the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

jjy5016 wrote:Distance learning? Really? Good luck.

From experience there seem to be too many things the teacher needs to be able to see and feel in your body. The 4 tu na exercises alone will change as your insides change. You might get better flexibility in your hips, shoulders and lower back, but will you reap the benefits that are supposed to come from these exercises by learning long distance? Not impossible but realistically highly unlikely.

Just my opinion though. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

I am not a big fan of distance learning either, which I mentioned in my first post, spoke against it many times in my life actually. That is why I was asking the question in the first place.

I have had a few years of training in XIngyiquan, but I left to train taijiquan, now considering a return

Like many, I have always been somewhat skeptical regarding distance learning programs. No matter how you cut it, they are not as good as training with someone in person. With that being said, there is no one size fits all answer as to whether or not a distance learning program can be of use. If someone has a strong foundation and a good understanding of mechanics, then a distance program can be very helpful. If one has no experience in martial arts, then I think it would be very difficult to learn any of these arts from a distance program.

Getting down to brass tacks, I have had the pleasure to meet and work with some of the students who trained Tom's distance bagua program exclusively for a year before coming to NY to engage in additional training. The individuals that I met far exceeded my expectations. First and foremost, they had clearly been training regularly and had been conscientious while training. They had a great attention to detail and very good foundations. Most had studied other arts prior to taking Tom's online course.

Ultimately it comes down to the individual at least as much as the program.