This whole set is practiced on both sides. There should be minimal
time between the low block and the back-fist.
It is said of the single pounding palm in pa-kua that one should be
able to block anything that comes within range and immobilize it using
only one palm. The other palm is only used if necessary. The t’ai
chi low block is an excellent block used for heavy attacks by foot or
fist. Practice this method until you are able to reach a reasonable
speed with great power in the attacker’s attacks.
TAI CHI SECRETS
So you’ve been with your teacher for fifteen years and you’re now
asking, what comes next? You wait and wait and eventually, if
you’ve got any brain at all, you’ll be thinking that your instructor is
keeping things from you. And the answer is that he probably is! This
seems to be especially so when we are talking about the Chinese
Masters in China or Hong Kong etc. Sure many of these direct lineage
masters know the secret techniques but they’re not telling. And
when they do, it’s usually to one of their own family or a very close
Chinese student. There is more and when you learn about it, it’s a
real eye opener. Why do you suppose that T’ai Chi Ch’uan means
“The Supreme Ultimate Boxing?’ To discover the reason we must
go right back to when T’ai Chi was invented by Chang San-feng
around the beginning of the 13th century. Chang was a famous acupuncturist
and was already good at the harder Shaolin styles. But
still Chang was not sure that he had the best fighting system in
China. So he and two others, also acupuncturists set about the find
out what points on the human body would cause which reactions.
They knew that certain points would cause either damage or heal
from performing acupuncture. Without going into exactly how they
worked on the points, after some years the three finally worked out
what points and in what combinations, what direction and how hard
to strike would cause either death or immobilize an opponent. Then,
Chang became quite paranoid in that he did not want anyone else
other than his own, to have his discoveries. So he had to have a way
in which he could teach his own family and students without let-ting
anyone else find out what it was he was practicing. This form of
movement, which was really, a hidden set of movements, eventually
became known as T’ai Chi Ch’uan. But by the time that it was called
this, not many people knew why they were doing these movements!
The original meaning was lost and only the family members had the
good oil. Right up to our present day, this knowledge has only been
passed down to a few instructors. Chang Yiu-chun was one of my instructors
and Chang knew the dim-mak or death point striking of
T’ai Chi Ch’uan.