by GrahamB on Mon Sep 05, 2022 12:36 am
Hi,
Thanks for the article - a good read. I really liked two points he made - firstly that older style training was to be shown a move a few times, then just get on and practice it, and people really didn't fuss too much about the exact angle of arms and legs, etc. If your form looked different to others, it wasn't a big deal - it was expected. The forms was yours to own. Compare this to various 'forms seminars' that get taught these days, with the seemingly endless 'individual correction'. It's a completely different mindset.
Secondly, the idea that change comes from within. That's related to the first point. If the change genuinely comes from within the student then the form is correct, the opposite being trying to fix a form by working from the outside.
A couple more things he mentioned that I'm not entirely sold on. Firstly, this idea that all that's required is practice and we should stop over intellectualising things. I think that's true to a point, but it's also why 90% (98?) of the people in a class never 'get it' and just keep going rounding circles for years never getting anywhere. I think being able to ask more "how" and "why" questions can lead to better understandings. I think the traditional Chinese teaching model can be improved in this area.
Secondly, he never really explains what he means by these dark forces " imposing ideas upon Tai Chi,", thus it seems a bit of a straw man argument to me. Who are these people? What exactly are they doing? He clearly has people in mind when he's writing, but it's left vague. Be specific, show your work.
Nice pictures!
Last edited by
GrahamB on Mon Sep 05, 2022 12:38 am, edited 1 time in total.