September, 2008 Archive
Eli Montaigue, Head Instructor of the World Taiji Boxing Association, returned to Utah. He brought us more advanced Taijiquan. In September 2008, Saturday 27th - Sunday 28th, each day’s training went 10 am - 5 pm! 18 folks worked hard to become elastic and powerful.
It was at Steven Smith’s condo-complex, on the big lawn.
130 South 1300 East #210
Salt Lake City, UT 84102
For Eli’s second journey to Utah, we took it a step further.
Eli demonstrated and taught us:
- Advanced Small San Sau
- San Sau’s Deadly Mother Applications!
- Old Yang Form
- Single & Double Pushing Hands
- Striking Methods
- and Qigong
Plus, everyone worked directly with Eli, receiving corrections and tips on Pushing Hands at the workshop. A number of folks signed up for private instruction before or after the workshop. And Steven Smith hosted dinner on Saturday night—that’s becoming a tradition.
Mother Applications in Taiji Small San-Sau
Mother Applications do not appear much in writing or on DVD. This is exclusive. From Eli: “The mother applications from the small San-Sau are some of the best multiple strike kill methods out there, teaching you all about body movement, Fa-jing, and Dim-Mak. These method were banned in the US for a time due to being too violent! There is one Mother Application for every move in the Small San-Sau, the postures in the form are your first reaction, your defence, even though some of them alone can kill, the mother applications are your follow ups, never giving a sucker an even break as we like to call it!”
Read World Taiji Boxing 2008 Event »
I feel safe in the presence of stress and aggression. I speak bravely and hold a confident attitude because I can kill with my bare hands. What silly rules of etiquette, scary social norms, or sadistic corporate policies stand in my way? What deviant criminal or sadistic fool can harm my good will? None. I can remain calm and watchful in the midst of aggression and chaos.
I won’t need to compromise my principles. I can protect folks close to me (including myself), my family, my friends, and anyone who stands nearby. And I cannot be provoked, with pushing or screaming, into chaotic scenarios. T’ai Chi Chuan — the system of martial-art training methods including martial pushing hands and death point strike training — lets me live so well.
Read Death Point Striking For Peace »
The word self-defense usually conjures images of how to deal with physical violence. I imagine a class where the martial arts instructor goes over attacks and attack scenarios along with techniques and/or drills to deal with them. As I learn methods to defend myself physically I also like to remind myself that violence never happens in a vacuum.
There are warning signs, choices to consider, escalations happening, body language to evaluate…etc. The actions I choose, based on my awareness of incoming sense data, can help keep me safe, though no action, or lack of action, can keep me safe from violence 100% of the time. Preemptive awareness provides the key to early intervention, providing more choices and additional time to choose a course of action. Try the following preemptive awareness techniques.
