Establish the internal and the "applications".....
Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 9:14 pm
Ok, I don't post very often but I got this off a facebook page and it's a typical example of the total nonsense that I run into on the net and often when I get introduced to HOLIER THEN THOU TAIJI HIPPIES!!
It's damn infuriating and it cannot be changed...I'm just venting ok.
Conversation went like this: OP showed this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmowuvcPNpU
1st comment by JD: Another video with a willing dummy slowly gooooooing through the motions to make the star of the show look good. No internal; just a staged move. There's no t'ài chí in that video.
A poster JS responds: "Ultimately their are no applications. One responds appropriately"
I say this: "...I disagree that there are "no applications" persay. I believe that we should teach base applications that work in the most common way 1st and THEN learn to respond and follow whatever the opponents do. The trick is, where do they start from: Not just from "throw me a punch" but from many different ways to enter the same method."
Poster JS responds again: - I demonstrate applications to my students only to give them a sense of YI
I say this: In the video my only pet peeve is when people don't show counters to their own methods. I try to never post vids without the counters. It shows both sides. For example, the sifu's right hand gets blocked / checked...if he doesn't address or control either of the hands, he's gonna get struck back on and the whole thing fails. Obviously, he would flow into his next thought. But it's nicer to see how the student could respond.
Another guy (JD) chimes in and says: I'm with you, JS. Establish the internal and the "applications" take care of themselves. Show me someone who's demonstrating moves, I'll show you sometime who understands nothing of t'ài chí.
I then say this: Pish posh...show me Taiji theorists who believe that cultivation alone will work to let "applications take care of themselves " or will make them better at the martial aspect of Taiji and I show you someone who understands nothing about applying Taiji. Also, I never said don't establish internal...I simply suggested that one should teach base applications that work in the most common way 1st.
JD responds: I have countless "application stories," in all sorts of situations. Not once did I "do moves." If I had, I would have been toast.
Lastly I say: So do we all, just because you may not teach or believe it to be so...doesn't mean it's not real. Take, parting horse mane for example. Everyone's got a bunch a ways to use it, but if you wanna boil it down to say your favorite 3 and work on those live, with tons of repetition. You start to realize that there are a couple ways to do it that are most useful and common. Those are what I speak of. Of course, later to expand upon them.
============================
Final thoughts, whenever I hear guys say countless "application stories," RED FLAGS go up. COUNTLESS really, I can count pretty high. Unless that guy is Chuck Norris, I don't believe it. haha.
I had another guy tell me on linkedIn that he'd personally been in over 100 instances where people were trying to kill him in a private message. I called his bluff saying that pushing hands with people in a park is NOT LIFE & DEATH... and he ultimately recanted.
It's damn infuriating and it cannot be changed...I'm just venting ok.
Conversation went like this: OP showed this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmowuvcPNpU
1st comment by JD: Another video with a willing dummy slowly gooooooing through the motions to make the star of the show look good. No internal; just a staged move. There's no t'ài chí in that video.
A poster JS responds: "Ultimately their are no applications. One responds appropriately"
I say this: "...I disagree that there are "no applications" persay. I believe that we should teach base applications that work in the most common way 1st and THEN learn to respond and follow whatever the opponents do. The trick is, where do they start from: Not just from "throw me a punch" but from many different ways to enter the same method."
Poster JS responds again: - I demonstrate applications to my students only to give them a sense of YI
I say this: In the video my only pet peeve is when people don't show counters to their own methods. I try to never post vids without the counters. It shows both sides. For example, the sifu's right hand gets blocked / checked...if he doesn't address or control either of the hands, he's gonna get struck back on and the whole thing fails. Obviously, he would flow into his next thought. But it's nicer to see how the student could respond.
Another guy (JD) chimes in and says: I'm with you, JS. Establish the internal and the "applications" take care of themselves. Show me someone who's demonstrating moves, I'll show you sometime who understands nothing of t'ài chí.
I then say this: Pish posh...show me Taiji theorists who believe that cultivation alone will work to let "applications take care of themselves " or will make them better at the martial aspect of Taiji and I show you someone who understands nothing about applying Taiji. Also, I never said don't establish internal...I simply suggested that one should teach base applications that work in the most common way 1st.
JD responds: I have countless "application stories," in all sorts of situations. Not once did I "do moves." If I had, I would have been toast.
Lastly I say: So do we all, just because you may not teach or believe it to be so...doesn't mean it's not real. Take, parting horse mane for example. Everyone's got a bunch a ways to use it, but if you wanna boil it down to say your favorite 3 and work on those live, with tons of repetition. You start to realize that there are a couple ways to do it that are most useful and common. Those are what I speak of. Of course, later to expand upon them.
============================
Final thoughts, whenever I hear guys say countless "application stories," RED FLAGS go up. COUNTLESS really, I can count pretty high. Unless that guy is Chuck Norris, I don't believe it. haha.
I had another guy tell me on linkedIn that he'd personally been in over 100 instances where people were trying to kill him in a private message. I called his bluff saying that pushing hands with people in a park is NOT LIFE & DEATH... and he ultimately recanted.