Storm wrote:Hello Adam,
Thank you for the clarification.
The book I mentioned was from the Bagua Nei Gong series which numbers the booklets from 1-6 - maybe there are more- and looks for me very different when compared to his other books. The numbering and the look of the booklet felt commercial. As it is a subjective matter I am aware I tread on thin ice and maybe someone else feels different.
For example Mr. Crandall's books are also (partly numbered?) but due to the printing on demand and overall format, quality of pictures etc it feels more like a dedicated practitioners loved and treasured work.
Training with 4-5 instructors is a different story but I stick to my guns because for me it feels expensive. As a comparison which I also find very cheap- so my expectation is somewhere in the middle- I have a friend who lived in Japan, was ranked there and now teaches a Jujutsu Koryu and he charges 15 Euro/month with 4 training times 1/week at around 2,5 hours each so overall 10 training hours for 15 Euros. He has a job of course and training is not done as a career.
Hi Storm,
I wasn't debating the expensiveness of Tom's prices, nor do I have a problem with you feeling that his prices are too high. Each of us determines for ourselves what is too expensive. I just wanted to clear up that there is ample instruction during the seminars.
The Bagua Neigong series were entirely self produced by Tom. This is in contrast to to the Essentials of Bagua Zhang and the Attacking Hands of Bagua Zhang that both had a professional designer to do the layout and design. The books are numbered because they are primarily intended to be a supplement to teaching. They follow the curriculum of the first year of our system of Bagua. The idea was that by taking the time to author a book, all of the theory would be presented, whereas in a class setting, it is easy to forget to mention an aspect of an exercise. The books also provide students with reference material to aid their practice. The books are not required in our classes, but they are suggested, and as others have pointed out, they are often helpful to practitioners of other lineages, because they delve into the theory behind the exercises.
I certainly agree that $15 euro / month is very inexpensive. In New York, to offer a 2.5 hour class once per week for $15 / month, you would need approximately 40 students to cover your rent on a space. (Rooms in NY are typically $45+ per hour). When Tom was teaching weekly classes, they were (in my opinion) very affordable at $75 per month for 2 hour classes twice per week.
I'm not sure how Tom arrived at the prices for his seminars.
Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:51 am
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