Well, I may have to sit out of the sparring and grappling. I still don't have full range of movment in my neck
Someone dump you on your head? That's what happened to me, diving headstand, except my head moved out of the way and my shoulder took it. Hopefully going back next week for some revenge!!
You guys talking about the "bulshido throwdown".. I really wanted to check it out, timing is not good for me though. How often do these events happen?
There's no set timetable. They are just done voluntarily by Bullshido members when they feel like it. There are 2-3 per year in the UK I think, some areas of the US have one every month if they happen to have a dedicated MA instructor with access to a matted training hall who is a bullshido member.
You can take this quote at face value and still disagree completely with Richard's idea of Taiji. The feeling of "soft within hard" is common in CMA. It's called "rou-zhong zhi gang wei zhi zhen gang" (the hard within the soft is the true hard). The "sticky" quality he refers to comes from a combination of sensitivity training and experience. Although I can't do this very well yet, I've had my teacher demonstrate it for me many times and it does feel as if you can't get away from him even though he is only touching you lightly. This is not because he somehow uses his qi to stick to you like glue, but because of his tremendous finnesse in anticipating movement through light physical contact--one of the primary abilities push-hands is designed to train. The "trying to catch the wind" part comes from the Taiji strategy of "leading into emptiness," an ability which comes from a strong consciousness of "empty" and "full," i.e. weighted/unweighted or tense/relaxed. So you present the opponent what appears to be a solid lead, but actually put no tension or weight in the foot or hand. You then "stick" to his oncoming force and redirect in a way that will be strategically advantageous and put you in a position to counterattack with your own force. When you do attack (at least in Chen style), it should be with a vibrating, explosive quality achieved by sending the dantian qi out to the limbs. Thus the counter-attack is "like a bullet penetrating deeply and cleanly." So you see, everything Yang Cheng Fu says about Taiji in this quote is not only true, but with the exception of the counterattacking, part, does not even make direct use of the qi/energy. Could you point me, Richard, to the part where Yang says, "the real Taiji involves using your mind to hijack the opponent's qi system and freak him out"? The quote to me sounds exactly like the martial art my teacher and most other reputable Taiji teachers teach and nothing like the one you claim to teach.
That's because I was pro-qigong being a part of Taiji but am also aware of the limitations of qigong. Qigong isn't magic--as I've said before it's a type of exercise for increased physical and mental health that can also be harnessed for use in martial arts. It may seem magical from a purely western scientific standard, but it is a well-accepted and vital concept in both TCM and traditional CMA. We object to Richard's conception of Taiji and qigong because they are completely at odds with what we as practitioners and students of these subjects have come to understand them to be. As I said before, I try always to be both open-minded and analytical. However, I can definitely understand where you're coming from now that Richard has shown me the depths of insanity some schools of Taiji have reached. I had previously thought Taiji's immasculation was limited to being practiced by old people as calisthenics--now I see it's much worse.
@Richard Dunn Please tell me, what did CKH say about 'it'? There are video clips, true, but is there any text, too, and where can I find it? Would interest me a lot. And, Richard, do you teach your students how to defend themselves against being highjacked? Or do they need to attend classes in 'Defence against the Dark Power' in Harry Potter's school? And why do they not keep their spine erect but put forward their heads and look down until they wind up with their backs horizontally? Who's teaching them that and why? Looking forward to your answers, Puzzled Dragon
I did it to myself.....same way I hurt my back against fat Mat....trying to do stuff that I remember having the skill to do before I injured my knee. I basicaly shouldnt be trying flash stuff on heavy guys (the Pak Mei guy was about 100k ish at a guess).
Whats wrong with trying? Weight is a fact of life.....every one has it, some more than others (ey Cullion lol). Injuries, fact of life if you are in a martial art. Hey Butterfly, tell us about your injuries that you have had since you started Tai Chi. :bang:
Sniff.. I'm going to look for a proper martial arts club where nobody gets teased about a few extra Christmas pounds and nobody ever beats me up.. sniff..
I was going to say Richard Dunn, but who knows how far away he can glue me to the floor from!!! How far does magic travel?
Does this mean Chen,Fa-ke,Yang.Lu-chan,his sons,his grandson Shao-hou,Cheng,Man-ch'ing,Tung,Ying-ch'ieh,Yuan Tao,Yin Fu,Ch'eng,Ting-hua,Chang,Chung-fung,Wang,Shu-chin,Wang,Shang-chia,Che,I-che,Kuo,Yun-shen,etc,etc,were wai chia?
Good point.... BTW what injuries did they have? I can't seem to find mention of them in the classics, erm, or about trying, or, er, wearing gloves, or any mention of weight classes/divisions.... erm wonder why? Guess the answer must be "no, they weren't" then eh? DO YOU GET MY POINT???? :bang: :bang: :bang:
You don't have to fight with weight classes, you can enter Open divisions. Gloves are there to reduce injuries, but the fact that the 'old school' didn't wear them has no more bearing on whether or not they did sparring or were 'external' than the fact that old-fashioned boxers used to fight barenuckle. Basically, people who point at things introduced to modern tournament fighting to make it safer than 'the old days' and then claiming that never fighting full contact at all makes them more 'old school' are being silly. Fighting with hard contact doesn't make something 'external', it's what makes it 'martial'.
