What is wrong with this picture?

[Mulan]

I have enjoyed reading many of your posts in this thread. You seem intelligent and have done your homework on a lot of things.

Thank you very much. ^_^ And thank you to everybody else that has finally brought this topic back to women in martial arts. Well, at least closer back to the topic than it was, heh. I kinda left cause I felt the topic wandered way off-topic and just stagnated and all arguments have been exhausted. That and because I was, you know, actually DOING martial arts finally. :P

However, you say you are taking Tai Chi primarily for the health benefits and hoping that the self defense will simply appear. This is a rather backwards approach, because it WORKS THE OTHER WAY AROUND! If you are not training for self defense, how can you hope to defend yourself? Yes, Tai Chi has health benefits, but what good will those do if some asshole rapes and murders you? Health benefits should not be your primary concern. Tai Chi is first and foremost a martial art. Leave the "airy-fairy" types of Tai Chi for "airy-fairy" types of people. You don't seem to fit in to that category.

Yes, you're right, I'm not "airy-fairy." I'm taking Tai Chi for the holistic benefits - self-defense, health, and spiritual. I do focus on Tai-Chi Chuan as martial arts and self-defense first, but I think the less physical parts of the training are also very necessary for effective Tai Chi (now if I could only get myself to regularly practice the Chi Kung they taught us). The school also focuses on Tai-Chi as martial arts first, and we do plenty of push hands and (choreographed for now) sparring. They tend to pair me with guys, though, because I have a tendency to push larger people back several feet. They teach four weapon forms in our school, as well, but that's for intermediate students and right now I'm only a yellow/orange fringe. Our Grandmaster (my teacher's teacher, Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong) has been ganged up on by muggers recently and came out without a scratch (although he used Choy Li Fut, not Tai-Chi, but still), and this makes me more confident that we are learning useful skills.

I really want to learn a katana for more "equalizing" self-defense, too. They're light, they're fast, and they're very, very sharp. I even dressed up as a ninja for this Halloween.

[Yinboxer]

Thank you very much. ^_^ And thank you to everybody else that has finally brought this topic back to women in martial arts. Well, at least closer back to the topic than it was, heh. I kinda left cause I felt the topic wandered way off-topic and just stagnated and all arguments have been exhausted. That and because I was, you know, actually DOING martial arts finally. :P


Yes, you're right, I'm not "airy-fairy." I'm taking Tai Chi for the holistic benefits - self-defense, health, and spiritual. I do focus on Tai-Chi Chuan as martial arts and self-defense first, but I think the less physical parts of the training are also very necessary for effective Tai Chi...

I really want to learn a katana for more "equalizing" self-defense, too. They're light, they're fast, and they're very, very sharp.

I am glad to hear that your school isn't teaching "Tai Chi for old people." I have a book called "The Tao of Tai-Chi Cuuan, Way to Rejuvenation" by Jou, Tsung Hwa. I am paraphrasing here, but he says that taking tai-chi without martial application is like buying a pair of shoes and coming home with the empty box instead.

I have just started learning the katana. It is great fun, but I don't see how it would be applicable for self-defense (unless someone breaks into my house), because seriously, are you going to carry the thing around with you? I recommend learning some knife skills in addition to your other self-defense. Unless you live in California, most places allow you to openly carry a single edge blade if it is less than 4 inches. Most women won't carry a knife because it doesn't go with their outfit. If they do carry, they stuff it in their purse where it is completey useless if they are attacked. Often times women will say, "what if he takes it away from me?" to which I reply "He will get cut to ribbons for trying." If you have had no training (male or female), I recommend not carrying a knife because it just might get taken away from you.

[Tom Yum]

IUnless you live in California, most places allow you to openly carry a .... it is less than 4 inches.

Remember, size of the blade doesn't matter...


its how you use it.....


Seriously, there are debates whether short blades or long blades are better weapons.

[Ironpalm]

Amen Yinboxer. If you love someone teach them knife...I heard Datu Kelly Worden once say. Its gospel.The knife also teaches conceps that apply to a great many field expediant weapons. Look for James Keatings Riddle of Steel fro women this year.(the first he has allowed women to attend) He is the man with a knife.

[Ironpalm]

ask a troll for advice.

[Tom Yum]

Yeah, I've heard of that.

[Yinboxer]

Amen Yinboxer. If you love someone teach them knife...I heard Datu Kelly Worden once say. Its gospel.The knife also teaches conceps that apply to a great many field expediant weapons. Look for James Keatings Riddle of Steel fro women this year.(the first he has allowed women to attend) He is the man with a knife.

Also, ladies, don't be put off by the fact that he has seperate camps for men and women (I know, I have said before that you need to mix it up, but this guy knows his stuff.) The reason he does this, I believe, is to lessen distractions. When you have a group of guys (especially the types that are into knife fighting) and one woman shows up it changes the dynamic of the group. Whether they mean to or not, they may start acting "macho" to impress her, or their protector instinct kicks in. Knife fighting is serious business, and I can understand wanting classes to be free of distractions. I believe someone else has posted here (maybe another thread) that he is distracted by the pretty women in his class. This is natural. I don't believe in the theory that they should just "get over it," because lets face it, thats never going to happen! Besides, I have been known to be distracted by hot guys as well.

[Mulan]

I am paraphrasing here, but he says that taking tai-chi without martial application is like buying a pair of shoes and coming home with the empty box instead.

Yes, I have read similar things in other books too. That the health and spiritual benefits of Tai Chi Chuan come from doing it as a martial art. And that is the type of mindset I strive for.

I have just started learning the katana. It is great fun, but I don't see how it would be applicable for self-defense (unless someone breaks into my house), because seriously, are you going to carry the thing around with you?

Yeah, I am thinking more in the "what if somebody breaks into my house" sense. For this I have four swords and three daggers stashed all over my room, heh. I do realize that somebody breaking into my house is a less likely scenario than somebody assaulting me on the street (out of people I don't know, at least), but I still like to fantasize about how scared a burglar would be if s/he was faced with a resident in full ninja getup pointing a katana at them, lol. The sheer effect would be far freakier than a gun, I'd think. Not very practical, of course. I should look into knife training.

[Yinboxer]

but I still like to fantasize about how scared a burglar would be if s/he was faced with a resident in full ninja getup pointing a katana at them, lol. The sheer effect would be far freakier than a gun, I'd think. Not very practical, of course. I should look into knife training.

I have thought the same thing myself. People have an instinctive fear of edged weapons, due to the fact that people have been killing each other with them longer than they have been killing each other with guns.

[aseepish]

Katana for Self Defense

Allow me to refer you to Tom Yum's thread from the BJJ/MMA forum:

http://www.defend.net/deluxeforums/showthread.php?t=13968

[LoneWolf1]

In response to Mulan

"Four swords and three daggers stashed all over my room." Whoa a chick who likes weapons! that's a turn on.

What kind of blades may I ask?

PS. On average men have size and strength and women have crazy amounts determination. ON AVERAGE.

[Mulan]

What kind of blades may I ask?

1 Tai Chi Sword
1 Katana
1 Sword of Vaelen
1 Narsil
1 Black Shadow Dagger
1 fancy arabian-looking dagger bf gave me so I dunno what it's called
1 basic hunting knife thingie

Sure, half the stuff is more for decoration, but believe you me, if I hit somebody over the head with Narsil it's gonna hurt.

[Broadsword2004]

Hey, just wondering, but what is meant by that statement, "The hard and strong will fall, but the soft and weak will overcome."

Soft and weak never survives against hard and strong.

Unless you mean more like, "The hard and rigid will fall, while the soft and adaptable will overcome" i.e. like wood will break but water will flow and adapt, and search around 'till it finds the answer.

[Broadsword2004]

Also, just a tip, but a good deal of burglars break into homes with guns, you draw a sword on one, and they'll open fire pretty likely.

And a person in full ninja garb I would honestly laugh at if I were an armed burglar, not be frightened by (no offense, but that look just isn't frightening I don't think).

But get a gun to keep a burglar at bay, not swords.

Usually only the stupid burglars don't use guns (like that guy who tried to rob a gun store with a knife then there was that guy who tried to rob a Burger King while armed with a baseball bat, upon which cuztomers picked up a couple chairs and attacked him

[Mulan]

Hey, just wondering, but what is meant by that statement, "The hard and strong will fall, but the soft and weak will overcome."

Soft and weak never survives against hard and strong.

It's a quote from the Tao Te Ching, the book that serves as the foundation of Taoism and all Taoist-based martial arts schools (Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua, Hsing Yi, others).

"Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water.
Yet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better;
It has no equal.
The weak can overcome the strong;
The supple can overcome the stiff.
Under heaven everyone knows this,
Yet no one puts it into practice." (Verse 78)

"The living are soft and yielding;
the dead are rigid and stiff.
Living plants are flexible and tender;
the dead are brittle and dry.
Those who are stiff and rigid
are the disciple of death.
Those who are soft and yielding
are the disciples of life.
The rigid and stiff will be broken.
The soft and yielding will overcome." (Verse 76)

It is in part referring to the adaptability you mentioned, but also the yin-yang idea that it is counter-productive to use force against force. If somebody comes at you with yang (direct force), you react with yin (yielding, redirecting). A rigid oak breaks against strong winds while a mere reed bends and endures. And, on a more philosophical tone, it is the acknowlegement that rigidity is the nature of death while softness is the nature of life.

I wasn't serious about going up against a burglar in a ninja outfit, but I disagree, I think for most people it would be a lot freakier than a gun. People are used to guns, but swords are more visually threatening and more primal. Also, a burglar would likely run if you just plain confront them unarmed. Most house burglars don't plan on and avoid all confrontation. Street muggers tend to be more violent, but even they are more likely to run if you are uncooperative. However, it's best to be prepared for the violent minority. I hate guns, so I would never get one. That's a personal prefference, though, and I'm for the right to bear arms and all that (swords, knives are arms too).