GrahamB wrote:No Appledog, I'm talking about really basic Tai Chi - the way it's supposed to work.
"The jin should be
rooted in the feet,
generated from the legs,
controlled by the waist, and
manifested through the fingers."
This is way before you get to things like fajin.
Unfortunately it feels like I'm talking French and everybody else here talks German...
Examples:
MS on Jin from the ground, not frame: https://vimeo.com/273955189
MS on Jin operations: https://vimeo.com/156309921
Yeah that is what I am talking about, I don't agree with MS's take on internal strength. "After years of experience and listening to the various stories and histories, Isuspect that Taiji, Xingyi, and Bagua may all derive from some proto-martial-artthat came from Shanxi Province." this is undoubtedly true, however beyond a very superficial level they go in different directions and are not compatible. Given that Taiji/etc. are not unknown quantities (except to people on the outside or approaching from the outside) I am very suspicious of "alternate" training methods that purport to train the same or similar skills. Invariably, the "neijia" skills being discussed have nothing to do with "Taijiquan".
When I learned to fajin it was done by simply relaxing and the force shot out like an arrow. This is like step 1... relax, step 3.. profit. I cannot explain the step 2, but what I can explain are the methods and principles I was taught which enabled me to do this. What I see in the explanations and theories coming out of that camp (which has gained an incredible amount of traction in the community in general) is that you cannot get there from here, that they are training something different, or at least very basic, and not quite as compatible with "how Tai Chi should be done properly" as is generally believed. So my bone of contention comes out of dealing very specifically with Tai Chi and not neijia in general, which may or may not apply to Tai Chi.
If I could borrow something I've heard you discuss, Sao from Choy Li Fut. What a wonderful, powerful technique. I suspect it "has to be shown" because people might not at first realize just how powerful it is. I hope we can both agree it isn't a part of Tai Chi My point being, skill in martial arts in general, being able to hit, push, fajin, etc. may not indicate prowess in Taiji. IN this respect MS's ideas have done damage to the community; i.e. the ability to feel fajin against the shoulder does not in any way guarantee someone has skill in Taijiquan. It just guarantees he has some skill in martial arts in general, maybe some Neijia, maybe not. As we all know today but not 15 years ago, all CMA uses standing pole exercises, even shaolin and changquan. So as it turns out the differences are far less than what was generally believed 10, 20 years ago, and most of the theories being tossed around are really just low-level CMA that applies to, literally, everything.
The flipside, is that the methods specific to taiji which do not exist on other arts act as a preclusor for the discussion of certain training methods, ideas, skills and techniques. I suspect every martial art is like this. It can be a bitch to specialize.
What I would do with a walking stick 99% of the time, and 1% of the time as you describe, is just doing sword flowers, dips and rises, to strengthen my wrist. I sometimes do these exercises for 20 minutes or until my wrists burn out (which is almost never nowadays) just for the wrist ability. That is something I feel is more in line with what would be accepted as a common training method; but given taiji's penchant for smooth weight transfer I cannot imagine a walking stick would help you with your stance or weight transition. Loading a stick with your body weight seems antithesis to emptying the upper body and driving via the legs. This is a kind of "discordant idea" which has been introduced to the art via the concept of ground path, etc. which is the kind of idea that is in neijia per-se but doesn't really exist in tai chi.