Is it wrong to want to learn a certain style?

[kal]

I was recently reading an essay by Ellis Amdur, a koryu teacher, who talks about how he went to Japan and had his heart set on doing Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, a very elegant and famous style of kenjutsu. However, he happened upon a dojo teaching Araki Ryu, a "rough and crude" style of koryu and after watching a class he was impressed by what he saw and decided to do it.

This made me wonder about the Chinese arts. Is it wrong for someone to want to learn a particular style? Or should they just look for a good school and good teacher and forget about the particular style?

For example, if someone has his heart set on doing Hung Gar, but there is a good school teaching Praying Mantis nearby, what should he do?

And how about if someone really wants to do Shanxi HsingI, but there is Hebei HsingI in his town? Would he be an idiot for not doing Hebei and instead "holding out" until he can do Shanxi, even if it means moving to China?

On the one hand I can agree with people who say that you should go with the good teacher nearby rather than worrying about styles. but on the other, I have huge admiration for people who have uprooted and travelled across the world to learn arts that could not be learned anywhere else. If it weren't for people like that, the rest of us wouldn't be lucky enough to have what we have in the west.

[Ben]

People have to be realistic. If you are able to move whereever you want then you can pretty much take your pick. Thats not possible for most people. Most people have to take thier pick of whats in the area and go from there.

Theres nothing wrong with wanting to learn a certain style though.

[JessOBrien]

Get what you can while you can. I missed a lot of things because they weren't exactly what I wanted to do at the time. Now the opportunity is gone and I missed out on some stuff that would have been great to have done.

-Jess O

[TaoBoxer]

I met a man once in the restauraunt I worked in. He saw me returning from practice with my boken and my dogi folded up under my arm. He said to me "If you like Aikido, you should really try Pa Kua..." It took me 7 years, and studying Aikijujitsu, Taiji, and Xingyi till I found a Ba Gua Sifu. When I was studying Xingyi I hated standing in San Ti..... Now I train Yi Quan and all we do is stand. Years ago when I met Dale all he wanted to do was study Juk Loom Tang Lang, and I was looking for a new Ba Gua Sifu. Now I am training with a Juk Loom snake head and Dale is training with John Painter! Sometimes the road you take winds. Sometimes you have to drive on through the rain and the wind till you get to where you want to go, and sometimes you need to accept shelter when it is presented to you.

Lewitt

[Morty]

Just keep training.

Fights are won by guys who make the most out of fleeting opportunities. Same with learning styles.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

I think that wanting a particular style is a little silly. First of all, because you know a name and have heard a story or two doesn't translate out as anything. Not even rudimentary undertanding in regards to the reality of th given track of study. To take it to the level of this style versus that is even more ridiculous esopecially when regarded from the perspective of the void or not knowing.

If one wants to understand how to make combat, then any style will do so long as the methods work towards understanding of the goal and desire.

Once you have further understanding of martial arts in a more visceral sense, styles are meaningless.

Take any starting point of guessed merit and begin. If it is a failure, don't make it your own, carry on and keep working. IMO, this is the attitude you need to have in place as you approach your study.

[Ben]

Nice post Darth.

[Bhassler]

I have some wonderful opportunities here in Denver-- right now (as in this very moment) I could be training with Luo Dexiu or Uncle Bill, but I choose not to. Why? Because I have found that while Luo's neijia and Uncle Bill's Kuntao Silat de Thouars are wonderful and effective systems, I simply don't enjoy the practice as much as I enjoy practicing Chen style taiji. My teacher is excellent as well, so I don't feel that I'm losing much (if anything) in the exchange, but even if Luo or Uncle Bill were clearly better, I'm not sure that would make a difference, because I myself would not necessarily be better if I didn't enjoy myself and wasn't focused while I was practicing.

Back in the day Adam Hsu taught his guys a lot of different styles, and most would gravitate towards their favorite one and really try to perfect it. But say I'm a short, round guy by nature and I really love eagle claw, so I might practice and practice but maybe I just don't have the body type or the talent for that type of acrobatic style. Sometimes, at this juncture, Mr. Hsu would say something to the effect of "It is clear that you love her..... but perhaps she does not love you?"
At that point it was time to move on and try another style that might fit you better.

To extend the analogy (actually I think I'm mixing metaphor and analogy indiscriminately-- madness!), a martial art is like a woman. There are more aspects to compatibility in a relationship than simple love or passion. She may be beautiful, intelligent, and whatever else you look for, but sometimes once you move in together it just doesn't work out. If it's important to you and you're capable of it, sometimes you can change to make it work. Other times, it's best to part as friends and move on with your life.

[meeks]

"I really want to learn Yi Quan but I settled for Tae Kwon Do..."

[Harvey]

Ultimately it's a choice. Locally to me there is only one other taiji teacher worth anything but the problem is he isn't teaching what he does best. While he merrily teaches the local housewives what yang style he has, he was a chen push hands champion back home in china. And yes of course he's not teaching that coz that ain't gonna make the dollar, shame coz i'd be beating his door down if he started LOL

[SPJ]

In an ideal world, we always like to learn and train the stuff we like or need.

but the reality is that a lot of times, the opportunities are not there except for the lucky ones or few.

so I had lessons with mantis, but I witnessed or saw some performances for ba ji.

I did not have chances to learn ba ji right away, only after some turns of chances, and years later, then I had lessons from teachers.

my stepping was very light from mantis, or weak.

so ba ji would be good for me to develop stronger leg and footing/rooting.

however, the moves are very rigid or stiff. I need to work on relaxation first. so I learned tong bei first for a while, then started ba ji next.

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it all depends what we need to work on more than what we "like" to learn.

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just to add some thoughts.

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[C.J.Wang]

If you can find a good teacher who undertands the universal principles unlying all martial arts systems and knows how to teach those principles to you using his parcitular system as a vehicle, styles don't really matter.

[TaoJoannes]

If you can't get Rex Kwon Do, don't bother training.

[shawnsegler]

I wanted bagua from the moment I read BK's book, but couldn't find it for the life of me, and then got pushed into all kinds of different stuff before I actually got to where I felt like I was on something like the right track with what I wanted.

If you want something, don't lose site of it but don't waste your time waiting for it when there are other valuable learning experiences to be had, right?

S

[shawnsegler]

it all depends what we need to work on more than what we "like" to learn.

QFT