Tai Chi Strategy is to end the fight with as little force as possible. The idea is to end the confrontation by blending with the attacker such that the attacker has nowhere to strike. The other Tai Chi strategy when this is not possible is for the practitioner to strike second but hit first. I addressed this idea a bit in a prior post on Tai Chi Fighting Strategy.
One of my favorite analogies for Tai Chi strategy in physical terms is to think of a hanging towel or shower curtain. If you strike a hanging towel or shower curtain hard and fast it normally just moves and bends. Try to put a hole in it and learn a lesson in frustration. It does not break because it simply gives way. If you look at the flowing aspect of Tai Chi movement in comparison to the towel or shower curtain then it will make more sense why and how you want your Tai Chi movement to really flow.
Can you be soft and flowing enough that a hit cannot easily penetrate you? The answer is yes but it may take quite a bit of practice to think and move this way. Use the idea of suddenly being one piece of connected body so that your entire body weight is all present at one time as a whole that can be transmitted through any contact point and then you will be working the other side of the coin.
If you can go from soft and flowing like a towel or shower curtain to one solid and connected piece at will (like a 150 – 200 pound steel wrapped in cotton statue) then you can really display the yin and yang in your fighting art. Soft and relaxed until the moment you want to strike and then all of your body weight is transferred in an instant at the most opportune time as you choose. I like to say float like a butterfly and then sting like a brick wall. This is a proper application of real Tai Chi Chuan Strategy in motion.
If you would like to see this fighting Tai Chi strategy it is demonstrated on our Combat Tai Chi video 1 B How to move with Tai Chi and on our Light & Heavy Tai Chi video.