Im sure many of you know what I mean by “pussification”. As internal artists we often get stigmatised as “weak”, or “soft”. We are just a bunch of geezers(or young hippies)in the park trying to find the ancient fountian of youth, or keys to enlightenment.
Looking at what is representative of my arts (nowadays Taijiquan/baguazhang). Especially taijiquan, I do not blame them one bit. It is depressing to see, even most of the schools that supposedly teach the “martial aspects”, act as though it is just a side effect. When the reverse is accually true. Their techniques are lacking in almost every way possible. However they might be “pretty”.
I hope many of you feel the same way, that means that there are still good internal Martial artists somewhere.
Kind Regards,
Gary
"If I only had one tooth, i think Id brush it a real long time" -George Carlin
Thats what im looking for Waidan!!! Just maybe some other peoples discust..rants..any other interesting stories. Maybe hu flung pu did a fajing punch on some geezer in the park??? Whatever..
yet again my entire chest and upper arms are yellow and purple with bruising
I definitely hear ya
We have had ppl from other Taiji schools complain when they train with us that we have no ‘Taiji Joy’ - the look on their face when I showed them some applications
Just be patient - the plethora of ‘Beach Taiji’ schools will decline as the number of serious clubs increases.
Also remember that some people only want the relaxation/meditative aspects of taiji - what they fail to understand is that unless you train the form with a martia mind to detail, you won’t receive anything like the proper benefits
I agree there are a lot of people being duped into thinking the have Pa kua skillzzzz…
Its about education and research…I’ve been saying this on this board for at least a year about how much respect we dont get…the bottom line is that if you are internalist you have to train realistically…How do I know?..being a newbie in this art if I fight traditional I get cream … when I use my imagination and technique I do pretty good…
all we can do as internalist is to practice and represent ourselves..
No more cracks about Tai Chi joy. I now have to clean-up the coffee I almost spit on my keyboard,really,that has got to be the funniest thing I’ve heard on this forum.If I’m ever in the U.K. I’ll be sure to look you guys up,you sound like a lot of fun. There are far too many way soft Tai Chi schools (being kind)where I’m at,United State of Alaska.
Talk talk talk. You want respect and to be feared by other martial artists why don’t you convert them the old school way. You beat a couple Gracies in challenges at their schools you’ll get a name for yourself, you’ll have to work your way up the rung but if your dim mak is so good this should be no problem.
Brass Monkey is right, everyone that is an internal MA that wants to change the stigmatism the “old school” way, just go to all the local dojo’s, bjj places and challenge the instructors!!! Yeah, this will bring a great respect to our arts Im sure!!!
Oh, and sorry guys if you read the rules of the NHB there are “NO PRESSURE POINT STRIKES” ,so i cannot use dim-mak. Why is this? I also do not believe that any self-respecting Martial artist would enter into a “blood sport” type match to prove himself, that is egotistical, immoral, and innapropriate.
Yup, you are correct flung, If not killing/hospitalizing people for ego is pussified, then I definately fit that category. Could you tell me how I can be more like you?
Once I got invited over to Wai Lun Chois school in Chicago. I had met Choi at Jeff Bolts tournament and he offered to improve my punching ability.
So there I was in his class working a really fun, yet painful drill with one of his senior students. Next to us Choi was talking to a ten year tai chi hippy. After a few minutes of barely attempting the drill, the guy complained that it hurt. Choi then explained to him how to properly train yourself so pain is no big deal. The guy just about howled ‘Tai Chi is suppossed to be soft! It’s not suppossed to hurt!’
I scored points from a buddy because the senior student and I were both able to continue the drill even though we were laughing hysterically.
Another time (and I was only there a WEEK)some Tai Chi hippies came in and asked for a demo. Choi knew I was a Shuai Chiao guy, so he used me for a dummy. Neck breaks, spiraling throws, sudden throws, great suff. The look of horror on the Tai Chi hippies faces was priceless. I think they expected Choi to wave his arm like a jedi knight.
Most people have unrealistic and silly ideas about Tai Chi. But the good stuff - whoo boy. If theres one teacher I wish I had spent time with and really haven’t, its Choi.
I am a big beleiver in luck. The more I work, the more luck I have.
Don’t bother to look for respect for your art until you have mastered the “two achievements”.
Have you achieved conscious movement?
Have you attained to the level of interpreting energy?
Knowing yourself and knowing others. Only when these two things are mastered can you become “a peerless boxer”. If you want fame and fortune then do what Sun Tzu said - first make yourself invincible, then …
“without long practice one cannot suddenly understand Taijiquan” - The Taiji Classic
Cool post Mo. I watched I think it was UFC 8 a while back and I myself was shocked to hear that no pressure point strikes. The truth be told this was for political reasons. After the first UFC there was a great lobbying movement made by the boxing associations to get no holds barred fighting illegal in every state and they damn near succeeded with the help of greased politicians calling it among other things a “blood sport” I’m sure. John McCain led the charge I believe. They did succeed in seriously hurting the sponsorship and the cable companies didnt wanna be associated with this sort of thing, so as of today you still cant see ufc on cable. Now to help appease the critics the UFC adopted no pressure pt. strikes which are only words. Seriously do you think the ref Big John McCarthy is certified in pressure point strikes so that he can take pt. away for every time they do hit one? Unless you consider the eyes and groin pressure points those are the only 2 that are actually not allowed.
My personal opinion has been that its good to be underestimated so its a good thing generaly is thought of as a joke, unfortunately thanks to people like Waterdragon and Shooter whom I’ve seen on “mixed martial arts” boards presenting Tai Chi Chuan in a practical fighting sense. Here’s your quote concerning nhb Gary: “that is egotistical, immoral, and innapropriate.” If nhb is ego what do you think you started this thread for? Its funny how you complain about Tai Chi being pussified and then shun real fighters, sport none the less but this is the closest thing you can get to controlled challenge matches. I personally like to read other boards conerning mixed martial arts, not that I think theyre techniques are superior its simply because they make up the majority of the people in martial arts that approach fighting in a pragmatic way and have the mindset to fight, know your enemy was my initial thoughts. Now after seeing that the people on the other boards are just like you or me, no different, I don’t hold them as the enemy, but its good to know what a majority of the fighters tactics and techniques are, a better test would be to go out in the world and test my skill against these same fighters but I’m very new to the arts this will come with time. Gary I’m willing to bet your hero is Yang Lu Chan do you think he became famous by not fighting? I’m willing to bet if he were alive today he’d be fighting in either Pride or UFC. The famous Masters of old became famous by fighting, I’m sure they had various reasons like money, test theyre own skills, fame etc. Now if you want respect among most pragmatic martial artists your not going to get it by talking about dim mak, this in theyre mind is hippie tai chi that you hate so much. I’m not saying dim mak isnt real but its not respected among the general populous.
