peng and the ground path into his right shoulder, he is in a vulnerable position and will have a hard time defending himself.

All I have to do is turn my waist (Photo 4), maintaining ground and moving the arms with the waist (Dan T'ien) and use my leg as leverage to keep his energy moving backward and take him down.

This is not something that requires a thousand hard takedowns in practice. In fact, the most important thing is recognizing and reading his intention to sweep you, maintaining good body mechanics, and being in position to take him down. We often practice it without mats, beginning the takedown but then helping to catch our partner before he hits the ground. With mats, you don't need to be so careful.

There are many techniques and energies to practice. This blog post only shows one. I recommend practicing each technique like this with a partner -- over and over -- to get the feel of it. That type of repeated practice allows you to internalize the feeling so that you know what to do when an opponent moves to take you down.

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Taiji Grappling and Taking Advantage of Your Opponent's Energy

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