Friday, August 22, 2014

Learning Self-Defence Is Not Easy

A topic came up about self-defence in the course of work. Well, my opinion is that it is not easy to learn self-defence. Self-defence is not something that you can learn at a workshop over a few days and expect to be able to apply it in the future when something happens.

I have been learning taiji for more than 9 years, pushing hands for almost that long. Yet I don't dare to say that I am confident that I will be able to use taiji to defend myself. Because pushing hands is not self-defence. Yes, it leads to it, but it is only a portion leading to it. There is also the need for pair practice, something which I don't do a lot of. And even then, this will be in a controlled environment. When facing a real attack, there are no rules. I can only hope I am able to remain calm and relaxed so that I can apply what I have learnt.

9 years of practice and I am still at this stage. What more can you expect from a short workshop? To be able to apply a skill takes constant practice. Even then, one can only hope that in the face of danger, one does not forget what one has been practising all these years.


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