How do you integrate martial material from multiple arts?

[Fubo]

My advice is is to just learn the new art as a beginner, do not try and impose previous experiences until you have a good grasp of what you are doing.

That's great advice... Sometimes when you try to integrate elements of an old art with a new one you can miss a lot of valuable lessons. That don't mean giving up everything you've learnt, but checking the ego at the door long enough to experience a different perspective. I remember being a beginner in Judo after many years of Taiji (and other) training - there were many similarities in principle, some in technique, but things like lifting my heels off the ground and actively loosing and regaining my balance were some things that felt counter intuitive to me... after giving these things a chance I saw specific values in them that I wouldn't have if I had Taicheeifed my Judo from the beginning. After gaining more experience in Judo I felt that I was in a better position to understand how they could compliment each other.

[oldtyger]

I agree completely. My problem learning bagua was trying to force the contextualization with my pre-conceived notions and prior experience in taijiquan. It was not until I let go of the taijiquan, that I began to understand bagua.

Rich

[Chris McKinley]

Rich,

I had some of the same problems. I had studied Taijiquan for several years before studying some Aikido in private lessons. I had to learn that Aikido worked better with different mechanics than Taijiquan taught. The same was also true when I began learning Baguazhang. Though it was far closer to the Taijiquan I was taught perhaps given that it was the same instructor, there were still differences. Learning about the details in those differences, both in terms of form as well as in function, helped me understand both my Baguazhang and my Taijiquan much more deeply.