Taiji fights

[CloudHands]

As I repeatedly read people talking about (their) martial skills developed practicing Taiji and as my life gets each year more peaceful and the main benefits I yield from my Taiji are certainly not (physical) fights related -meaning the necessity for physical fighting has been close to 0 for my 5 last years- I dare to raise this question :

 

Did anyone here ever used Taiji chuan in the concrete reality of a brutal street fight ?

 

and if it happened how did he/she made use of it ?

[Earl Grey]

Yes, and I have videos of one of our lineage teachers who uses it on a daily basis because he’s a narc detective. He says it’s the best art for fighting felons and thugs, and says he trusts it enough to put his life on the line daily.

 

Look up Glenn Hairston.

[CloudHands]

3 minutes ago, Earl Grey said:

Yes, and I have videos of one of our lineage teachers who uses it on a daily basis because he’s a narc detective. He says it’s the best art for fighting felons and thugs, and says he trusts it enough to put his life on the line daily.

 

Look up Glenn Hairston.

 

I know Glenn Hairston.

 

Can you talk about your experience ?

[Earl Grey]

 

 

 

 

[CloudHands]

That's precisely not what I'm talking about EG

[Earl Grey]

5 minutes ago, CloudHands said:

 

I know Glenn Hairston.

 

Can you talk about your experience ?

My own experience is that it is like a zip file in your computer. All of what i learned compresses itself and only comes out or un archives itself when there’s actual conflict.

 

A guy who was about 188cm to my 171cm tried to attack me at a bar and the sensing hands came out instinctively, then did things I never even learned formally when he resorted to kicking and cheap shots. He never got a single hit in and was bruised for some reason because my body was on autopilot and I was apparently doing three things at a time without knowing what I did untjl afterwards.

Edited April 5, 2020 by Earl Grey

[Earl Grey]

1 minute ago, CloudHands said:

That's precisely not what I'm talking about EG

Those videos are examples of how it’s applicable. 
 

My post afterwards was my own experience reinforced it.

[CloudHands]

1 minute ago, Earl Grey said:

Those videos are examples of how it’s applicable. 
 

My post afterwards was my own experience reinforced it.

 

Yes that thread is not about how it can be use... it's the next step : how did you use it

[Earl Grey]

5 minutes ago, CloudHands said:

 

Yes that thread is not about how it can be use... it's the next step : how did you use it

The videos were the techniques I learned and used. They are also necessary visual references because many who claim to have learned for martial use haven’t actually seen it used practically and professionally.

Edited April 5, 2020 by Earl Grey

[CloudHands]

8 minutes ago, Earl Grey said:

The videos were the techniques I learned and used. They are also necessary visual references because many who claim to have learned for martial use haven’t actually seen it used practically and professionally.

 

Yes that's for sure. Thanks for your answer.

 

Can you describe what happened during the fight ? what techniques you used ? did you ko the guy ?

[Earl Grey]

16 minutes ago, CloudHands said:

 

Yes that's for sure. Thanks for your answer.

 

Can you describe what happened during the fight ? what techniques you used ? did you ko the guy ?

 

As I said, I was on autopilot; I remember doing the techniques, but according to witnesses, they saw me doing more than what I remembered. The techniques I did were from those videos above based on what they described and what I remember. 

 

The level of internal training my lineages guide us towards is to be as instinctive as we are methodical since we don't know what's going to come out, it just does and even does things I never would have realized I knew instinctively. 

 

He wasn't KO'd, but he was crying and bruised pretty badly saying I hit him hard, which surprised me because I was only defending myself to parry and deflect. He ended up being escorted away by the police because he tried to pull out a gun afterwards. 

[CloudHands]

Although I'm not encouraging violence, I'm glad there is at least one bum that can attest of taiji's effectiveness.

@Earl Grey  did you have prior martial practices ? and if yes how much taiji took place in your fighting skills.
I know you practice also another system now, what balance do you find between them now ? how do they complete ?

 

[Earl Grey]

1 hour ago, CloudHands said:

Although I'm not encouraging violence, I'm glad there is at least one bum that can attest of taiji's effectiveness.

@Earl Grey  did you have prior martial practices ? and if yes how much taiji took place in your fighting skills.
I know you practice also another system now, what balance do you find between them now ? how do they complete ?

 

 

There's a certain point that all your skills become one and it's hard to see where one style ends and another begins. 

 

I mostly did hard styles like Muay Thai and BJJ but I hadn't done them since 2009 when I had surgery, which is why I went into Taijiquan and other internal styles, and by the time I started learning Xin Yi (Yi Quan and Liuhebafa) and Baguazhang, I found them as no more than just extensions of the foundation I built in Taijiquan as I don't turn off Taijiquan to do Liuhebafa and so forth. 

[CloudHands]

32 minutes ago, Earl Grey said:

 

There's a certain point that all your skills become one and it's hard to see where one style ends and another begins. 

 

I mostly did hard styles like Muay Thai and BJJ but I hadn't done them since 2009 when I had surgery, which is why I went into Taijiquan and other internal styles, and by the time I started learning Xin Yi (Yi Quan and Liuhebafa) and Baguazhang, I found them as no more than just extensions of the foundation I built in Taijiquan as I don't turn off Taijiquan to do Liuhebafa and so forth. 

 

Yep can be difficult to tell what technique is what system. But last time I had a fight (well it was 7 years ago...) I could tell. I took the pipa stance (taiji chuan) aaaand... jumped to to guy's head grabbed it and hit it twice with my knee (not so taiji... but efficient enough)

[Earl Grey]

15 minutes ago, CloudHands said:

 

Yep can be difficult to tell what technique is what system. But last time I had a fight (well it was 7 years ago...) I could tell. I took the pipa stance (taiji chuan) aaaand... jumped to to guy's head grabbed it and hit it twice with my knee (not so taiji... but efficient enough)

 

The only reason I know that I did Taijiquan and Xin Yi was because those were what I could recognize as it happened fast as do most of my fights, being a foreigner who has lived overseas most of his life.

 

The crazy drunk French guy who attacked me in that example just said I looked like Bruce Lee and wanted to pick a fight, and unfortunately, I ended up reinforcing a stereotype. Thankfully, the fights I've been in over the past three years, the internal styles made me look less violent and more like I was defending myself, so when the police arrested him and the Sri Lankan guy on another occasion (incident not mentioned here), I was pretty much in the clear since I wasn't "excited" so to speak as the internal styles made me calm and controlled rather than hyped up and aggressive. 

[CloudHands]

4 minutes ago, Earl Grey said:

 

The only reason I know that I did Taijiquan and Xin Yi was because those were what I could recognize as it happened fast as do most of my fights, being a foreigner who has lived overseas most of his life.

 

The crazy drunk French guy who attacked me in that example just said I looked like Bruce Lee and wanted to pick a fight, and unfortunately, I ended up reinforcing a stereotype. Thankfully, the fights I've been in over the past three years, the internal styles made me look less violent and more like I was defending myself, so when the police arrested him and the Sri Lankan guy on another occasion (incident not mentioned here), I was pretty much in the clear since I wasn't "excited" so to speak as the internal styles made me calm and controlled rather than hyped up and aggressive. 

 

Best fight is no fight

[CloudHands]

Second best fight is UP

[gatito]

1 minute ago, CloudHands said:

 

Best fight is no fight

 

Rare bit of profound wisdom and the only 100% guaranteed method of not losing.

 

[CloudHands]

1 minute ago, gatito said:

 

Rare bit of profound wisdom and the only 100% guaranteed method of not losing.

 

 

Sometimes the fight comes to you.

 

"we don't need to look for problems..."

Edited April 5, 2020 by CloudHands

[gatito]

2 minutes ago, CloudHands said:

Sometimes the fight comes to you.

 

Rarely do I come across anyone that stupid IRL.

 

[CloudHands]

1 minute ago, gatito said:

 

Rarely do I come across anyone that stupid IRL.

 

 

Consider yourself lucky for that. Or maybe you are an "escaper".  Plus generally past the 30s people wise up or get softer.

[gatito]

Just now, CloudHands said:

 

Consider yourself lucky for that. Or maybe you are an "escaper".  Plus generally past the 30s people wise up or get softer.

 

I'm extremely lucky in where I live and aikido (and iaido) taught me to be situationally aware.

 

I also have a couple of quite large dogs, so when they're around, I don't even need to exercise much in the way of situational awareness.

 

[gatito]

Incidentally, if you're looking for practical TaiChi, I can personally recommend Dan Docherty, with whom I have trained.

[ReturnDragon]

Do you think a student will be good if trained by a good teacher? Don't you think that the learning ability and comprehension of the student has to do with the learning curve or achievement?

[Earl Grey]

43 minutes ago, CloudHands said:

 

Sometimes the fight comes to you.

 

"we don't need to look for problems..."

 

I work in NGO development, humanitarian aid and such. So as a foreigner, I stick out like a sore thumb and in some cases, local ruffians and foreign tourists have various reasons for seeking conflict. I am not interested in fighting, but I am all about guarding my life and anyone else if it's threatened. Thankfully, I've never been seriously harmed even in northern Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Cambodia.