Taijiquan - RIP

[cerebus]

There’s room in TCC for everyone.

If a Hippy wants to "grow" his Chi with a slow dance then let him. If a guy wants to spend years getting to the stage of fighting competence he would be at after 6 months of Muay Thai then this is also great.
My only problem is when that Hippy is told that his slow dance will make him combat effective and that there’s no need for the blood sweat and tears, or when the guy if the "fighting" TCC school is shown a series of applications and then is told that its the true art, or when people look at pushing hands competitions and say it cant be TCC because force is involved (which is like people saying that it cant be boxing because they are getting hit in the head so they are clearly not training bob and weave like real boxers).

So to sum up....only I have the real TCC and this thread has BTDT written all over it.

This sums up my own feelings on the matter perfectly.

[Bodywork]

Bravo Dan! Great to see you posting on this forum again. Couldn't agree more with your points, but this is the internet and we're talking about Tai Chi, so there will bound to be naysayers. Haven't forgotten or given up on what I learned from your seminar last summer, but you were correct that the aiki exercises may be too vague and ethereal for most, esp. fighters. Hopping to come out to your barn again. Ray

Ray!! Dude!! How is it going?
I will be doing a seminar in Calif. (Santa Anna) the first weekend in Nov. is that near you? I would love to hook up and see what you did with it.

It is tough to get people to "see" without a first hand experience with IP/aiki taking them apart. I just did a seminar in Boston to help an AIkido shihan bring that point home to his crew. He had a mixed bag of straight aikido people...to MMA people. He couldn't pull it off yet, and wanted me to let them all feel it so that they would pursue it ...with... him. I think it's always been that way. I dismissed it out of hand till I felt it full speed as well. As you know, I ain't one for rote kata. But there is the point of the thread; just because the majority of people smell up the traditional arts, it doesn't make the arts bad...they are the ones who are bad.
The problem (or benefit) is that MMA is a faster means to effectiveness and so even if those same guys are never-the less stinking up the joint with their superficial understanding (now of MMA) it is potent enough to be effective.
All that said their level of stinkiness and superficial understanding of the material (albiet it MMA or Traditional)... still prevails.

Taiji is no different than most of the other arts;
Millions who don't have a fecking clue...redefining what it is...not what it is truly capable of.
Thats how I see IP/aiki ; so many talking about it who can't do shit, so why not make fun of it...and them. They really have no business representing anybody.

Thanks Derik
Still looking forward to hooking up again...cool evenings in the park? I am in Brookine a lot these days.
Dan

[Chris McKinley]

What if....what if Taiji is really just proving how right it really is....(toke).....where you have this time when there were all these guys who could fight with it, and they're the Yang of the art, see.....(finish exhaling, another toke).....but they had a little Yin in their art which grew to become the predominant trait, with only a little Yang left in it (exhale). Later, meaning nowadays, when the Yin completely dominates the art...(inhale).....all that extreme Yin eventually gives way to becoming Yang again...(exhale).....and we're just on the cusp of a time when we're about to see a shift where everybody's going to be able to fight with it again? Wouldn't that be, like, perfectly Taiji of it to do that, man?


[Puff, puff, pass...Chris....puff, puff, pass]

[shawnsegler]

After many, many years GaryR finally moves up from nutriding on other peoples whiney threads to verbally masturbating on his own.

Here's to ya, Gary....

Thanks Shawn! Cheers! Actually the verbal masturbation is more on the reversal of thought I've had over the years...

Your still quick to add little of substance to a thread I see

Hope all is well...

G

It was late when I posted this last night. Now it computes...you are just nutriding Chris's point from the "why hadn't bagua??" thread. Doesn't surprise me that nothing has changed.

But, as always, Here's to ya Gary....

[somatai]

Thanks Derik
Still looking forward to hooking up again...cool evenings in the park? I am in Brookine a lot these days.
Dan[/quote]


any time Dan, I would love to, give me a ring.

[LittleBigMouth]

Years ago I remember starting the thread "the pussification of taijiquan", the latest thread trying "resurrect" taijiquan is just another reiteration...

But is it too late now? Perhaps it is? Taijiquan is virtually dead as a combat art. It is now a health dance for the masses courtesy of CMC and the purple pajama people. How many teachers/individuals can we name who can use / teach taijiquan for combat? Even before we start to disagree on who should be on the list, the list will be extremely short in comparison to the number of worldwide practitioners of taiji. I think its a lost cause, let the homeopaths, yoga masters, and tai chi "sifu's" share a studio in the mall with their mail order Chinese art and incense. Let them keep it - RIP Taijiquan, RIP.


Thoughts???

G

It is dead in the public mind as a viable combat art, and that is all to the good in terms of combat. I love the snickers I get from MMA peeps when when I tell 'em that I just practice Tai chi: all to the best, in terms of using my Tai Cheese to defend myself if called for. "No one knows me , but I know them" ( or something to that effect, SunTzu put it in better terms.)

[Bodywork]

Years ago I remember starting the thread "the pussification of taijiquan", the latest thread trying "resurrect" taijiquan is just another reiteration...
But is it too late now? Perhaps it is? Taijiquan is virtually dead as a combat art. It is now a health dance for the masses courtesy of CMC and the purple pajama people. How many teachers/individuals can we name who can use / teach taijiquan for combat? Even before we start to disagree on who should be on the list, the list will be extremely short in comparison to the number of worldwide practitioners of taiji. I think its a lost cause, let the homeopaths, yoga masters, and tai chi "sifu's" share a studio in the mall with their mail order Chinese art and incense. Let them keep it - RIP Taijiquan, RIP.
Thoughts???
G

I've heard much the same dismissive commentary made for years about the aiki arts..from people who are now very good friends of mine and fans of aiki.
The problem-as VMark points out-is not in the arts, but in the volume of wanna-be's the arts have produced. All made worse by the fact that those same wanna-be's don't even know they are wanna-be's in the first place, but rather are convinced that...they have arrived!

It is dead in the public mind as a viable combat art, and that is all to the good in terms of combat. I love the snickers I get from MMA peeps when when I tell 'em that I just practice Tai chi: all to the best, in terms of using my Tai Cheese to defend myself if called for. "No one knows me , but I know them" ( or something to that effect, SunTzu put it in better terms.)

Well, I would be careful. If you cannot produce the power and skill that Master level guys can produce...why tell anyone anything at all? It just makes matters worse.

Imagine how great it would be if all over the world, everyone who can't fight with real power and skill in the traditional arts just STFU. Then people who could deliver, might actually have a chance to keep the arts alive and be the ones who are defining them....rather than the wankers! The health aspects wouldn't ruin the reputation either, if we left the martial aspects to those who can produce most rational people would discern the difference well enough.
Just a thought
Dan

[LittleBigMouth]

Years ago I remember starting the thread "the pussification of taijiquan", the latest thread trying "resurrect" taijiquan is just another reiteration...
But is it too late now? Perhaps it is? Taijiquan is virtually dead as a combat art. It is now a health dance for the masses courtesy of CMC and the purple pajama people. How many teachers/individuals can we name who can use / teach taijiquan for combat? Even before we start to disagree on who should be on the list, the list will be extremely short in comparison to the number of worldwide practitioners of taiji. I think its a lost cause, let the homeopaths, yoga masters, and tai chi "sifu's" share a studio in the mall with their mail order Chinese art and incense. Let them keep it - RIP Taijiquan, RIP.
Thoughts???
G

I've heard much the same dismissive commentary made for years about the aiki arts..from people who are now very good friends of mine and fans of aiki.
The problem-as VMark points out-is not in the arts, but in the volume of wanna-be's the arts have produced. All made worse by the fact that those same wanna-be's don't even know they are wanna-be's in the first place, but rather are convinced that...they have arrived!

It is dead in the public mind as a viable combat art, and that is all to the good in terms of combat. I love the snickers I get from MMA peeps when when I tell 'em that I just practice Tai chi: all to the best, in terms of using my Tai Cheese to defend myself if called for. "No one knows me , but I know them" ( or something to that effect, SunTzu put it in better terms.)

Well, I would be careful. If you cannot produce the power and skill that Master level guys can produce...why tell anyone anything at all? It just makes matters worse.

Imagine how great it would be if all over the world, everyone who can't fight with real power and skill in the traditional arts just STFU. Then people who could deliver, might actually have a chance to keep the arts alive and be the ones who are defining them....rather than the wankers! The health aspects wouldn't ruin the reputation either, if we left the martial aspects to those who can produce most rational people would discern the difference well enough.
Just a thought
Dan

Point well taken, and not meant to indicate disrespect for MMA guys at all, some locals types of which that I do know and have occasionally played with ( me-master level power and skill? No way man, not even close, but do have I have to STFU, given that I ain't tellin' anyone that it is 'The Grand Ultimate Fist'?).

[Chris McKinley]

You aren't the demographic contributing to the problem, LittleBigMouth. Keep having fun testing your stuff. What's needed is more policing within the Taiji community. When unbridled tolerance becomes wilted acquiescence, we lose the peer pressure that helps keep the practice healthy.

[meeks]

What if....what if Taiji is really just proving how right it really is....(toke).....where you have this time when there were all these guys who could fight with it, and they're the Yang of the art, see.....(finish exhaling, another toke).....but they had a little Yin in their art which grew to become the predominant trait, with only a little Yang left in it (exhale). Later, meaning nowadays, when the Yin completely dominates the art...(inhale).....all that extreme Yin eventually gives way to becoming Yang again...(exhale).....and we're just on the cusp of a time when we're about to see a shift where everybody's going to be able to fight with it again? Wouldn't that be, like, perfectly Taiji of it to do that, man?


[Puff, puff, pass...Chris....puff, puff, pass]

that was f-ing funny...

[LittleBigMouth]

You aren't the demographic contributing to the problem, LittleBigMouth. Keep having fun testing your stuff. What's needed is more policing within the Taiji community. When unbridled tolerance becomes wilted acquiescence, we lose the peer pressure that helps keep the practice healthy.

Thanks man, coming from you, I appreciate that. Seriously.

[shawnsegler]

Don't boggart, rainbow brother McKindly!

[Chris McKinley]

Hey man.....I just noticed that, like, Whataburger is, like, saying......What a burger? Ya know, like, it's asking the question. But is it, like, what a burger, like....this burger is so good that I'm taken by surprise.....or is it more like.....What, a burger? Like, are we having burgers yet again for the third meal in two days? And what about Jack-in-the-Box, man? What's that about?

[Sean]

One up Chris, you just made me laugh my ass off!

[LittleBigMouth]

About those burgers



Eat like snake,baby