The skill, discipline and philosophy of Tai Chi is to yield. This is also sometimes called "the action of non-action".

Tai Chi teaching advises that a person should never attempt to meet an attack with brute force or sheer physical strength. The teaching advises that if this 'non-action' policy is practiced correctly then the object that approaches intent on impact will find nothing to relieve itself upon. The clever Tai Chi person gets out of the way of threat. The wise Tai Chi person both gets out of the way and helps the threat further on its way. The wisest Tai Chi person does all this and the puts as great a distance between themselves and the threat as possible.

After some basic training any student can successfully learn some basic though effective self-defense techniques. I can teach you now. Lesson 1. Walk away. Lesson 2. Walk further away. Lesson 3. Run. Learn this well and the odds of you not getting hurt improve. Sun Zi phrased this more aggressively in "The Art of War" when he said: "If a battle can be won, fight it, if not, depart."

If you knew nothing about self defense and you were attacked your recourse might be to use a weapon to defend yourself. This is an ignorance that indicates that the less you know about yourself the more you rely upon physical violence. However, if you were trained an able to use your own flexibility; all weapons of violence that inevitably inflict injury are rendered unnecessary. Therefore, be prepared, practice every day (if you can) but never make a show of any skill that you have acquired. To do so can lead to envy or fear in others. This in turn could actually invite attack from any of those that may wish to 'test' you or prove something to themselves.