Interview with Adam Mizner

[DuncanBP]

Nice interview with Adam Mizner, who explains some of the method in his Taiji.

[origami_itto]

Fantastic, of course

[C.J.W.]

Haven't watched the whole clip yet, but there's one thing he mentions in the beginning that really echoes my own experience: "There's absolutely nothing natural about the internal ways."

IMA is all about using your body in ways that are "unnatural," which is what gives the arts their unique powers that may appear magical in the eyes of those who do not understand it. And the process of transforming those unnatural movements into second nature is where the real hard work lies.

[Bao]

Fantastic, of course

Anything you thought especially interesting that you could highlight?

How well do you think the courses lead to the direction to what is shown in the vid? (so far, of course)

Haven't watched the whole clip yet, but there's one thing he mentions in the beginning that really echoes my own experience: "There's absolutely nothing natural about the internal ways."
IMA is all about using your body in ways that are "unnatural," which is what gives the arts their unique powers that may appear magical in the eyes of those who do not understand it. And the process of transforming those unnatural movements into second nature is where the real hard work lies.

He said something like that you must make rethink natural or make something else natural or something like that. He had an interesting way of putting it.

I liked very much his point about that you must completely abandon external force. People are afraid to do this, so they keep adding external methods due to lack of confidence in the Tai Chi way. That's absolutely true. You can never understand how to use power with Tai Chi methods if you keep mixing with external methods.

I didn't agree with everything he said, or how he explained what he did. But that's ok, everyone has different interpretations on terms and concepts. The thing I am most concerned about is ... why he didn't demonstrate anything on the interviewer?...
...Sometimes, what a person won't do says a lot more than what he actually does....

[Steve Rowe]

An intelligent interview, good questions and good answers.

[DuncanBP]

The thing I am most concerned about is ... why he didn't demonstrate anything on the interviewer?...
...Sometimes, what a person won't do says a lot more than what he actually does....

I asked the interviewer about this, and he said, "Yes, we did a lot of training off camera and Adam's skills are real and go very deep. Everything he talks about, he can do."

I think for the format of the interview, the interviewer was simply wanting to ask his questions and was happy to let Adam explain it and show it the way he wanted. I've not had the chance to meet Adam, but I know a few people who have (people who I know train seriously and who aren't scared to test and get a little beaten and bruised up), and they all say what Kieren (the interviewer) said - that Adam Mizner can do what he says/shows.

[Bao]

I think for the format of the interview, the interviewer was simply wanting to ask his questions and was happy to let Adam explain it and show it the way he wanted. I've not had the chance to meet Adam, but I know a few people who have (people who I know train seriously and who aren't scared to test and get a little beaten and bruised up), and they all say what Kieren (the interviewer) said - that Adam Mizner can do what he says/shows.

I don't question that he has skill. But what you say is not shown here. What he show the interviewer or someone else might look different to what he shows here and he might show different things in another way off camera. Anyway, I am not here to put out any criticism against him personally. I would like to know personal experience from different people, as well I am interested In a general sense about how to market these arts effectively. The interview format seems to be a very good plattform. Yet, sometimes it's hard to balance things. What people do or have done for marketing purposes might back-fire against their own credibility. The question is who do you want to attract and what to do? Adam seem to attract a lot of pretty smart people though.

[GrahamB]

I too believe he can do what he shows.... unfortunately what he shows isn't something I want to do.

If you like that sort of thing, then I'm sure you'll find endless trainings he can provide you, for a price. But I'd rather aim for something different myself.

Having a few muscle-jin tricks up your sleeve does not put you on the road to being good at Taijiquan, although it gets you established on the seminar circuit pretty well.

Unfortunately once you're established I don't think you can go back and learn everything again - which I think he'd need to do if he wanted to get the proper movement. For these guys it's already too late - they've got a following, they've got a reputation, they're established. Then of course they join the ranks of established teachers who all have to not criticise each other to keep the cash wheel turning. It helps if you can act tough of course, but don't actually go near the sorts of venues that involve actual testing.

Shit, sorry, did I just say all that out loud? Must have been one of those rare moments of clarity I have occasionally.

[willie]

I too believe he can do what he shows.... unfortunately what he shows isn't something I want to do.

If you like that sort of thing, then I'm sure you'll find endless trainings he can provide you, for a price. But I'd rather aim for something different myself.

Having a few muscle-jin tricks up your sleeve does not put you on the road to being good at Taijiquan, although it gets you established on the seminar circuit pretty well.

Unfortunately once you're established I don't think you can go back and learn everything again - which I think he'd need to do if he wanted to get the proper movement. For these guys it's already too late - they've got a following, they've got a reputation, they're established. Then of course they join the ranks of established teachers who all have to not criticise each other to keep the cash wheel turning. It helps if you can act tough of course, but don't actually go near the sorts of venues that involve actual testing.

Shit, sorry, did I just say all that out loud? Must have been one of those rare moments of clarity I have occasionally.

well, well, well, if it insn't the bully of rsf grahamC or D or E.
Did you retire disgracefully yet?
I'd be willing to bet that this isn't what the inventor of this site wanted, but you like your cronies cant help yourselves.

[DuncanBP]

I too believe he can do what he shows.... unfortunately what he shows isn't something I want to do.

And that's okay. You follow Mike Sigman's teachings, others follow a different way.

[origami_itto]

Fantastic, of course

Anything you thought especially interesting that you could highlight?

"Slow kung Fu"

The taiji creature and the bodies that can't do it, authentic taiji. That's probably the most consistently misunderstood aspects of the practice IMHO. You can get to a certain point badly and it feels like quite a lot, but looking up it gets higher and higher, nowutimsayin.

Man the whole thing. A list of what I found useful is pretty much an outline of the discussion.

The fighting range bit. That's just the sort of question that shows a complete lack of understanding.

Him telling Curtis "cuddle me" and Ramzi's surprisingly gentle and cultured voice were three most entertaining bits.

How well do you think the courses lead to the direction to what is shown in the vid? (so far, hgof course)

The first seven weeks are jibengong, basic body method conditioning, so warm-ups, qi gong, song gong, standing. He explains the point of each nuance of the exercises and mentions often that the overall point is a fundamental transformation of the body into the "taiji creature". It hurts, but it gets better, then he adds more pain. The standing practice is up to 25 minutes daily at this point. I'm working on 17.

I had a solid 20-30 minute practice before I started his method, some of the corrections have made it more challenging.

All in all its very systematic and well designed material, well presented. His extemporaneous presentations you see in clips online can get a little whacky sometimes but these are all very well edited/curated, and if you have questions he's available in the Facebook group of you can book a private Skype session

[willie]

I like Adams work, So good luck to you itto.
I agree with him on a lot of what he says but differ entirely in other area's. mostly because I added Chen.

What he says about not holding tension to allow the qi to settle of-coarse is correct, but there has to be a careful balance
there as well, it get's very tricky...

Also his definition of internal is just very basic. it definitely fits in with my old yang style teachers outline. but chen is much more
advanced then his definitions will support.
Good stuff though.

[Fubo]

I too believe he can do what he shows.... unfortunately what he shows isn't something I want to do.

If you like that sort of thing, then I'm sure you'll find endless trainings he can provide you, for a price. But I'd rather aim for something different myself.

Having a few muscle-jin tricks up your sleeve does not put you on the road to being good at Taijiquan, although it gets you established on the seminar circuit pretty well.

Unfortunately once you're established I don't think you can go back and learn everything again - which I think he'd need to do if he wanted to get the proper movement. For these guys it's already too late - they've got a following, they've got a reputation, they're established. Then of course they join the ranks of established teachers who all have to not criticise each other to keep the cash wheel turning. It helps if you can act tough of course, but don't actually go near the sorts of venues that involve actual testing.

Shit, sorry, did I just say all that out loud? Must have been one of those rare moments of clarity I have occasionally.

right on the money

[Wanderingdragon]

Wasn't there a special thread made just for the really tough guys here, those who have actually gone near the venues that really test their stuff. It's got like a hundred pages and thousands of posts from just those chosen few ? I thought that thread was the one for the elites that evolved past internal all the way back primordial, you know where everyone rolls around climbing on each other in one wet sweaty sludge, trying to be the strongest, toughest, most hardened one. You know the primordial stew n all.

[origami_itto]