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08. May 2012

Cats

Cats are natural Tai Chi masters without knowing it and if they did they just wouldn't care.

 

Let me explain, I have 3 cats who are about a year old and from day one they have been training their martial skills by 'playing' with each other to hone their skills of evading, diverting, disrupting and escaping.

The reason that they practice continually with each other is to reduce the gap between training and a live situation, until their skill level is sufficient that there will be no difference between the two.

 

In the Tai Chi classic-Interpretation of the practice of the thirteen tactics it mentions the following lines,

'The appearance is like a hawk seizing a hare, the shen (spirit) is like a cat catching a rat' and also 'move the way a cat walks'

This means being relaxed in the body, alert with the ability to move in any direction, not making unnecessary movements and be ready to strike swiftly and suddenly without conscious thought.

Who ever wrote these lines them must have liked cats/hawks enough to spend the time to observe their behaviour and then to be able to recognise and translate this behaviour for a human martial benefit.

 

Many people incorrectly believe that cats like to torment their prey but what they are actually doing is manoeuvring it into the best position so they can find a clear opening to kill it as quickly as possible, without endangering themselves in the process.

Make contact, clear the obstructions, strike as fast as possible.

 

So just like cats we need to be constantly refining our skills and using their approach in our own martial practice of the solo forms, pushing hands, applications and free wrestling. Too much time is wasted training long winded responses to unrealistic situations. In a real situation you have no time to think so your responses must be automatic-you will fight how you train.

 

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