johnwang wrote:jonathan.bluestein wrote:in their style it can take several years just to develop the basin Dan Tian method.
Do you truly need that "Dan Tian method" in your early stage? Can you add it in later? Whether you get it in the beginning or you get it later, the end result will be the same.
My teacher won't teach Taiji to anyone who is younger than 30. To young people, they need to run, jump, flip, scream, make love, have fun, ... and don't just move like old men. When the time come, they will have the rest of their lifetime to train Taiji properly. Until then, they should do something more "exciting".
I started my Taiji training when I was 7. Taiji was boring and not fun for my young age back then. I can still remember how happy I was the 1st day that I learned "tornado kick". The feeling of jumping in the air and spinning my body like a bird just made me feel great.
Hi Shifu Wang,
I disagree with you on adding dantian usage later (maybe we have a different understanding of dantian) as I am thinking within the confines or perspective of DXYQ.
For example if you tried to learn the style I did and only focused on the forms without the proper, dantian kung training, you could never get any good as the kung fu attained by such practices is what enables it to work.
I do have a different perspective than a lot of the teachers in China though and that is I believe while the practitioners are building their skills in DXYQ, I believe they should also be training in some grappling orientated art (shuai jiao, sambo, bjj, etc). I did not list a striking art as I don't believe you can/should mix the 2, due to the requirements of DXYQ's dantian fuelled strikes.
What I mean by this is this: once developed the dantian acts like a engine, which fires (due to its rotation) the strike out, not just relying on local (or linked) chains of motion. Additionally, our jin is (rou/gang aka soft/hard) but from my experience more softer, similar to Taiji, though we do have, bao fa ji (explosive) and dou jin (vibrate/shaking force) expressed. If we relied solely on brute strength, we would have no, rou jin (soft power), which is a basis for, kuai jin (fast dantian emissions).
Even now that DXYQ is taught in a modern era (there is no longer the 3 years of standing/2 years of walking requirement) we are still required to emphasise the soft aspect of our art, for at least the first couple of years and even when we practice, 80% of the forms are practised softly (you can still move quick while soft) I am talking about the fajin ratio. For example 1 fajin every 4th or 5th move (but this is something which becomes more of a personal preference, though the soft is always priority).
Sorry if I did not explain things properly, I find it hard to convey my perspective in words sometimes.
Jon D.