Tai Chi vs. Power Punches: How to Defend Using Fascia Mastery 

Yes! These videos are to help you improve your skill and understanding. Even if the skill is advanced, requires some foundation, hopefully you can experience a little bit of it through practice so you have an understanding to guide your growth in that direction!

Thank you for sharing applications of this concept beyond what I had shown! I appreciate it!

Wow great questions! Deflecting a punch with fascia mastery does not need an energetic connection before the punch. There is no repelling force, or hardly any force at all, when you touch. This skill is based on the awareness of fascia (a form of Tingjin), and moving your body without tension (Song), together with the intent of brushing across their fascia. Your own state is that of lightness and emptiness. Maintaining this state is an element of Zongding. Your intent is on the opponent, sensing their intent. The more complete your Song, lightness, and emptiness is, the bigger the effect will be. While this does not require any advanced Qi skills, it does require a solid foundation of Song, and a stable Yi state that isn't perturbed by their power, speed, and aggression. Hence I described this as an advanced application of Fascia Mastery. Great questions Greg! They really deepened the discussion! 😃

@@phoenixmountaintaichi Thank you for your response. Doesn't song generate a repelling force? Another question if you don't mind. I understand emptiness as not thinking or skillful mind. Being light I struggle with. If I totally relax my arm and it is resting on the partner then it should be heavy to them. No muscle tension. Then tensegrity in a perfect world is holding the arm up. When you say lightness do you mean lightness to yourself or lightness to your partner as in they should not feel you at all? I hope my questions are making sense.

​@@gregcrandell8325More great questions haha! I understand now where you might be confused. Song is a prerequisite of Peng. Song in of itself does not generate a repelling force. As you combine it with a outward upward intention, and if they apply force on you, then Song generates Peng and repels. Emptiness here I refer to a forgetting of the inside of your body, of forgetting your guts and muscles and bones. A sense of being hollow. Lightness, yes when you have Song, your opponent will experience you as being heavy. But to yourself you will feel weightless, like a jellyfish floating in the sea. When empty, and light, like this, how will your intent interact with their force, that is in anything but heavy?

@@phoenixmountaintaichi Great answers! Thank you so much.

Thank you! Glad to hear it makes sense for you. That's great that you can find these ideas to be valuable and to align with other styles that you enjoy!

You're welcome! I'll continue to share to help people totally understand all of Tai Chi beyond what is commonly known. 😁

I understand that it looks different than what you've seen before and so I understand that you would want to call it BS. I have some footage of this in sparring matches, and I am collecting more with a variety of people so that we can see how it affects all kinds of people not just one person here. And for my students it's educational and helpful to see how it affects different attacks in different ways. That means I'll be able to make a useful educational video about it beyond just showing something to prove something. Because above the need to prove right or wrong, I want to help people elevate their skills in a way that is easy to understand and beneficial to their life! Thanks for your comment! 🙏

Welcome to our community! I've talked briefly before about dealing with multiple punch combinations. I can definitely make a new detailed one on that topic because aside from dealing with one big punch, there must be, inside of Tai Chi, a way to deal with all of the punches, right? So you are right to think there is a method and maybe your theory is just like it, or a different but also good idea. I'll share it soon and we'll see! 🙌

Thank you sir. I’m anxious to see what you have to share. I’ve been practicing against this lately, I honestly don’t think I’m doing it in a strictly tai chi way. I’m always open to a better solution. Thanks so much.

​@@MyqOMaticI'll keep you posted! 🙌

You're right about change. I always want to have that capacity for change, especially when my opponent can not change. I'm very happy to hear that you're learning a lot! These videos are for you and everyone else in exactly that way! 🙌

You're very welcome! I'm happy to share. 🙏

You're right that is great when they go for one big punch. It can be useful against flurries of punches to give you an opportunity to interrupt them. Thank you for sharing your strategic thoughts on the idea! 🙏

Yes! Very good point! Xingyi Quan has its roots in spear use and that means they have a very deep understanding of parries that glide over the attack and continues into a thrust. Because being able to instantly turn defense into offense is tremendously advantageous, is it not? Thanks for sharing your experience and perspective! 🙏

Thank you for the comment! 🙏

Thank you for commenting! 🙏

Very true! Quick, and focused. I demonstrated here larger movements than would be optimal, because it's easier to see. And smaller, tighter movements will be better in use. Thanks for being up good points! 🙌

Thank you! Yes I think instead of keeping secrets, it's time we share them so we can research, experiment, and get better together!

@@phoenixmountaintaichi I do appreciate this approach; in my field of expertise I assume the same philosophy :)

Hi Paul, sorry but I'm not sure I understand your question. Can you explain?

Thank you! 😃🙌

I'm glad you find it helpful! Thank you for confirming. 😃🙏

Depending on the skill level, yes. When you first do this you rely more on friction, and as your skill grows you make more use of manipulating intention. As you shift away from friction towards Intention, you will be able to do it over coats and slippery clothing. This is a rather advanced skill but I want people to have a sense of what is possible and interesting as our skill in Tai Chi grows. 😃 Thank you for asking, you have a good pragmatic mind!

@@phoenixmountaintaichi 🙏

Great question! Fascia methods let you borrow muscle force from your opponent. So one time where that would not be helpful is when they don't have fascia. If you are fighting a robot, you will need raw muscle force! Similarly, another time is when you need to deal with the environment. Maybe like to run and jump over an obstacle! Thanks for asking a fun question!

@@phoenixmountaintaichi Thank you! But it wasn't meant as a fun question. Because many fighting styles or fighters often forego deeper considerations about the importance of fascia and its benefits. This may be due to ignorance or conscious choice. However, I have the impression that fascia theory should be consciously taken into account much more in other styles and in everyday life. That's why I was interested in your opinion. Perhaps karate would change significantly if fascia theory were paid more attention there.

​@@lebeninbala154 Great points. I totally agree with you! I also think fascia theory is very helpful and valuable and that's why I'm sharing and bringing our awareness to it. I train some people whose primary interest is MMA or other combat styles. They enjoy incorporating elements of internal arts to their fighting. The key challenge for them is that the mentality is different. Because in these fascia related internal styles, your intention is on gliding lightly along the surface of the body. Whereas in many other styles the intention is to strike, push, or pull directly into the mass of the opponent. It's like driving a race car where sometimes you're supposed to stay close to the walls, and other times you're supposed to go in the middle and ram other cars. The switching of intention and game plan causes gaps, and if you don't shift gear completely, neither strategy will be fully effective. That means a commitment to a single method is generally easier. For me personally, my Tai Chi had a big jump in effectiveness when I went from 98% Song relaxed to 100% Song relaxed. And that was very insightful to me about how impactful dedicating myself completely, can be.

@@phoenixmountaintaichi Thank you very much for the great answer! 🙏🍀☯️

Very cool! I'm glad that it opened you up to some new possibilities! What do you practice?

Yiquan

@@buddhikagamage2526 Yiquan is a wonderful art! It helped me understand some things much better!

Respect to you too! 🫸🤛 I see you practice the ten roads smashing fist on your channel. I learned that too when I was a little kid! You do an excellent performance of it!

That's so wonderful to hear and thank you so much for sharing that feedback. Because beyond all the videos one can watch and the learning they haven't enjoyed yet, the experience you share, as someone who went through the course, is the most meaningful feedback for people who share your goal of learning the wonderful internal art of Tai Chi, to realize the potential ahead for them! So that means, thank you for sharing, it's truly helpful! 🙏

@@phoenixmountaintaichithis shoul be tought every martial art gym in america taichi that’s why begginners are scared to spar

​@@momoghostI would love for beginners to feel more confident to begin a martial arts journey to become stronger, more confident, more wise. There are many effective and practical methods taught in martial arts gyms, and I look forward to one day seeing that Tai Chi is appreciated as one of them! 😃🙏

I don’t think any one here is trying to “learn to fight with tai chi” mate, it’s a tool just like weight lifting, instead it focuses more upon the unseen and “feeling” of certain movement. Personally, I do find these “soft fascial unbalances” very applicable to the Kuzushi portion of grappling. Tai chi’s martial components are not found in its striking but instead is a grappling practice.

I had to laugh out loud at your comment, because "This guy" your talking about, is a great master I was lucky to find, and study with for years. When he shows the basics of a particular lesson, he will often focus on one thing for better understanding and practice, then build on that. If you were really attacking him, its like fighting the wind. The more powerful you think you are, the faster you would be defeated.

You don’t know what you’re talking about bud 💁‍♂️ Eat your ice cream and scroll on to other videos more worthy of the BS you’ve just embarrassed yourself with 😇

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and your English is working fine! 😃 You are right to point out the importance of rubbing on the surface. And you are really wise to point out the importance of relaxation. If you do this without relaxation it will not work, and I didn't mention that in the video! So that's very helpful for you to point out. Beyond what you said about rubbing the surface, the role of fascia is that it is the "material" which completely connects all of the body together. And it plays an important role in how they coordinate their movement. That means, as we cause a change in their balance and direction, it is because of the fascia connecting the contact points and the all of their body. You can conduct an experiment like this, if you drop a medicine ball, football, or something similar, try rubbing the surface in circular motion as it falls. It will spin, but it will not really change direction. And yet only in a person (or animal) with fascia, you can now deflect them substantially. So that means you won't see me with a "Deflect cannon balls using fascia mastery" video. 😆 Thanks for sharing your comment, I appreciate it!

@@phoenixmountaintaichiI think some people use parts of their body without realising it, having studied karate and aikido for many years I can apply as you show but until studying tai chi never heard fascia mentioned in training. Interestingly fascia has only been mentioned in the west until recently as if it’s just been discovered and yet tai chi has been using it for a long time. Regards, Dave

"Song" exhibits miracle power !

Hey, it works and that’s all it matters. Keep training, experimenting.

I think it qualifies as facial movement of one kind or another. To activate fascia as opposed to muscular contraction, you have to use your intention or mind in a specific but relaxed way to get the body to do it. It takes a lot of practice to be free of surplus tension. Rubbing or shaving is one of the many ways of receiving incoming force, but it fails utterly with a tense mind/ body action.