This is an old topic that I sort of feel like revisiting after the last couple posts on the palm slapping thread.
...as you progress, and as you spend more time in training, this reliance on what your teacher says must be replaced as soon as possible with your own opinions/experiences...
...Well ok ....
No, I train by myself these days ...[snip]... So, no, other than direct contact with my teacher (who is in Shanghai and I'm in Florida), I have little experience using [xyz] ...
I edited the exchange slightly.
I'm also in a situation where, for the most part, my only experience these days is direct contact with my teacher. Fortunately, we both live in the same city so that experience is fairly frequent but...and this is a big BUT...he's actually kind of from that old school of thought that does not advocate much sparring and he absolutely does not allow me to go out and spar with whomever I may meet outside of class. I am definitely from the "new" school that says that you should spar at least once or twice a week and get as much time crossing hands with folks from other schools as possible. I also think competing before your ready can still be positive as long as you have the right attitude.
This has always created some tension for me in training. I asked Shifu one time if he didn't think that this was sort of training in an ivory tower or as they say in Chinese, bi men zao che (闭门造车). He said how could I think I was working in isolation when I have regular interaction and corrections from him? Good point I guess.
It's also not that there is no "live" training. Push hands with him can be downright scary and there is the occasional "one step" sparring with him too. No choreographed but not fully freestyle either. Intense examinations of the initial exchange. He's not opposed to eventual sanda type competition either but it's the sort of thing he feels is only appropriate after you have gotten, in his opinion, pretty fucking good. He tests your reactions and even the two man Baji is generally jumped into without him telling you either which side you are supposed to be playing or where in the form he's jumping in.
So how isolated is this?
How far can you trust your Shifu to gauge your progress?
What happens after a sparring session when you "win"? When you "lose"?
How does that affect your other areas of training?
I realized recently that part of his opposition to random sparring sessions is his firm belief in the absolute importance of cultivating an "empty" attitude. Wu Su De/无所得, you can only achieve something great by discarding any and all achievements. Sparring matches tend to disrupt this.
As a final note, it's not like I haven't done plenty of cross-training and sparring with friends anyways, just not in China. And also, the last time I came back from China, my gong fu friends were all startled by the progress I had made...so his plan seems to be working. When I did spar with people, I had was still better than before and my push hands had improved dramatically. It also probably helps thatIhad a nice solid 7 or 8 years of Hung Gar before ever going to China but still...
On a side but related note, I was listening to this Aikido podcast recently where the guy talked about improvising withing Kata.He compared it to someone like John Coltrane taking what was originally one of the most insipid tunes none to man but playing it in a way that was just genius. This relates, I think, to how much of the highly structured training I do comes to life.
Kind of a long post. Almost thing I should have put it on a blog or something as I still have more to say on this.