If you have ever trained with my tai chi Sifu, Jeff Bolt, or his master, Dr. Yang Jwing Ming, you would see the effectiveness of tai chi and especially tai chi chin na in fighting. I have trained in gung fu and Yang tai chi for over 30 years and have found tai chi to be an effective art by using fa jing, foot movement, push hands for sensitivity, and then tai chi chin na and/or plucking (a form of tai chi grabbing/locking) to neutralize an opponent. Also, the internal strikes of tai chi through a palm strike to an internal organ while sinking and rooting, or a front kick using "play guitar" where an opponent is pulled in by two locking hands while executing a front kick with jing to a vital point in the sternum, the arm pit, the tan tien, the femoral artery, or vital joints, is also effective. Combined with kung fu techniques, tai chi in general (also ba gua and hsing i in similar fashion) surrounds, controls, and neutralizes the opponent. As in kung fu taught these days, a critical missing element of effective tai chi fighting, or actually fighting in general, is the use of good footwork to position oneself vis a vis the opponent and set up attacks/defenses through appropriate angular positioning. Whether walking the circle in ba gua or using effective moving push hand foot movement, any of the 5 main styles of tai chi are effective. In combo with a good Northern or Southern art, it helps meld the internal and external into one expression of whipping power, aka fajing application. I have found in many fighting instances, whether real or sparring in class, that eventually the blocking/pushing/punching etc are merely technique that must be, through practice, converted to a natural reaction to any stimuli brought forth by the opponent. Push hands is merely a way to develop sensitivity to a person's chi/movements/intention, while redirecting for effective punches, kicks, chin na, or redirecting to a more advantageous position. This is my two cents worth from my experience. Besides, in the old days many members of both the Chen and the Yang families would take on both kung fu and foreign practitioners in either combat or friendly matches and usually prevail. Must have something to it...LOL, or as one of my three masters use to say, "do not pick on anyone over 60 moving slowly and grinning for no reason!" Of course, that could mean he is senile!!
