Many search questions people find me through search engines to this are about Tai Chi as a martial art, how it works as combat. Does Tai Chi work as self defence? Or does it? One search term I have encountered several times lately is the same as the name of this post: “Tai Chi is Bullshit”. The funny thing is that I have never had that phrase as a question. No, it’s a statement, Tai Chi is Bullshit. Ok, thanks for telling me. Now I know, Tai Chi sucks.
It has been a lot of attacks on Tai Chi lately in social media. People are trying to discuss tai chi as a martial art and keep their plattform a “Woo-Woo free zone“. I can accept that Tai Chi can be hard to grasp. But trying to turn the art away from it’s own roots, from it’s own culture and history, will turn it into something even more uncomprehandable. If you don’t work hard trying to understand it for what it is, I can understand that you will continue to look at it as bullshit. Your shit will be fake.
Thoughts On Tai Chi 
I agree but I find this most with people who learned hard styles first and then tried to apply this to tc, consequently they developed angular or mechanical tc. A lot like the movie about chen village where the son creates a system of gears and pulleys under his clothes.
That’s a good point. Sometimes it’s like impossible for people to grasp the spirit of the art. I guess that if they have studied other arts, they try to model their tai chi using their old understanding from other arts. Mostly, I think it’s about a certain lack of patience. Tai chi must grow, it can’t be hurried.
Your last sentence is truth: Taiji is based on a good rooting and the (constant) flow of energy, BUT modern martial arts like jkd is based on this and therefore moveing with “broken rythm”. Taiji is not made to “beat” this, but it is best for health, which you may not gain via the efficient actual ma concepts (they may be better for fight, but not better for health). It may be wise just to keep these two separate.
kindest regards from Boris from Zurich
After 20 years of daily practice of Taiji and self defence jkd and kickboxing since 1977 I conclude: Taiji is great for health keeping in peace and can give input into self defence. But preserving your health against attacks of today, you better switch to or learn JKD or Mano Mano / Kali, which all fits very well to taiji.
Taiji good for health keeping, but not for realistic defence of broken rhythm attacks. 🙂
The classic and the nowadays should remain separated. Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto changed everything since 1963.
Kindest regards Boris Nicolaj Bühler from Zurich
Haven’t looked at this blog for a while. My thoughts on the advantages of Tai Chi Chuan as fighting system you can read more about here: https://taichithoughts.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/what-is-it-like-to-fight-with-tai-chi-chuan/
Yes, Tai Chi is total bullshit.
tai chi makes for some great skateboarding 🙂
it also goes well with my wing chun
but to say people can push each other over just with there mind is not good
for your art (not that I am saying you are saying this)
it leads people to disbelieve that tai chi has anything to offer.
unfortunately as I am looking for a new teacher I have come across this bullshito
and now have the “joy” of letting them know that I can not learn under them.
I still think chi is real and that all things in life have chi but I know for a fact
that many of the claims that the chinese made to us gweilo was just a way to
keep the truth from us and make money from our stupidity.
for us to continue pushing it is much like passing on Scientology as far as
I am concerned.
oh well I still wont say they are bad teachers as there are many people out there
that are mentally unstable and need to believe in something.
much like any religion really isn’t it.
I began my martial arts journey by studying Uechi Ryu Karate an Okinawan (ie Chinese) style; a very aggressive hard style. After getting my Shodan rank in this style I moved and began studying Yang style Taiji because that was the only martial art available to me. After 44 years of studying these and other martial arts, mostly Highland broadsword, I have concluded that the principles are the same in any real martial art. All arts start out as external and eventually become internal. Different paths to the same place. There is no bullshit in having patience and humility.