Tai Chi: Front Attack Defense

Video Transcript

"In this segment we're going to work with another application of brush knee but this time it's from somebody attacking up from the front. There's a lot of tough guys, people with real attitude; kind of grab your shirt, want to give you a hard time. But we don't want to have to just punch them in the nose all the time. So the idea is in brush knee is the arm comes over, we circle down, step forward and strike. So, if some tough guy comes up, he's giving you a hard time so I come over and knock him down. So, the idea with this is he grabs here, as I bring my arm up, I'm not trying to pull him in. If I do this I actually don’t have any control. But if I just drop my arm down, see what happened to his body, if I try to pull in, nothing. If I just drop, watch what happened already. I step thru, look at his body already and I haven't done anything yet. Drop this hand, look at his body already, I still have not even done anything yet. But I can just stand here and say, "Do you really want to continue with this". But he wants to continue, continue no problem; and he gets knocked down. So, the idea is not to use force, and at any given moment we are in control and have an option to change. This is the key concept in martial applications in Tai Chi."