Defend from All Directions - What Does It Mean?
Chen Xiaowang corrected Chen Bing's posture in a video, when Chen Bing was a young man. He stood in a posture from "Buddha's Warrior Attendant Pounds Mortar." After adjusting him a bit, Chen Xiaowang turned to the camera and said, "Now, he can defend from all directions."
Defend from all directions? That sounded intriguing. I began thinking about that concept. After a few years, I honed in on what it means.
The picture at the top of the post shows Chen Xiaowang correcting my posture in 2000.
"Defend from all directions" sums up a core principle of being prepared and being able to adapt in the face of a self-defense situation.
It emphasizes that a Taiji person should not simply focus on defending against a single, anticipated attack from one direction. Instead, it means to cultivate a state of mind and body that can remain aware of everything around you and respond to threats from any angle at any time.
This is why when you practice Zhan Zhuang with Chen Xiaowang, he says, "Calm d...
A True Story about the Ultimate Self-Defense Skill
Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang and the Story of Students and Spaghetti
At one of the workshops I attended with Chen Xiaowang, he told the story of a taiji instructor who invited his young, eager students to have dinner with him.
They all sat around the table as spaghetti with meatballs was served.
The master took his fork and tried to spear a juicy meatball that was on his plate. He missed.
The master kept trying to spear the meatball and it kept slipping away from the fork, so he chased it around the plate, stabbing and missing.
After a moment, he looked up at his young students seated around the table. Each student was chasing a meatball around the plate just like the master was doing.
That is how the master does it, so that is how it must be done. The master is showing us the way!
I am paraphrasing this story. In Chen Xiaowang's version, the master may have been using chopsticks - it has been a while, but the gist of the story is the same, and he laughs when he tells it, but as you look around at the students who are listening, you see them smil...
Amazing Tai Chi Talent at Such a Young Age - Chen Xiaowang's Son Chen Pengfei
This is the kind of video that makes a middle-aged guy like me shake his head and wish I had been able to study Chen Taiji at a young age. This is Chen Xiaowang's young son, Chen Pengfei doing a demo.
More Wisdom from Chen Xiaowang
This is a photo taken during a private lesson I had a few years ago with Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang. We did the lesson in the backyard of Jim and Angela Criscimagna in Rockford, Illinois.
I like to look over some of the notes I've taken over the years. It's hard to retain everything you're told during a martial arts lesson, so I try to write things down as soon as possible after leaving a class or workshop.
Chen Xiaowang says "natural is best." He also believes that until you learn proper structure, you shouldn't try to do tai chi movements in a very low stance. Form and balance are most important. Proper structure is more important than low stances. And it takes us years to get proper structure.
Good kung-fu, he says, is proper structure, not low stances.
There is one principle and three techniques involved in tai chi, according to Chen Xiaowang. He's worded it differently at different times, but the one principle boils down to "when one part moves, all parts move. When dan t'ien ...
Notes from a Chen Xiaowang Workshop
Each time I've had the pleasure of learning from a teacher or a tai chi master, I've taken notes. It's hard to retain everything, so I try to write as much after each session or day as possible. I've been sorting through papers and tossing stuff, and I ran across a lot of notes that I hadn't seen in a while.
One of my favorite memories of Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang was at a workshop near Washington, D.C. sponsored by C.P. Ong. Nancy and I flew to D.C. so I could study at the workshop. The participants were doing standing stake and CXW was going around the room correcting everyone. When he came up to me I had my eyes closed and he moved my hands in just a little. I smiled, opened my eyes, and he was smiling at me, his face just inches away. He softly chuckled in a friendly way and went on to the next person.
CXW likes to compare tai chi to driving a car. He says if a wheel is broken you can't drive well. If your posture is broken, it's hard to do proper tai chi. That's why, when you be...
Explosive Performance by Chen Xiaowang
I was in the Washington D.C. area in 2003, attending a workshop by Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang. The highlight of the workshop, which focused on Laojia Yilu, was when we all got personal attention from Grandmaster Chen on fajing. I stood in front of him to do the hidden hand punch and when I sunk into my right kua before the punch, he said, "Too much." So I tried it again and he said, "Too much." I lightened up a little on the sinking and he smiled and said, "Ahh, okay."
Then he took both my arms in his hands, had me relax my body, and he jerked one hand forward and pushed the other in the opposite direction. He did that two or three times as if I was a puppet. The little lightbulb above my head went on. He backed away and told me to repeat it, in front of the entire workshop. I did, relaxing and letting the fajing fly. He smiled and said, "Okay."
In the same facility where we were training, a big kung fu tournament was being held the same weekend. On Saturday night, a masters demonst...
Two Cool Videos of Chen Xiaowang
Some of my favorite martial arts memories are the times I spent training with Chen Xiaowang.
His workshops are physically demanding, but just watching him and having him correct you is a great opportunity to make little steps forward in your skill.
Here are links to two great videos of Chen Tai Chi Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang.
In this one, he demonstrates a form and adds explosive fajin (issuing energy) at the end.
Here is another video showing Chen Xiaowang demonstrating ground strength and peng jin -- a good "root." I first put it on my blog in 2006. I have some new comments after the video:
In my original 2006 post, I said these are fun demonstrations to watch, and that's true. But in the 19 years since I put up the post on my old blog, I have a wiser perspective.
2025 Perspective: You cannot stand on one leg and prevent someone from pushing you off-balance. Neither can Chen Xiaowang. Sometimes, these demos are simply show business. At least the student pushing on him ...
Author - Instructor
Ken Gullette
I have practiced martial arts since 1973 and began studying the internal arts in 1987. My goal is to cut years off your development time by coaching you in the real skills for high-quality Tai Chi, Xingyi, Bagua. To see more about my bio, click the "About Ken" link on the menu at the top of this page.
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