Tai Chi And Martial Arts - Why Some People Do It So Well
The Art of Movement In Martial Art
Whenever someone watches someone performing martial arts in slow motion it instantaneously becomes obvious if the performer knows what she or he is doing. When the same moves are performed quickly, speed hides a great deal of the flaws.
In martial art just like in dance, there is a specific network of geometric shapes, frame and flow of motion that must be performed homogeneously in order for it to truly look beautiful.
A dead giveaway if someone is a true martial artist, regardless of whether they are a good fighter or not is that when they move, each motion looks beautiful, flowing, as they slide effortlessly from one pose to the next.
It must look like a moving painting a work of art. It does not matter whether the martial art in question is a soft or a hard style. Hard style Karate, Taekwondo and Kung Fu all look beautiful in motion if performed correctly.
Hard style martial arts follow more quadrangular shapes and have more of a jerky rhythmical pattern to them as opposed to soft style arts where the circular motions are perpetual and continuous.
Either way all martial arts can be performed beautifully as really they are all interconnected by history and people.
There are martial arts coming from each part of the globe, the most famous stem out from Asia but of course, there are many art forms and fighting styles that come from everywhere no country excluded.
It makes me quite upset when I see people argue over different styles of art saying that one is fake and the other is better etc...
My reasoning behind it is that every martial art regardless of where it comes from is amazing and effective in its own way as well as eventually stems out from the same source like a message that is modified every time it is spoken and communicated to another individual.
What usually gives a particular art a bad name tends to be who teaches the art as well as the expectations the students have once they graduate from a school.
If the instructor fails to get through to the students the students could practice incorrectly for 40 years and still not know how to perform each move properly as well as in some cases get injured in combat because knowing the moves and applying them, under pressure in the line of fire or even when being surprised in the street is different.
When practicing martial arts there are a few factors which remain constant and that make all the difference in the way that people perceive your movement.
Ballance and relaxation are key in every stance. At first, everything will seem awkward and complicated but the ancient masters who designed the arts were mechanical, mathematical and kinetic geniuses the likes of which our current world has yet to come across.
Each move and this is especially obvious in Tai Chi is carefully balanced so that one's weight will shift and flow while allowing the body to relax and never over tighten any particular muscle group while still making use of all of them.
In every pose, if you look closely you will find triangular shapes even though you are moving your limbs in a circular fashion.
This allows the body to be loose, relaxed and ready to strike at any given moment while having a powerful and solid triangular structure used in architecture for the same purpose.
There are many debates over how one must keep their spine during performing in martial arts. Some stress that one's spine must be kept straight like the frame of a dancer but in my humble opinion that is not the case.
Whenever you see a true master of the arts perform their back is never perfectly straight as that implies a great amount of rigidity in motion and exposes your chin to attacks.
There is, in fact, a natural tuck of the chin and a relaxation of the shoulders which is required for one to be able to flow with spontaneity as well as shoot punches and kicks with the speed and fluidity required to create power without using too much energy during battle.
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