Is Chen Tai Chi Practical as a Self Defense Art today?

A question I often hear posed is, "Is Chen Tai Chi practical for self defense in today's world?" I truly believe so. To prove my point, I have examined a number of the potential applications found in the movements of Lao Jia Yi Lu against commonly seen knife attacks. I chose knives as the attacking medium, because I happen to know a bit about blades and I have a pretty good idea of what will work empty handed against a blade. Having had SIX (6) of my students survive against edged weapons here in NYC, I think I can make a statement like that.

I had a friend, a well-known instructor in the Filipino Martial Arts who used to espouse that there were several steps to surviving any encounter: 1-to protect yourself, and limit the amount of injury you can from the first successful contact against an incoming strike/thrust, 2-to control the arm, 3-to control the body, 4-to take down and 5-to finish your opponent or control him/her, once down on the ground.
My study of Chen Tai Chi applications shows that Chen Tai Chi clearly can meet and satisfy all those criteria.

I do think there are several caveats to my statement that Chen can work well and effectively against knife attackers. The first is, it is very useful to understand how a knife can be used, and gain a rudimentary level of familiarity with such techniques, and second and most importantly, to have an instructor in Chen Tai Chi who knows the applications of the movements of the forms and someone who can explain and show and demonstrate the applications.

Here in New York City, we are really fortunate to have Shifu Yu as an instructor. His demonstrations of the Chen Applications is without peer in this area, imo. I'd be happy to show off any Anti-Knife thing anybody might have a question with. My hope is to put up a vid clip this week on Chen Tai Chi applied to a couple of knife attacks.

I should also state that just doing the form itself isn't enough to be able to apply the skill. Partner practice doing the applications is critical as well. It's why I think having a training partner is important for additional growth in understanding and developing skill in Chen Tai Chi.

Keep on training!
J