Why does somebody undertake a long-distance instructor course?

This is a hard one to answer because none of the answers really make any sense.
The most obvious answers are not very flattering:

1. Lazy
2. Stupid
3. Ignorant
4. Arrogant
5. No discipline
6. No credibility
7. No self-respect
8. Lacks the necessary competence
9. Likes the idea of being a tai chi instructor
10. Incapable of completing a genuine 'real world' instructor course in a known school

The sad part is that there are organisations out there profiteering from tai chi deadbeats.
This is why tai chi has no credibility in the 21st Century martial arts world.

Beginners treat tai chi and baguazhang like external systems and rely upon deeply bent knees and exaggerated stances for power.
Their seeming root is accomplished through physicality not energy.
The jing of 'root' is created by mind, by energy, not-doing, by allowing - not by squatting.

If a student is failing, then demotion is a sensible option.

Usually, moving to a lower grade serves to remove any pressure from the student and provides an opportunity to work on the appropriate material.

The student may resist the demotion; but this is not constructive.

It can be easy to fall into external habits of doing.
i.e. physically dropping the body... instead of mentally dropping, and making only a slight physical action.

A common habit is the degree of arm extension.
70% maximum reach must be considered at all times.
Exaggeration occurs when the student fails to relax the sternum, rear knee and elbows.

Long stances look exotic on magazine covers, but the human body gains its power vertically, not horizontally.

Should you be re-assessed?

Ask yourself the following:

1. Have you missed a lot of classes?
2. What was your last assessment like?
3. Did you fail to move up a belt last time you were graded?
4. Do you dread the next grading?
5. Are you training at home?
6. Is the quality of your kung fu not as good as it should be for your current grade?
7. How good are you at the fundamentals?
8. Is your training sloppy?
9. Are you having problems at home or at work?

There is no shame in being honest with yourself. It is easy to remove any pressure you may currently feel.

The highest level of tai chi practice is high stance and small circle. In high stance and small circle you can conserve your energy to a maximum level. This is very crucial in battle. Endurance has always been the crucial key to survival in a long battle. Moreover, due to high stance and smaller posture you can reach to the deepest relaxed stage, the mind is highly concentrated, and the sensitivity and alertness can be extremely sharp.

(Yang Jwing-Ming) 

Training the material you should be training will give you a sense of ease.
If you are failing to maintain your grade, move back a grade.

Instead of feeling pressured and out of your depth, you will feel relaxed and comfortable.
You will be free to work at your own pace. To do things in your own time.

It is important for each student to recognise that you are only as good as the skills you can manifest.

If you wear a black belt but have the skills of a yellow belt, then you are only a yellow belt.
The belt itself is a piece of fabric.
Your skills (or lack of) speak for themselves.

Less effort, more effect...

Every tai chi student must work to reduce the size of their circle.
It is martially imperative for your movements to be small.

You must move without alerting the attacker's nervous system.
Like a shadow. Like a thought.

By balancing frame size, relationship with the opponent and intent, a student can ensure that they employ the optimal framework.
Every movement produces a more significant effect.

The external movement decreases as the internal work increases.
Neigong and intent enable greater effect with markedly less effort.

Instead of sweeping arcs, the student uses twisting, coiling, spiralling action to generate internal pressure in the soft tissues of the body.
These are movements-within-movements.
Smooth, fluid, small, hidden, unnoticed. 

Fixing a problem:

Begin by stopping what you are doing or thinking.
Then, look at your training dispassionately; without ego, pride, vanity or defensiveness.
Recognise the need to address the problem.

If the instructor speaks to you about the diminished quality of your practice, it is important to be honest.
Self-deception is pointless.
Your instructor would not be talking to you if you were not experiencing problems...

Pretending that things are ok (when they are not ok) is foolish.

What matters in a martial art is the effect of your movements.

If you claim to be expressing force yet your partner is physically unmoved by your action, you are expressing nothing.
Your opponent's experience of the kinetic energy you manifest is known as 'jing'.

This is not to be confused with 'li' - hard, skeletal, muscular force.

Tai chi was designed to make your body an effective conduit for the use of kinetic energy.
If your body is stiff and tense, you will not be able to utilise jing.
It is necessary to be soft and loose, sensitive and open.
This does not mean flaccid.
The groundpath must be present constantly, otherwise you cannot transfer kinetic energy from your body to another.

If you are stiff and unyielding, disconnected or flaccid - this transmission will be unsuccessful.

Confused about yielding?

If taoism is the art of adjusting to life, then tai chi is the art of adjusting to the opponent.
This process of adjustment is what yielding is about.
Balancing, sensitivity, change.

Yielding is concerned with not opposing force, making space... and then counter-attacking.

Having made space, you must incapacitate your attacker. Yielding is only half of the requirement.
Unless you neutralise the attacker, they will continue to assault you.
Step-in decisively and finish-off the attacker.

The internal way of using strength has some basic considerations:

1. Never employ force against force; always yield to strength
2. No more than 4 ounces of pressure should be exerted upon your body or expressed by you
3. Each movement should be a whole-body movement
4. Unite internally using neigong yet remain soft, pliable and yielding
5. You can transmit strength via groundpath
6. Intention can unite mind and body into one focussed unit

People read these points and feel dissatisfied, as though some crucial part was missing.
You must remain calm and composed, relaxed and easy. 

This applies particularly to wannabe lineage students: 

I do not enlighten those who are not eager to learn, nor arouse those who are not quick to give an explanation themselves.

If I have presented one corner of the square and they cannot come back to me with the other three, I should not go over the points again.

(Confucius)

I think that bagua is fantastic. I see it as an honour to be taught something so detailed and deadly. Every new starter [including me] has different ideas about self defence and martial arts. This exceeds all expectations you could possibly come up with.

 Learning baguazhang at this stage in my tai chi experience is unexpected. I am getting to see aspects of shuai jiao and chin na that would only be possible much further into the tai chi syllabus. It can be rough depending on what is being taught, but it is never over the top. Pain within an application usually comes from being tense.

 (Barnaby Baron)

Internal skill is subtle.
It takes decades of time, understanding and training to cultivate: this is why so many people go astray.

The visible outward signs are small. Most of the work takes place within the body. The movements are smaller, less obvious.

As the student's skill improves, the physicality of the tai chi diminishes.
The frame serves to supplement the mind.
A more subtle physical expression is now possible.

Partner drills and form application teach the student how to minimalise their movements.
Balance, timing, structure, softness and mind combine to create the desired outcome: a twitch instead of an arc.

It is important to rest.

One of my own follies is over-training: my training reaches a peak where it feels fantastic overall, but I start having problems: tiredness, stiff neck, migraine...
These are signs that I am doing too much.

I pare my routine back to the absolute essentials, and give my body time to recover.
My energy returns and I am ok.

This sounds easy enough but it is hard to let-go of the extended training, hard to do less.
The urge to hold-on is strong, but also harmful.

When I was 25 my doctor told me to choose whether I was going to focus upon kung fu, yoga, running or cycling.
I was doing all 4 activities simultaneously and pushing it.
The doctor said that you cannot train like an olympic athlete every day without it taking a heavy toll.

I chose the kung fu because it is sustainable and mild on the body.
But only if the training is moderate...

It can be quite a shock for a student to find out that their form is actually a mess.
The form may look aesthetically pleasing, yet under pressure it falls apart.

Taoism advocates eating the fruit, not the flower.
The form must be functional, effective and comfortable.
If your structure and movements fail in combat, what exactly are you training when you practice your form?

Locke: What do you suppose is in that cocoon, Charlie?

 Charlie: I don't know. A - a - a butterfly, I guess.

 Locke: No, it's much more beautiful than that. That's a moth cocoon. It's ironic - butterflies get all the attention, but moths, they spin silk. They're stronger. They're faster.

 Charlie: That's wonderful, but...

 Locke: You see this little hole? This moth's just about to emerge. It's in there right now, struggling. It's digging it's way through the thick hide of the cocoon. Now, I could help it - take my knife, gently widen the opening, and the moth would be free - but it would be too weak to survive. Struggle is nature's way of strengthening it.

 (Lost)

The 'internal arts' are so-called because the focus is within.
You are required to feel rather than do.
Outward movement must reflect the inner condition and should stem from what is happening internally.
This sounds difficult until you consider it further.

Every movement made by the human body begins under the skin; nerves activate muscles and muscles move the bones.
There is nothing special about this; it is the normal process.
Tai chi simply reconsiders the way in which the movement is generated; it explores the how. 

External bad habits:

1. Force against force
2. More than 4 ounces of pressure exerted by you or expressed by you
3. Localised arm  and shoulder movement
4. Deep, long or wide stances
5. Fixed legs - disconnected upper & lower
6. Tensed muscles
7. Over-emphasis of the waist
8. Incorrect use of the pelvis and hips
9. Pushing upon impact
10. Aggression

These will all perpetuate an external approach to tai chi.

The horse stance is not a combat stance.
It is a training method designed to create greater postural stability and build-up the leg muscles.
There is nothing 'internal' about it.

Sets are derived from the form.
They use movements from the form against an attacker.
Therefore, they also serve to test your skill with form. If your form is imprecise and sloppy, your application will not work.

A combat set provides an opportunity for a student to really tidy-up their form and gain insight into how the form can be used.
Errors that may seem unimportant in solo practice may prove disastrous in partner work. 

The partnered exercises in the syllabus are about using the form.

Many of the skills acquired from pushing hands (and the associated exercises) are quite subtle and require significant ongoing practice.
Sensitivity, awareness, stickiness and peng are cultivated patiently.
Such drills are not directly martial.
You could not apply the drills in combat, but you would use the skills taught by the drills.

In traditional Chinese culture, tai chi chuan was seen as a means for refining character.
It enabled the individual to balance all aspects of their being.

The challenge of learning tai chi removes conflict, macho urges and aggression.
A student learns how to move in a graceful, balanced, harmonious way and maintain composure at all times.

In 1956 the 24 step tai chi form was created.
This new set of movements broke from the martial tradition of tai chi; enabling more people to practice the art.
Stripped of its combat significance, the 24 step employed elongated, yoga-like stances and postures that no martial artist would ever practice.

Since then, many new competition/performance forms have been created.

The word 'fighting' has the connotation of reciprocity: two people trading blows. Taking turns.
Many schools are training 'fighters' for competitions.

Kung fu is about cultivating a healthy body, a sharp, clear mind, settled emotions and self defence skills.
Students work towards inner peace, strength and relaxation.

The self defence training is extensive, sophisticated and will require a lot of hard work.
The three skills of combat are an integral part of the syllabus.

A complete martial art is not about fighting.
Therefore, the strategies and tactics are geared towards completion of the event.
Force is never blocked.
Struggling is circumvented.
If something does not work, it is immediately discarded.

An entirely different mentality is required.

The student must think about the art as a martial art, not as a sport.
The aim is to evade and escape, not to win prizes or accolades.
The opponent may attack from an unexpected angle, they may be armed, they may not be alone and they will not stop when you have had enough.

Your repertoire must be varied and extensive. Your skills must be honed and comfortable.
Students must use their bodies intelligently and skilfully, employing optimal body mechanics to ensure the best 'effort to reward' ratio

The form itself teaches the body how to move in an internal way.
Ideally, this is how your body should move in combat.

Form literally means 'shape'; and the aim is to re-shape your movements and structure into something martially viable.

The complexity of form means that a student has countless layers of skill to add to their form, and it will take decades to understand it deeply.
This learning process is what training an internal art is all about. 

Unlike fighting, self defence requires the student to finish the opponent off decisively.
There can be no drawn-out combat.

The exponent must be capable of rapidly, spontaneously switching tactics and skills.
Trading blows is time-consuming.
It is necessary to adapt, change and improvise constantly.

Skill in all three areas of combat are necessary: chin na, jing and shuai jiao.
In self defence, the situation is unpredictable and there are no rules.
You must incapacitate the attacker immediately.

Bruce Lee saw this division of grappling or striking/kicking as being an imbalance he wanted to correct.
However, traditional martial arts were already complete.
They did not need anything adding to them.

Tai chi chuan and baguazhang teach 3 martial expressions:

1. Chin na
2. Jing
3. Shuai jiao

Chin na involves cavity press, dividing the muscle, misplacing the bones and sealing the breath.
Jing teaches sensitivity, awareness, manipulation and all forms of striking without tension.
Shuai jiao is about putting the opponent on the floor. 

Questioner:

"Dear Sifu Waller,does Shuai Jiao have forms? Also,does Shuai Jiao have more grappling than striking? Lastly,how long does it usually take for one to earn a black belt in Shuai Jiao? Thank you."


Answer:

Baguazhang and tai chi chuan feature a significant range of shuai jiao applications
Each art has its own form that can be applied as chin na, jing or shuai jiao, dependent upon the individual student's skill and insight.

Shuai jiao is about taking people down to the floor.
Typically, there is no striking.
As a form of grappling shuai jiao works in tandem with the various pushing hands (grappling) skills, and chin na (seizing, not grappling) or jing (sensitivity skills & striking without tension).

We don't offer a separate belt in shuai jiao.
One student gained his black belt in tai chi and baguazhang within 5 years.
Most people take longer than this.

Why did Bruce Lee develop jeet kune do?

Bruce Lee had studied wing chun and felt that wing chun did not fully address certain aspects of combat such as grappling, kicking and floor work.
To resolve this, Bruce Lee sought to develop his own martial arts system.

Many modern martial arts focus on certain aspects of combat and neglect other considerations.
Typically, an art is concerned with grappling or striking/kicking.
Broadly speaking, judo, ju jitsu and aikido are grappling arts... whilst karate, wing chun and tae kwon do are striking arts.

Yang Cheng Fu said "Use mind not force" and this one statement holds the key to understanding the difference between internal and external.
Intention requires considerable presence and awareness.
The student must have a calm, clear mind; focussed on the here and now.

The mind is used to create energetic outcomes within the body.
For example: a student seeks to 'sink' and 'root'.
A beginner may accomplish this by dropping deep into the hips, bending the knees and bearing the weight down.
Such a method would be fine in most martial arts, but in what way is it internal?

The physical action needs to be slight. No deep bending. No bearing down.
Use your mind instead.
If this seems difficult to you or unlikely, it reveals the fact that your training remains largely 'external'.

The fundamental qigong/neigong exercises were designed to build-up the strength and coordination required to practice form.
Instead of moving in a tense, sloppy, disconnected way, students learn how to move slowly and smoothly.
In time, the entire body moves as one unit.

When the form is practiced correctly, it is quite demanding.

For shen to manifest, a person must lose all self-consciousness.
Instinct must replace intellect, and thought must give way to physical sensation.
The divide between themselves and the activity must end.

A spectator should not be comforted by your pretty smile.
The movements of your body and your intensity should make them feel only one thing: nervous.

An earnest student is not putting on a performance.
They are focussed upon what is occurring in the immediate moment.
They are feeling what is happening as it is happening; without commentary or reflection.

The student should look neither happy nor sad.
Their expression should be alert, alive and intense.
Shen should be present in their eyes: like a predator stalking its prey.

The form is like that of a falcon about to seize a rabbit, and the shen is like that of a cat about to catch a rat.

(Wu Yu-hsiang)

There is nothing friendly about this description.
It suggests a serious demeanour in which the ego of the student is sublimated by the art.

Tao Te Ching teaches us many important lessons.
In terms of combat we recognise that the 'power' can only be used if the student adheres strictly to the 'way' of the event.
Blocking the incoming force, struggling, resisting, postural instability... these bad habits prevent the student from having any power.

Instead, it is necessary to harmonise, accord, blend with the attack.
Neutralise, and counter-attack by borrowing power from the opponent and adding it to our own.

This is harder than it sounds, for the student must set aside their own pride and ego, and follow the parameters of the art exactly.  

Dear Lord, 

Thank you for giving me the strength and the conviction to complete the task you entrusted to me. Thank you for guiding me straight and true through the many obstacles in my path.  

And for keeping me resolute when all around seemed lost.  

Thank you for your protection and your many signs along the way.  

Thank you for any good that I may have done, I'm so sorry about the bad.  

Thank you for the friend I made.  

Please watch over her as you watched over me.  

Thank you for finally allowing me to rest.  

I'm so very tired, but I go now to my rest at peace.  

I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith. 

(Book of Eli)

A new starter's response to attack is random, sloppy and untrained.
The individual is usually poorly coordinated, with little sense of balance, rhythm and timing.

What you bring with you into an internal kung fu class is worthless: physical tension, bad postural habits, aggression, fear, clumsiness...
Even skills from other martial arts tend to be an impediment.
You must unlearn.

Our aim is help you to become responsive, spontaneous, adaptive. Capable of changing instantly in accordance with circumstance.

How should you look?

Pouting, smiling, preening or macho demeanours all share one common theme: vanity.
Self-consciousness.
Now we are at the root of the problem.

If you are immersed in the moment, unselfconscious... why are you smiling?
Why would you care what anybody else thinks?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVzY5el7EjU

The Internal Kung Fu website is filled with training tips.
If you read 1 page every day, it would take you 3 years to get through the entire site.
And would you truly understand the content?

It can be difficult to perceive something new on its own terms.
The temptation is always to see it in terms of what you already know.
Yet, this approach closes your mind to the new.

Internal kung fu cannot be seen in terms of the conventional, external martial arts.
Yes, we require similar results:

1. Success in self defence
2. The ability to perform a variety of skills against a range of opponents
3. Appropriateness

But the means by which we accomplish and manifest these skills is quite different to mainstream combat systems.

I find the syllabus is well-structured and offers carefully designed and enjoyable exercises which aid application of the palm changes. Learning the purpose of each of the movements gives a real insight into overall strategy of baguazhang.

In addition to creating an accessible website containing information relevant to learning baguazhang, Sifu Waller also takes the time to explain concepts in detail in class with the added benefit of being able to demonstrate how these principles can be applied martially.

The emphasis on evasive movements in baguazhang has been particularly helpful in overcoming my tendency to freeze-up during self-defence scenarios and instead I'm learning to relax and respond.

Although the underlying principles are similar to tai chi, baguazhang feels very different. Adapting your mindset to take into account multiple opponents is difficult but very rewarding from a martial perspective.

Bagua is proving to be a great opportunity to escape from the trappings of individual techniques and instead concentrate on realistic improvisation of self-defence applications in high-pressure situations. I particularly appreciate the focus on deception and evasion.

(Dominic Hine)

Gift from baguazhang students

Gift from baguazhang students

Your movements will be agile and your spirit of vitality will be high. You will begin to feel that your tai chi practice goes beyond simple form training, and you will be able to perceive things as energetic combinations rather than as static physical bodies.

 (Yang Jwing-Ming) 

One who annoys you with the truth shows you goodwill, while one who pleases you with falsehood debases you.

(Aristotle)

I cannot fault the self defence aspect of bagua. It is fast, decisive and unforgiving. Making a mistake will cost an opponent dearly. Applied correctly, the opponent will have no upper hand to begin with as the bagua student will have already acted without even thinking. Your examples of application are comprehensive and calmly executed. Anyone not impressed by the form would surprise me.

 (Barnaby Baron)

Sifu Waller introduced me to his tutor Peter Southwood who subsequently invited me to join his beginners Tai Chi class. The core of these classes being the Yang style long form. Well structured, Peter's classes always started with Tai Chi strength-building exercises centred around qigong movement and standing. Energised, the class moved into the form. Sifu Waller was the assistant instructor and helped Peter teach the lesson. The final half hour was dedicated to martial application of the form, pushing hands, small san sau and self defence. This was taught by Sifu Waller.

 I accompanied Sifu Waller, Peter and Shaun Ullah (Sifu Waller's student/training partner and another of Peter's senior students) on several Tai Chi excursions. The most notable being Chin Na tuition and the visit of Yang Jwing Ming. It is interesting to note that for a moment during a pushing hands demonstration, Dr Yang seemed uncomfortably wrong-footed by the subtleties of Sifu Waller's dynamic guile. Impressed, the Master insisted on using Sifu Waller as his on-stage practice partner for the remainder of the weekend.

 Peter was always eager to further his students and embraced Sifu Waller's rapid progress; maintaining an intensive 'indoor' Master/Student relationship until Peter's untimely death. With Peter's passing, we have lost a great conduit for the furtherance of Internal Kung Fu.

 (Michael Dutton)

If you chose to use a sword to defend yourself in the 21st Century, you will most likely go to prison.
This is a simple, unequivocal fact.

Yet, people spend hours training with swords, and many even practice cutting things with a sword, as though they may one day come to use the weapon in martial contest.

What is the point?
You could spend those same hours on some more relevant.
Training a sword may enhance your self defence skills in some fashion, but practicing shuai jiao, chin na and jing with a partner would do so much more.

Yang Lu-chan taught tai chi for self defence purposes.
Imperial palace guards had little time or interest in heritage and tradition.
They wanted serious, pragmatic, powerful self defence skills.
They sought rapid victory.

Tai chi was not intended as a museum exhibit.
It was designed to meet the needs of the time.
It was intended to be functional and contemporaneous.

Many tai chi classes are not teaching a martial art.
Consequently, the students are not encouraged to become fit.
They are more interested in coordinated movement, relaxation and feeling good.

Kung fu requires a lot more of the student.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVh9hzOXR5c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJZCXrgAbEQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP-09fuzU-A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2m6fket8AQ

Building up your strength takes time, practice, commitment and patience.
In truth, you may not even realise it is happening.
Internal arts training is not strenuous or stressful.
You undertake regular training and let the mild exercise build up layers of strength.

An hour of training every morning mounts up over time.
Pretty soon you have a level of strength you never expected.
This is not the strength required to lift a massive weight.
It is the strength to deliver a penetrating strike, snap a limb or flip an opponent without trying.

Be careful not to trust your own wisdom prematurely.

We all look back now and then, and find our former judgements lacking, and ill-informed.

Tai chi students smiling is a parody of the actual requirement.

Can you honestly picture Imperial Guards 150 years ago smiling gaily as they practiced the art?
Does such an image inspire confidence in their abilities?

This does not mean that you should look glum, not have fun or feel miserable.
Just do not be a phoney.

Value is relative to perspective and perception.

A beginner values what they think something is and what they believe it is worth.
An advanced practitioner may not see any value whatsoever in a commodity prized by a beginner.

One of the requirements of tai chi is to be calm and composed at all times.
This refers to:

1. Cognitive awareness and clarity
2. Being in the moment
3. Having balanced emotions

So why are tai chi people smiling?

This is a good question.
They are smiling because they want you to see that they have cognitive awareness and clarity, are in the moment and have balanced emotions.

You ask questions because you seek answers, and you shape your requests accordingly.
But all questions are blind.

You do not know the answer.
You do not know what it is you are seeking.

How then can you hope to ask for it?

Answers are relative to questions.

Who is to say that you are asking the right questions?

People who practice tai chi as performance art want to look good.
A pleasing smile indicates that the student is enjoying themselves, happy and not struggling with the movements.
It projects a sense of ease.

A master always has something to offer, while we go hungry because of our lack of appreciation.

 (Kakuzo Okakura)

Seeing an old man who wanted to take up philosophy but was embarrassed, Socrates said to him, "Don't be embarrassed to become better at the end of your life than you were to begin with."

(Thomas Cleary)

Effort/reward ratio:

Internal body use challenges conventional wisdom and the conventional application of strength.
The body must be strong.
The application of that strength is unorthodox.

The aim is to use most of your power in combat; uniting the entire body in application.
Yet, the target is small.

Every action is a complete action. Every part of you does every movement.
This may sound strenuous but it is not.
Instead of delegating the workload to your arms and shoulders, every part of the body is involved.
Instead of forcing your will upon the entire attacker, you limit your attention to a small part of their body and use everything you have on that target.

The strategy comes from The Art of War.

It is not uncommon to see tai chi people practicing a challenging form with a beatific smile on their face.
This may at first seem pleasant.
After all, smiling is good.
Isn't it?
  

Internal Kung Fu badges

When Yang Lu-chan popularised tai chi by teaching it to the Manchu Emperor's palace guards, he probably taught sword forms.
Why?
Because in 1850 it may have been a well-used weapon in China.
Yang Lu-chan's purpose in teaching sword would have been for self defence, for viable, practical martial purposes.

150 years later...
In the UK nobody carries a sword.
You are unlikely to be attacked by a sword and you are unlikely to be carrying a sword yourself.
The police are not happy with members of the public owning or using swords.

 If you are studying tai chi in order to preserve the heritage, then swords are a must.
 You should learn how to use both the straight sword and the broadsword.
 Learning the spear and staff may be valuable too.

 Many practitioners commit a significant amount of time to learning weapons forms and drills.
 These people keep the traditions alive.

Dave Lowry maintains that not all so-called 'martial arts' are actually martial arts.
'Martial art' literally refers to a combat system that has been tried in battle/used by professional warriors/soldiers.
Such an art was intended for self defence and the training methods should reflect this.

A lot of contemporary arts are 'fighting arts'.
They may have been designed as a sport, or for their aesthetic value.
e.g. modern tai chi is often merely performance art.
A fighting art may be very functional and effective, but (strictly speaking) it is not a martial art.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6E1cR8toNk

Range is different to reach.
It represents a scale of extension; between what is close and what is far.
Reach is the extreme, the limit of range.

If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.

 But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.

 And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

 

 (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

Shen is manifested through the eyes.

You must be one with the moment, and every facet of your being must be expressed through the eyes.
This is not to be confused with staring or looking aggressive.
The spirit must come through you.

When you practice the form, take a moment to feel the shape and nature of the movement being performed.

Remember that the form contains approximately 225 separate movements, although many are repeats, and variations on a theme.
Across the form you will see many examples of each animal represented.

You must understand all of the movements in terms of the 5 animals.

 The art of teaching is clarity and the art of learning is to listen.

  

  (Vanda Scaravelli) 

Each of the animals embodies certain characteristics that must be explored in self defence.
This constitutes the 'way of' part of the syllabus.

These qualities must be incorporated:

1. Bear
   - gravity, indifference, casual
    
2. Bird
   - open & close, unite upper & lower
    
3. Monkey
   - withdraw, yielding, softness, distraction
    
4. Snake
   - reeling silk, speed striking, wave, penetration
    
5. Tiger
   - advance, wu nien

Merely to train 5 animals in form is to practice the shape but not the essence of the animal.

A Tai Chi Grandmaster must have taught an extensive number of high-level Instructors, be in a position of significant responsibility within a school and have influence in the wider tai chi/martial arts community.

What is a treasure?

1. A quantity of precious metals, gems, or other valuable objects
2. A very valuable object
3. Keep carefully (a valuable or valued item)
4. Value highly
5. A collection of precious things
6. From Greek θησαυρος; thesaurus, meaning "a treasure of the chest"
7. A concentration of riches, often one which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered
8. A term of endearment
9. To consider to be precious
10. To store or stow in a safe place

The 16 treasures are key skills that underpin the entire system.

People are seldom aware of postural faults; their sense of balance is not reliable.
When most students are asked to adopt a shoulder-width stance with the insides of the feet parallel, they usually have one foot askew but feel as if they don't.
Then they look.

Does your martial art cater for the realities of self defence?
Are you learning to respond to multiple attackers?
Will your opponents be armed?
Do they carry knives or other improvised weapons?
What will you be wearing? What kind of footwear?

Be honest about what you are expecting to do with your art.
Is your art up to the needs of self defence?
Are you training the necessary skills?

In order to step, all of your weight must first move into the supporting leg - making it 100% weighted.
The unweighted leg then lengthens and the foot places.
There is no more weight in the foot than the weight of the foot itself.
When stepping, transfer weight from the heel to the ball of the foot.
Feel how the ball actually pushes slightly back towards you when it receives pressure from the weight shift.
This awareness is very important because it prevents the knee joint from being bent too far.

Learning to strike somebody and learning how to take a strike are essential.
Being hit can really mess you up.
Clever self defence tactics and techniques may fall to pieces when you are actually taking hits.
It is imperative that you know how to relax and roll with the punch.

Developing your own striking ability is critical. Without it, you cannot hope to defend yourself.
You need to make each blow count. 
Range, timing, distance, accuracy and penetration must be practiced relentlessly.
A bag or focus mitt is not the same as a person. You need to strike real people.
Do not pull your punches. Let them land. Feel whether or not you are receiving adverse feedback.
Learn to control your power, your commitment and your intent.

Punching thin air may train the body mechanics behind a strike but tells you nothing about your ability.

Fear needs to be addressed as well as competence under pressure.

You do not have to endure severe combat training in order to see how you cope under duress.
It can be done safely and playfully. If this sounds improbable, look at sport.

What matters is the core requirements:

1. Keeping a cool head
   - no anger
   - no upset
   - no panic
    
2. Decisiveness
   - action
   - no dithering
   - no getting ready/anticipating
   - no worrying
    
3. Effectiveness
   - does it work?
   - are you able to follow it up?
   - can you improvise, adapt and change?

You need to know that the material works and have the confidence to use it when the situation is unpredictable and confusing.

Group dynamics and evasion strategies cannot be codified into a step-by-step guide.
You must learn to go with the flow, responding and adapting to the needs of the situation.
This takes patience and practice.

If you lose your composure, you lose everything.

You need to work with punches, kicks and grapples. It needs to be varied, confusing, unsettling and unpredictable. A melee.

Tao Te Ching, The Art of War, The Book or Five Rings and I Ching all offer excellent principles.
These are what you need in self defence.

Scour your art for underlying precepts of body use, relationship and strategy.

Provocative behaviour will draw attention to yourself.
Wearing your martial arts costume, sweatshirt or lapel badge all call attention to what you do.
Similarly, macho behaviour only demonstrates an inner weakness. An insecurity. Your fear.

Keep your skills quiet and subtle. Avoid being noticed.

Optimal range is a necessary consideration in terms of health, and combat.
It is the degree of range that enables you to use your extension most effectively.
Considerations:

1. Ease
2. Root
3. Comfort
4. Strength
5. Stability
6. Movement
7. No leaning
8. Relaxation
9. No stretching
10. Maintain balance

When operating within your optimal range, your body is far stronger and more resilient.
It can adapt, change and move with ease and comfort.

Stretching the body is good when the purpose is exercise.
When lifting a heavy object or when engaged in combat, stretching in not a good idea.

The problem with stretching at the wrong time is that it puts stress on the body, reduces stability and prevents freedom of movement.
A stretched joint cannot rotate and turn comfortably.
It is not relaxed.
It is prone to injury.

The internal arts never advocate stretching in everyday life or combat.
The joints remain free and loose, heavy and dropped.

The internal arts teach the student to move the entire body towards the opponent, rather than stretch out the limbs.
Stretching is regarded as foolish:

1. It exposes the ribcage, armpit and torso
2. It makes the joints less resilient
3. It makes it easier for your balance to be taken
4. An opponent can avoid a strike more easily
5. The further out from the centre you reach, the less power you have

Rather than stretch, you step.

If you cannot employ optimal power at your current range, do something else.