Many people start out there martial art carreers in the A-typical Tae Kwon Joke, or Karate-dope dojo (see yellow pages). Then after a few years they realize that there must be more, and that perhaps what they are learning is crap. So they do some research and find out about the mystical Neijia arts. The Chi, the fluidity, the serentity.
So they join the local David Caradine tree-hugging, hippie, “its all about yeilding and the cosmos” type crowd. They may learn a few applications sure, but no jin is involved or any realistic training. There is nothing worse than asking a tajiquan teacher if they do applications then they reply “of course”. Then the follow up question is “ARe you familiar with the term jing? IE..fa-jing, peng jin, zuan jin, ting jin, can si jin, etc.” they tell me no. I want to come through the phone and choke them, as they have no buisiness teaching tai chi, they should go back to yoga and a good joint, and then perhaps learn how to pronounce yAng correctly before pretending to know about the internal arts.
I truly believe that if you cannot defend yourself with only your Taijiquan then you have no buisiness teaching it. Speculation need not apply, real exp. only..( I expect hate mail on this one…)
There is another path some take, after the bad TKJ or Karate-dope experience they find boxing, MT, and BJJ. Finnnally something they can accually use in a real fight!!! However some of them then dismiss traditional arts completely and fail to see there is more possible depth of skill in these arts. The learning curve may be different, but it goes up much higher. But after all I dont blame them, the fact that a great majority of traditionalists cant fight is a hard rep to beat.
However, in this day it ain’t gonna make a hell of difference. Everyone’s gonna have their opinions whether they are based on fact or perception or what their best friend’s uncle thinks.
What we all have remember is that people have their own reasons for studying the martial arts and therefore are attracted to different styles, schools, teachers. So, whilst you and I might not want to go down the tree-hugging hippy path it may be exactly what someone else wants. Good luck to them. As long as they aren’t backing me up when the apocolypse arrives, I’ll be happy.
You’ve got some good points in your post that are sure to cause many a reply…let the fun begin!
Originally posted by gazza99
[B]Blah blah blah…So they join the local David Caradine tree-hugging, hippie, “its all about yeilding and the cosmos” type crowd. They may learn a few applications sure, but no jin is involved or any realistic training. There is nothing worse than asking a tajiquan teacher if they do applications then they reply “of course”. Then the follow up question is “ARe you familiar with the term jing? IE..fa-jing, peng jin, zuan jin, ting jin, can si jin, etc.” they tell me no. I want to come through the phone and choke them, as they have no buisiness teaching tai chi, they should go back to yoga and a good joint, and then perhaps learn how to pronounce yAng correctly before pretending to know about the internal arts.
I truly believe that if you cannot defend yourself with only your Taijiquan then you have no buisiness teaching it. Speculation need not apply, real exp. only..( I expect hate mail on this one…)
Blah blah blah some more…
Gary [/B]
Gary,
You KNOW that the pot smoking, peace loving hippies that teach the “health aspect” in the park are RIGHT ON. They are the ONLY ONES that are doing it right. AND, I know that they’ve made up their OWN tai chi form while dropping acid on a FEW occasions… it’s the only way to go. And, if you can’t see that THEY are right…then, there’s something wrong with you.
Amen brother. Read my post under the topic “Long Fist Sparring”. I just got done writing on a similar subject. I won’t bother repeating it here, but you are absolutely right, provided you are not discounting the physical and mental health benefits of traditional arts.
i think the big guy is right, but taoboy has hit a nail squarely on the head.
think that tree hugging hippie crap is real taiqi? sorry, it’s not, and the stuff you refer to is the same **** taught down to the bluehairs at the senior center.
think your taiqi can do some damage? good for you. just make darn sure it’s there when the drunken captain testosterone gets mad at you for being too short/fat/tall/skinny/ugly/pretty/hairy/shaven/etc.
now, if you know that your taiqi is golden, and you understant that, through understanding violence, you have found a greater way to peace and fulfillment, and still have better blood pressure than the geriatrics down at the center, then i think i owe you a high five.
as far as bjj? find me some bjj that works against people twice my size (i’m a buck-seventy) that come at me in pairs and choose to attack me in a dense parking lot.
don’t get me wrong – bjj is one of the few martial arts i’m not sure i’d be able to defend myself against (as far as time spent in the study). but the concepts of rolling with someone while leaving myself exposed for his friends or for the curb or the broken bottle on the ground don’t sit well with me.
I love that comment about how someone didn’t even know that Taiji was a martial art and that BJJ was street lethal. Oh how ignorance abounds around this forum.
as far as bjj? find me some bjj that works against people twice my size (i’m a buck-seventy) that come at me in pairs and choose to attack me in a dense parking lot.
Find me some anything 'cept gun fu or track fu that really works well for this.
Nice try though, and thanks for playing our game!
BTW, if you are getting in fights with people who are 340 lbs and travel in packs, STOP fighting NFL Linemen. It’s just not smart.
Originally posted by HuangKaiVun Negativity without productivity is useless.
So what do you propose as a SOLUTION, gazza99?
What have YOU done to get around this miasma of problems?
It’s not clear to me. Is reproaching Gary and his assertion “negativity” or “productivity”?
Short of using applied physical psycology on him, what do you do about someone that claims to have studied under C.C. Chen that calls themself “Little Tree” and obviously has no Indian blood that stares at themselves in the mirror while doing about the poorest form I have ever seen using nothing but li while teaching a class of supposed Yang style to a group of earnest elderly ladies at a Lebanon College class?
How does the concept of a supposedly fake Tai Chi instructor teaching a class of elderly ladies negatively affect your kung fu practice, guohuen?
If those elderly ladies are getting a bit of exercise and enjoying their training by having him lead them through moves, what will we accomplish by blowing up that guy’s class?
As long as I get to practice my kung fu and I know that there are REAL Tai Chi masters like Chen Xiaowang and Yang Shao Jung passing on the instruction, I couldn’t care less what a self-anointed CC Chen disciple who’s making a bunch of elderly ladies smile is doing in Lebanon College!
They (old ladies) should be informed that they are in fact practicing Tai Chibo. This way they will not alarm the neighbors into thinking they are a bunch of rogue martial killers because they know tai chi. You know how word travels among the old folks.
I just went and read the Long Fist post that Brent referenced earlier. Execellent! Well worth the trouble to jump over and read it. I don’t do Long Fist, but I found a lot of concepts there that cross over to my training. Good job, Mr Carey.
