Some of the Palm Strikes From Erle’s System Peter Jones

In this brief article I will be taking a look at some of the palm [and hammer] strikes in the Erle Montaigue System/Taiji and what they could do and some of the points they could affect. The open palm, back palm, back fist and hammer fist are all pretty effective in one's self-defence. When we look at maybe the open palm for example, you may think that it is not a proper fist punch strike and that it is more like a slap — wrong! It's how we use it. Using the open palm can cause knockout once we have learnt how to use these palm strikes properly. Yes, anyone can throw a punch [whoopee], but learning how to use them properly is a "different thing” altogether. As in Taiji, we learn about dim-mak — “good combination with the palms". As for our self-defence, the palms are not the only thing, they are simply a part of a combination of moves with which to defend ourselves.

The Open Palm

Your partner throws a right fist towards your head — as I have already said about combinations, there are a load of ways to do these palm strikes but for now we will not complicate things and keep it pretty straightforward — Now using your left back palm you strike your partner’s right forearm a split second later you strike your partner’s face/jawline with your right open palm [Mind Point].

Points:

Pc 6 [Pericardium 6] — this point can cause an imbalance with the yin-yang in the body. It could cause mental illness and is also a great drainage point. Because Pc 4, 5 and 6 are fairly close to each other, there's a good chance you will hit them also. There are many other points that could cause some different effects when struck.

St 5 and 6, [Stomach 5 & 6] St 5 is on the side of the jaw this can cause a knockout and also damage to the jaw. St 6 — again there are a number of points that can be struck here. Pc 6 can cause KO there are a good few other things that could happen — loss of memory being one of them.

Back Palm

With this strike, your partner throws a right punch towards your head. As in the previous palm, you strike your partner’s forearm, again the points are the same the first palm strike — Pc 6, 5 & 4.

Using your right back palm strike, we strike St 1 [Stomach 1]. This point is by the eye socket and it's struck straight in. This strike is more like a pounding palm, rather than a downward strike… don't get me wrong either one would hurt! This point can cause KO just with a light strike and will also cause damage to the eye and eye socket.

Back Fist

As in the previous two examples, once again your partner strikes at your head with a right punch. You strike your partner’s forearm, as in the previous example, with your left hand — attacking the same points. With your right back fist you strike your partners chin straight in. The point your striking is Cv 24 [Conceptor Vessel 24]. You strike this one straight in, knocking the teeth out! There are a few ways to use Cv24 with varying effects —

vomiting is one of them.

Hammer Fist

Once again your partner throws a right punch towards your head and you defend against the strike just as in the previous examples. Your right hammer fist strike your partner’s chest — the point you are attacking is St 14, [Stomach 14]. When striking St 14, you strike in a downwards direction! As soon as you have struck this point your partner will start feeling sickly in the chest area. Again, there are several points which can be struck in this area, but anywhere on the chest isn't very nice anyway as it destroys the power band!

These are just a few of the palms we use. Everything that we learn with the palms in Taiji all tie in with our Taiji form itself. The hammers are simply derived from the palms themselves!

Erle had a good effective system not just for self-defence, but also for healing and his knowledge on the Internal Arts was second to none, and for that I will always have loads of respect for Erle, and others who have trained with Erle feel the same way too. I will be putting more on Erle's system over the next few issues of Life Hands. I would like to Thank Adrian Jones and Steven Williams for taking part in the photos.