APPLICATIONS PRACTICE:

Is the repetitive practice of specific possible interpretations of the form and push hands as martial-techniques for the purpose of self-defense training. This often means that skills are considered with specific scenarios in mind. By this approach to training, it is made clear to students what the objectives are even as they cultivate broadly applicable skills. Included in applications are the practice of strikes, and Chin-na (joint manipulations) in a controlled and safe environment. Beyond this, and probably of greater significance is the practice of specific structural concepts such as rooting and uprooting as applied to self defense. The controlled and repeated practice of skills such as sticking and following, and use of the thirteen basic energies of taichi : ward off, roll back, press, push, pull down, split, elbow, shoulder, forward, back, look right, gaze left, and center, are at the heart of applications practice and should be given emphasis.

What must be kept in mind is that the purpose of this kind of practice is to cultivate viable self-defense skills. Furthermore, in order for skills to be effective, a student must continuously practice and train their body to move a certain way and to be prone to certain kinds of responses such as rolling around the force of an adversary's attack, or learning to maintain physical and mental relaxation in the heart of conflict. Rather than considering applications practice as the learning of prearranged techniques that are to be used against specific attacks, this practice is to train the body to be familiar with receiving and interacting with numerous energies. This will allow freed of response and enable a response to be correct, even before the thought is there to select an action to deal with an attack.

Fighting and self defense as they occur outside of practice, are not a series of techniques so much as a rapid exchange of energies. If a mind and body are trained to settle into calm and to disperse forces as they arise, to remain centered and balanced, while drawing an assailant's strength into imbalance and weakness, then it is more probable that they will have won a confrontation, or even have successfully avoided it, before it even began.

At ZiranT'aichi Kungfu Center we practice Self-Defense Applications on Monday Nights

Updated 8/01/05