Came across a webpage for a fitness trainer today and what caught my attention was a bright shiny badge that said "Certified Tai Chi". Never saw that before, not in almost 50 years of martial arts, and almost 30 of that in taijiquan. So, I decided to look into it to see what it was.....should not have done that They had studied with some person, who gave them the certification, for being in their...full online video program.....and it is not good taijiquan either. So they are certified in tai chi by a person who is not doing good tai chi, that sold them the program..... My wife always told me I'd never make any money teaching taijiquan....because I was to serious and I'd have no students. So I relaxed, if someone wanted moving meditation, I teach moving meditation If they wanted martial arts, I give them martial arts.......I can't give them sloppy, horrible, unsafe, no matter how hard I try. Once read a quote, I believe it was from Chan Xiaowang, said he felt taijiquan, as a martial art, was dead. I do believe he was right
That's unfortunate but I think we all know the putrification of art is a common thing. Once upon a time, it was considered a great, rare skill for painters to paint landscapes, whether realistic or abstract. Fast forward to today with all these little "Wine and art" businesses basically devoted to drinking and painting beaches, etc. I might be guilty of having a couple personal pieces created this way, and while they're fun, I would never consider myself an artist. So why do some people learn a little of something and call themselves an artist, let alone "certified", which has a professional tone. Yuck. Well, the nice thing about arts is that they can never truly die. Only living things can, arts have gone away and resurged throughout the ages. And without junk art, there couldn't be any real art, just like there can't be good in the world without evil. Cubism was popular in the early 20th century on Earth, but apparently was also very popular among Mandalorians a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Mandalorian cubism
Wellllll.....there's a person I've met who was "certified" by Paul Lam.That is to say,give Paul $100 (think now it's more) attend a 1 maybe 2 day seminar and learn TC for Arthritis or TC for Diabetes and get instructor certification for same.So this person has better paper than I do. And the WORST supposed TC I've ever seen. Now why didn't I think to set up some cash cow program like that? Naaah. Geez.Of my 3 most important teachers one passed last year,one (overseas) hasn't been in touch for years,and one's 78.Maybe I should have him write out some "official" document for me-just in case I need it someday-since having superior knowledge and ability compared to someone else doesn't count for as much as papers. Then again,maybe I just should join one of those sokey dokey hall of fame organizations,I could get lotsa certificates from those. Naaah.
