Chris,
In a way I think the question is too general. I looks to me like "Tai Chi" has evolved into a set of different sub-styles that have different strategies ranging from the 'hard' to the 'soft' and everything in between. Competition style seems different to street style, etc..
But even historically, I think the styles descended from Yang LuChan (Wu, Yang, Cheng, etc) might have a different strategy from the original Chen style. I don't know enough about Chen style to know, but it seems different to me.
But then some people will say "there is only one Tai Chi", but I think if you look at the reality of what people actually do, that's not true.
Graham,
I dont disagree with any of that, but maybe you missed the idea with this thread so it seems too General.
I would like to start a exploration of peoples personal definition regarding Tai Chi Chuans strategy for combat/fighting.
So the personal definition of someone doing Chen, Yang, Wu etc may well be different. I suspect everyones is different even within style boundaries. So i am not sure the question is too broad at all..
after all ... some will consistantly say that "Its the individual that matters" whenever we review fighting skill or approach, so lets go to the individuals, us!
I'd say the fighting strategy of Tai Chi Chuan is "following the principles of Yin and Yang in combat".
Thanks, Would you be able to expand on how you personally use that strategy?
If I was going to summarise all that into one pithy statement
Ultimately, for fighting, i think it should be easy for people to say what they are trying to do when they train ... What their approach to the problem is. I also think, for someone who is clear with their approach, this should be able to be put into one short sentence. Not for the sake of fun, brevity, or 'being clever', but for the sake of clarify.
For the record, i see no 'right or wrong' coming out of this, but an interesting discussion. It may be too foreign for a message board such as this for that to be possible though.
Regards.