Many folks in the coaching, teaching or instructing world jump on the opportunity of the New Year to let their students and potential students know that ‘its just another day’ or that ‘ resolutions don’t work’ etc. Indeed, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that resolutions don’t work in the vast majority of cases.

In this fascinating verse, we see the idea of hiding ourselves from our opponent while simultaneously understanding what they wish to do, clearly a useful skill to have. In this edition of unpacking the classics we will dive into this subject to discover the ways in which the our own structure can hide us from the listening skill of our opponent, while simultaneously giving us access to them.

As a fighting art tai chi is known for its close range methodology. When we practice tai chi for fighting it can be very easy for us to slip into a kickboxing type of engagement. Actually, the strategical approach of tai chi  is to get as close to the opponent as possible, while still being able to deploy our most effective weapons. This approach is relatively unusual in the martial arts, not because arts do not get close, but because tai chi is able to deploy highly powerful striking, grappling...

In this article we will examine a phrase from the classics that describes a tactic that Tai chi employs to gain its favourable position in combat. It is a nuanced skill and one which links to a number of other qualities that Tai Chi trains, as well as the overarching strategy of the style.

This verse describes a common problem when interacting with a strong partner. If we do not move at the correct time and take the correct position our own structure will suffer the consequences. We will have to distort our position and our body in order to cope with the superior structure and position of the partner. It is an extremely common occurrence in Martial Arts but in Tai Chi where there is a specific focus on our own body method to make our tactics effective, it is of larger importance. ...