Alan Pittman podcast

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Alan Pittman podcast

Postby GrahamB on Wed Oct 31, 2018 9:36 am

Well, I thought I might have been at risk of being controversial in my podcast, but it was nothing compared to one of Ken's old guests.

Have a listen to Alan Pittman after the 45-minute mark. Hold onto your hats!

http://internalfightingarts.audello.com ... n-pittman/

He veered in and out of things I agree with and disagree with during this podcast, but I think he's right about the dumbing down of martial arts that began with the Kou Shu Nationalists generation (then made worse by the Communists). The problem is that 99% of all Chinese martial artists in the West - which presumably means most of the people on this forum were taught by teachers in these lineages, so it's not going to be a popular opinion, for obvious reasons.

Discuss ;D
Last edited by GrahamB on Wed Oct 31, 2018 9:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby greytowhite on Wed Oct 31, 2018 11:33 am

I found it interesting how he says bagua comes from India which agrees with several teachers I've met through the years. I also found it interesting how he talked about Chen Pan Ling's son changing the xingyi from the old way.
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby GrahamB on Wed Oct 31, 2018 12:12 pm

I didn’t know what to make of the Indian thing to be honest. First time I’ve heard that.

The point about Sun Lu Tang and his Kou Shu brethren, I had heard before.
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby greytowhite on Wed Oct 31, 2018 12:32 pm

The bagua I'm learning now descends from Tibetan vajra practices from what I'm told. Scott Park Phillips referred to Nezha as an Indian import connected to bagua - I need to research more. Anyway, I'd say that vajra-mushti and chakram are probably the progenitors of the elkhorn knives and the Wind and Fire Wheels.
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby marvin8 on Wed Oct 31, 2018 1:08 pm

GrahamB wrote:Well, I thought I might have been at risk of being controversial in my podcast, but it was nothing compared to one of Ken's old guests.

Have a listen to Alan Pittman after the 45-minute mark. Hold onto your hats!

http://internalfightingarts.audello.com ... n-pittman/

. . . Discuss ;D

Previous discussion on same interview: https://rumsoakedfist.org/viewtopic.php ... 5445b02e73
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby middleway on Thu Nov 01, 2018 1:47 am

I was going to post that video of Mr Pittman ... If that is 'old style' Xing Yi ... i will keep the new style thanks.
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby GrahamB on Thu Nov 01, 2018 3:20 am

middleway wrote:I was going to post that video of Mr Pittman ... If that is 'old style' Xing Yi ... i will keep the new style thanks.


ha ha. Savage!

I met somebody who did Xingyi like that once. I said "why are you doing that?" and he said "I'm stretching my back". Fair enough ;D

From listening to the podcast Mr Pittman seems to change what he teaches a lot to match what the audience wants... I don't think we're getting the whole picture of his "stuff" from that demo. But anyway... like you, I don't get it.

I've been thinking a lot about the implications of the 'dumbing down' that started with the Nationalists and SLT. My own Tai Chi/Shaolin/CLF lineage comes from Ku Yu Chang, who like SLT was one of the key figures in the Kou Shu 'national arts' movement. So he's talking about the things I ended up studying too.

It's not all a bad thing. Before that movement I don't think cross training was as widely available as before - things were more secret. So that was a positive. Now somebody could train Choy lee Fut, Bagua and Tai Chi, for instance. I'm not sure that was possible in the 'old days'. Also, if the arts were simplified (i.e. a lot of stuff was cut out) then people would now be able to remember more than 1 system. There's no way you could fit these huge old systems in your brain, let alone more than one!

It's all a mix of advantages and disadvantages. No simple answers here.
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby Trick on Sat Nov 03, 2018 11:20 pm

The talk about Robert.W.Smith was interesting, but when the two of them(Gullette&Pittman) began chuckling together about Sun Jianyun’s “inabilities” it/they got silly.
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby shawnsegler on Sun Nov 04, 2018 7:39 am

The bagua I'm learning now descends from Tibetan vajra practices from what I'm told.


What kind of bagua would that be?

Scott Park Phillips referred to


Yeah, he does a lot of referring to things.

I found it interesting how he says bagua comes from India which agrees with several teachers I've met through the years.


Pittman is also well known for saying things...yes, many things.


FWIW.

S.
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby Bao on Sun Nov 04, 2018 7:55 am

Trick wrote:The talk about Robert.W.Smith was interesting, but when the two of them(Gullette&Pittman) began chuckling together about Sun Jianyun’s “inabilities” it/they got silly.


A bit unecessary.

I’ve only heard good things about her martial skills and abilities. One of the stories a friend told me was that one time when she taught application, a defense against a throw it I remember correctly, she stepped back against him and used fajin with her hip, striking him so hard that he stumbled away and landed on his back. This was just one of many stories. Even if her father was somewhat absent and traveled a lot she was still raised in a martial arts environment and experienced a lot of things around her.
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby Trick on Sun Nov 04, 2018 8:22 am

Bao wrote:
Trick wrote:The talk about Robert.W.Smith was interesting, but when the two of them(Gullette&Pittman) began chuckling together about Sun Jianyun’s “inabilities” it/they got silly.


A bit unecessary.

I’ve only heard good things about her martial skills and abilities. One of the stories a friend told me was that one time when she taught application, a defense against a throw it I remember correctly, she stepped back against him and used fajin with her hip, striking him so hard that he stumbled away and landed on his back. This was just one of many stories. Even if her father was somewhat absent and traveled a lot she was still raised in a martial arts environment and experienced a lot of things around her.

Yes. and the times in China she lived through where not the easiest, not exactly as the thriving USA where the two gents got signed up for Martial arts studies because that’s what they wished for birthday presents. 8-)
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby jaime_g on Sun Nov 04, 2018 10:15 am

Listening the podcast:

-Ey, sounds like he is doing very interesting stuff and learnt from great people

Watching the video:

-WTF? Among the saddest shit I've seen
Last edited by jaime_g on Sun Nov 04, 2018 10:17 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby grzegorz on Sun Nov 04, 2018 3:18 pm

GrahamB wrote:Well, I thought I might have been at risk of being controversial in my podcast, but it was nothing compared to one of Ken's old guests.

Have a listen to Alan Pittman after the 45-minute mark. Hold onto your hats!

http://internalfightingarts.audello.com ... n-pittman/

He veered in and out of things I agree with and disagree with during this podcast, but I think he's right about the dumbing down of martial arts that began with the Kou Shu Nationalists generation (then made worse by the Communists). The problem is that 99% of all Chinese martial artists in the West - which presumably means most of the people on this forum were taught by teachers in these lineages, so it's not going to be a popular opinion, for obvious reasons.

Discuss ;D


Haven't listened to it yet but I can say there a lot martial arts in China which were not touched by the communists.
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Re: Alan Pittman podcast

Postby Rhen on Tue Nov 06, 2018 2:48 pm

Not impressed.
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