Soft =/= Easy!

It is not uncommon in the world of martial arts to encounter a practitioner (sometimes even at instructor level) who, upon getting into one of the “Soft” or “Internal” martial arts, is ready to talk your head off about how much better they are than the “Hard” styles.

“You see,” such a person can say, “Hard arts are all about brute force.  I can just redirect that energy into them.”

Or

“With my soft power, I can issue Fa Jin and defeat them easily.”

Or

“This style means no effort is needed.”

Or (God forbid)

“My Qi is too strong for them!”

That easy huh? My Tai Chi Chuan teacher’s teacher refers to this kind of reasoning as “Magical Thinking.”  These people have come to believe that there is some kind of “magic” or “shortcut” to martial prowess that involves little or no difficulty or discomfort in training.

I should mention that in my own life experience, such braggarts are often in fairly poor physical condition and/or have little to no “live fire” experience, either competitively or in dangerous life experiences.  The classes they attend (or teach) often feature minimal contact and/or never progress past the initial stage of technical drilling with a totally compliant (equally hypnotized) partner.  In fact, I’ve had people tell me that “sparring builds bad habits” or “strength training blocks the Qi!”

Nonsense!

Unsafe or poorly structured sparring CAN build bad habits (or produce chronic injuries).  It IS important when learning something new to start slow and controlled and then build the intensity.  But never learning to adjust to an opponent who won’t let you apply your favorite technique is absurd if you are really trying to learn self-defense.  “When you get too tense the form no longer looks right!” comes the retort.  Because a real fight should look like the Kata 😛
Often these people mistake the appearance of a “form” for its functional purpose, but that is a whole other subject I’ll write about later.

Likewise, physical conditioning that does not compliment the type of movement you want to be good at “blocks Qi” in the sense that it can create injury or misalignment.  Good biomechanics in any style are about the efficient synchronization of the mind and body so that every movement involves total mass alignment for force transfer.  And in order for that mass to align, the bones and connective tissues need to have the structural integrity (i.e. strength) to manage forces.  Every style has methods for building strength appropriate to the power mechanics utilized.  And yet many people have a fantasy idea that these supplementary exercises are not necessary. As such, they are promoting a version of the old martial arts fantasy that with a couple of “secret moves” anyone can become unstoppable with minimal effort made in practice.

Anyone who’s played Jūdō, Shuai Chiao, or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will tell you that “Soft” does not mean “easy!”  There is still a LOT of hard work that goes into learning to manipulate balance and structure with sufficient skill to defeat another (highly motivated) human being.

The “legendary” masters of arts such as Tai Chi Chuan and Baguazang all put in a tremendous amount of work into their craft.  Were there camera phone recordings of some of these men in action, I’m sure that the fantasy people would be dismayed to see that in fights, the “soft” arts can look quite “hard” when fists start flying.

I bring this up because the “Soft” and “Internal” skills Pak Steve has made available to us are HIGHLY effective. But you need to PUT IN THE WORK.  Chang Style Maenpo Poquazen KunTao requires Kung Fu: Hard Work Over Time.  You have to practice your stances, your Fire Palm Meditation, your Iron Skill conditioning, and your forms. And that’s just your solo time.  It is vital to get with partners to drill the applications.  Start slow and controlled to build precision and sensitivity and then build intensity and resistance as skill improves.  Once you can achieve the effects you seek, practice Sticky Hands to learn to apply your Djurus against a partner who is defending him- or herself, and then move on to Free Play Sparring.

One of the things that blew me away about Pak Steve is that he can apply “Internal Force” (Hitting with the Connected Power of his entire mass) in any direction from any position all the time.  He does not need to “wind up” or “pose.”  That kind of skill can only be developed by dedication to practice.

Internal or Soft Arts DO provide a whole new level or power and sensitivity, BUT you still have to be able to fight.  There is no “magic” other than the hard work and discipline of Daily Constant Practice.

Dr Jon