MCC - 130 Stealing the Center

Stealing the opponent's center of balance.

DISCLAIMER:
These clips are for entertainment and general informational purposes only. We are not instructing you, or encouraging you to do or to believe anything, except to view, enjoy, and think. Never forget that martial arts, like any rigorous course of physical activity, presents the risk of injury, sometimes serious, disabling, or even fatal. Actual techniques should only be practiced in a controlled environment emphasizing safety, under the direct supervision of a Black Belt instructor (in whom you have trust and confidence), and only after you have been cleared by your personal physician.

A person's unbalance is the same as a weight.

In Tai Chi Chuan, it is commonly held that one ounce can move a thousand pounds.

These principles are of profound significance as one reaches mature understanding into martial arts. With the perceived indestructibility of youth, it is perhaps understandable the early years in arts such as Karate and Kung Fu are primarily physical, with an emphasis on speed and power and an early focus on striking, kicking, blocking and basic strategies. Knowledge of the principles of balance represents the "fine wine" of martial arts, and usually takes years combined with maturity (and experience), before it is ready to be served.

To nudge you down the path of understanding, we have prepared several video clips which present the basic guidelines for breaking balance, offer insight on how best to grasp or hold the opponent while attacking balance, and finally, show several examples of how balance breaking starts to look when applied with expertise.

While we all plow through the follies of youth, get our bumps and bruises, and learn the lessons of life, and of our martial arts, the tenets first stated hold true, and over the course of years become profound in their implications. For the Master, once an opponent's balance is broken, the fight is over. At its highest level, the theft of balance by a Master is so subtle and acute, it is not even perceived by the attacker. Against the Master, once the attacker's balance is lost, it is never regained, until the opponent is flat on the ground, incapacitated, and restored to natural equilibrium. Only then will the attacker know what the Master has known all along.

A person's unbalance is the same as a weight. A force of one ounce can move a thousand pounds.

For more information on balance, visit: http://www.ironcrane.com/html/balance...

Used with Permission. Copyright 2000-2009, Mc Cabe and Associates, Tacoma, WA. All rights reserved.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• gun fu
• animal fighting styles
• self defense
• balance
• rooting