While Richard Clear was showing one of our basic Tai Chi kick slipping drills for a class full of new students, a martial artist from a rival school in the area insisted that Richard demonstrate at full speed and power. Although the young man was somewhat hostile, Sigung Clear obliged him and continued to teach the class while the fellow did his best to land his shots. You can see that Richard did not let it get in the way of explaining the drill and why it is useful.

This is just one basic drill we use for beginners, not an application in its own right. The drill develops the ability to shed hits without taking impact into you. It is meant to be practiced slowly until learned well, and then added in with a lot of other body qualities and fighting strategies.

After several attempts (which must have been frustrating), the visitor tried to get a little more fancy. You can see he comes in as if to grab or strike with his hands, even though he asked to see it with a kick. Unfortunately we were not set up to film on this night. The footage you see was captured on camera phones from the students who were present. The best angle on the action was in the mirror. Afterwards he denied that he had been hit on the head, so we've slowed it down and zoomed in to show you the little tap this fellow got as a warning.

As you can see the young man only wanted to play the kicker. He did not want to try the drill in the role of the defender, even at slow speeds. He complained that this skill alone would not work in a fighting situation. He is right about that, as this is only one small part of the fighting method we use. We asked him to stick around for light sparring with the students so that he could see it used in full context, but he declined and instantly decided to pack up his things and leave.

For more information about our Combat Tai Chi program, go to: http://www.clearstaichi.com/combat-tai-chi

This particular drill is on Volume 1A of our course. To learn this skill -- and a whole bunch of other amazing things -- you can get it at: http://www.clearstaichi.com/tai-chi-dvd/combat-tai-chi-dvd/vol-1-apparent-opening