iota-draconis wrote:As i became older, I took s shine to tai chi and have been practising chen style tai chi with Chen Hoi (22nd generation chen tai chi and 7th generation yang master in canning town london) for around 5 years since 2018). I did wing chun with Steven Girard of Dragon Hall, London (a wong shun leung student in honk kong) before that and Kyokushin karate (as a teenager).
I am deeply incredulous about all of the claims about throwing people across rooms and taking people down by just a mere touch. I feel that such claims, ridicule and turn martial arts into some kind of a joke. I have seen many videos of Huang Sheng-Shyan and many others. The are quite difficult to explain. The 1st and 2nd law of Physics are pretty straight forward.
Yes, you're right, more or less, it is incredulous and it turns martial arts into a joke.
I applies to the universe so why is it any different to what martial artists do ?
Well, for one, the human body is not a discrete "body" like is shown in physics. It's comprised of many things, such as a triple burner, a lung channel, a dantian, two legs, one arm, a triangular hat, a madara mask, and so forth.
So, when two human bodies come into touch, the interplay is not merely between the bodies, or even at the point of touch. There are complex interactions within the body.
When the qi moves over you like the wind, the various parts of your body -- individually -- align, within the field that is the human body itself -- to the qi -- Like a compass. This is just our natural reaction. Although some do not like to admit it. And, our modern minds are far from a natural reaction.
But imagine for a moment that the entire body's qi has become aligned, and that each individual part -- such as the dantian -- has rotated, like a compass needle for example -- to the maximum that it can.
Well in such a situation the entire body would be lifted up and tossed out! Also, if the root is broken in this situation, or compressed against the ground, the player will sometimes try to straighten it by bouncing himself out. In any case it looks like an unnatural movement, but it is real. It is just movement of a type that does not make sense to the average person looking in.
I am very sceptical about claims made by sergio or any students (his or other) and feel it is a ploy to get people in and ultimately cash in. I believe that there is no criticism between different styles and schools is based on maintaining the staus quo so that cash flows are not impacted.
The other issue is online dvd. I do not believe that a program such as tai chi or wing chun or any martial art can be completed online. It is impossible to grasp techniques and inner subtleties of movements on a dvd. Equally with tai chi. I practice my forms and frames daily as well as attending classes weekly. I do not consider myself a shifu or master. However, there are so many out there that push out videos on social media and proclaim the shifu status. It is a mockery that anybody can create a website, do a couple of moves and here you go, shifu!
why is he system not regulated ?
Yes, a lot of people use the nature of this game to lie and cheat. It is, however, easy to recognize them, because they focus on the appelation of the skill and not the underlying methods used to achieve the skill, which are just the same in almost any martial art: Basics!
II. You are wrong, you CAN achieve mastery with video instruction. As long as the video instruction is designed to work in certain ways, and you are given the right guidance, I don't see how it can't work. The only thing you will miss is partner instruction.
The real problems with video instruction are that people don't follow the instruction, whether or not it is on video, or in real life. In my opinion of course. I've put out some videos on youtube and I cannot imagine why people could not learn from them. The issue is mainly with the viewer in this regard. The problem in such cases, always the same, the so-called student.
Finally, take heart. The system
is regulated. The problem is that a young student might not know what to look for. In a society where more fighting is allowed, I suppose it is harder to fool and cheat people. But you still can. Today, in our society, you have to put yourself into an art for a while until you understand something about it -- say, 2 or 3 years. Then, if you have made any success, you will know enough to find a better teacher. This is just how it works now, you have to show initiative and do your best with what you have until you find your teacher. So the thing with regulation nowadays is that you have to know where the ball is, if you want to run over and kick it. There has traditionally always been an active edge, a group of people in martial society, that organize themselves around progressive change in the martial arts. This is the group of people you want to "hang out" with in any era. The ones that do -- whether or not they are the best -- is immaterial. You want to go to the group that has the most social interaction and competition. Why go to a computer store if you are looking for a puppy or kitten? Then, you go to the pet store. So many people, they go to a clothing store when they are trying to buy shoes. You have to figure this game out, it's the punishment we have to endure because of our karma of being born in the modern age.