One of the great difficulties of training internal martial arts is transferring the information learned through form (or movement) practise and bringing it into the context of real world self-protection.  Very often internal martial movements are practised at slow to medium speed with no contact against an opponent.  When a moment of confrontation does arise in real life, the situation is often a rude awakening for the practitioner.  Internal martial arts have of course many strategies to make their form work real, but these practises are often ignored in western classes due to the perception that the arts practised are purely for health and not self preservation.  The internal arts of course evolved from the battlefield traditions of ancient China and are eminently suitable to conflict.  Have a look at Master George Xu below take well known movements from the internal arts and ably demonstrate their practical usage in a defence scenario.