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Do me one favour. Tell me what you consider the difference to be between "Tai Chi" and "Taijiquan"

And also, the term dojo-hopper would suggest someone who attends one dojo for a short time, quits, and goes onto another. I actually still train at all dojos/dojangs/kwoons that I have studied at, and have been doing so for 10 years at the upmost limit.

 

Mate, if you haven't figured it out yet I can't tell you ... sorry.

Uh huh ... so since you were 8? The less I say to you from here on in the better really. I know where you stand and now you know where I stand, I'm going to leave it at that.

Good luck ... really.

 

Jolly Good

 

How about....

All of the above is insulting an very much Ad hominem.

Would you like sauce on those puddings?

 

Is a question, not a statement.

Another question, posed due to the fact that my previous statement had obviously not been understood.

Given the bio this is actually a fact and not a speculative insult.

I think thats drawing a very long bow and highly subjective to be fair.

I ain't pudding time yet mate ...

 

You're not doing yourself any favours here "mate"

I've pointed out where I feel you are breaking the terms of service that you agreed to when you signed up for this site. Smart ass comebacks will not get you very far nor will they change those terms of service.

I suggest you try to post within our terms of service or log out.

Is that plain enough?

 

Just to inform...

Chikarakai Karate - 10 years
Kenshukai Karate - 7 years
Jujutsu - 5 years
TKD - 6 years
Phoenix Kung Fu - 4 1/2 years
Wing Chun - 2 years
Boxing - 2 years
CKD - 1 year
Tai Chi - 2 months

Does that still count as dojo hopping?

 

You know what "mate"? ... I think your stretching the terms of service to fit an agenda thats a bit overblown at this point. If your actually going to ban me for the mildest remarks I have made previously and for standing up for the authenticity of an art I practice then maybe it's time for you to yank my plug.

I've tried in large part to bring good information and an erudite discourse to every Taijiquan post here only to find the plebe level rising. I guess mediocrity rules though.

Do what you will, my opinion remains the same!

 

Nobody mentioned banning anybody.

And you've made a good contribution so far. All I am asking here is for you to calm down a bit and discuss issues and methods without making it personal.

That's fine - you are entitled to your opinion. All I am asking is that you tone down how you express it.

 

Can do, I just recall the only personal attack coming from elsewhere ...

... which leaves me a bit bemused thats all.

Ah well as the French say, pfft!

 

More on Music and Tai Chi

Here is and article from a Tai Chi master T.T. Liang about practicing with Music.

http://www.tctaichi.com/articles/liang_music.htm

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Why We Should Practice T'ai-Chi to Music
by Master T. T. Liang

"More than one thousand years ago a Chinese monk named Chan Chung developed a method of concentration during meditation. He told people to repeat silently "What did I look like before I was born?" . . . that is, "What did I look like when I was in my mother's womb?" Later this method was handed down to Japan as Zen Dao, using the question "What is Mu (nothing)?" for concentration.

We often say that a human's heart is like a monkey, jumping and turning around all the time, and their mind is like a horse galloping without pause. When one begins to practice meditation their heart and mind are fully occupied with short cut thoughts. When one thought is gone, it is immediately replaced by another, giving the heart and mind no chance to rest and concentrate. So monk Chan Chung used his way of concentration to cut out all the other short confused thoughts. As the question, "What did I look like before I was born?" can never be solved, you have to repeat it over and over again for a long time. Gradually your heart and mind will become peaceful and quiet, and only one thing will be left to think of—"What did I look like before I was born?" Finally you forget even the words you are concentrating on, so your heart and mind will be all empty; your body will be completely relaxed; the ch'i will sink and abide in the tan-tien, and the blood will circulate through the whole body without hindrance. It is good for the health, and also the way to metamorphose into a Buddha.

It is the same with practicing T'ai-Chi. In T'ai-Chi the ascent to the highest level is divided into four steps:

1. When beginning the practice of T'ai-Chi, you will have to memorize the number of beats, the directions, the practical uses of each posture and the ten guiding points as described in my book. You will breathe naturally, and will not use music.
2. After you have mastered all the points mentioned above, you will have to use beats, music and breathing (proper methods of inhaling and exhaling) for concentration, and get rid of all the rest.
3. At the next stage you will use only music for concentration and skip the others.
4. After practicing T'ai-Chi with music for a sufficient time you will forget the music, the movements, even yourself—although you are proceeding as usual. At this stage you are in a trance; your five attributes (form, perception, consciousness, action and knowledge) are all empty: this is meditation in action and action in meditation. When you finish and come to the end of the postures, suddenly you are back. Where have I been? What have I been doing? I don't know and I don't remember. This is complete relaxation of body and mind—truly good for your health, and also the way to immortality.

Of course if one can reach the highest level while practicing T'ai-Chi without music, so much the better. But I cannot do it because I am a human being, an ordinary ignorant person with heart like a monkey and mind like a horse. So I must use music as a means of concentration, as a stepping stone to the highest level of T'ai-Chi.

I have been learning and practicing T'ai-Chi with music for more than thirty-five years. After the first five years I though I knew everything and started to criticize this man as no good, that man as no good, and to consider only myself as really good. After another ten years of learning and practicing I began to realize that I knew only a little. Instead of criticizing others I started to criticize only myself, because I was not qualified to criticize others with my superficial smattering of knowledge—and besides, I had no time for criticizing others. After continuously practicing and painstakingly learning from teachers, books and Classics, and seriously criticizing myself for another twenty years, I understood that I was not qualified and dared not to criticize others because the more I practiced, the more I wanted to learn from teachers, books and Classics; and the more I learned, the less I felt I knew. The theory and philosophy of T'ai-Chi are so profound and abstruse, and the functional use is so subtle and ingenious that I must continue studying and practicing T'ai-Chi with music forever and ever. It is the only way to improve and better myself.

I like music, especially soft music, because it is in a human being's nature. It can relieve one's tension and anxiety, produce happiness and relaxation, improve harmony and coordination.

I have been teaching and practicing T'ai-Chi with music for thirty years. During these thirty years I have taught in many universities, colleges and high schools and have had thousands of students study with me. They all say that T'ai-Chi with music is good, and they have all benefited from it because they are human beings and to like music is in their nature. If T'ai-Chi with music were no good and were extraneous to the essence of T'ai-Chi I would have disappeared from this world thirty years ago. I am now eighty-one; I am still living and enjoying perfect health because as a human being I like music and have chosen to continue practicing T'ai- Chi with music and have chosen to continue practicing T'ai-Chi with music to prolong my life."

[End of Article]

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Master T.T.Liang ( Book = Steal my Art)
http://thegreatlands.com/apf/item_id/1556434162/search_type/AsinSearch/locale/us
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Note a section for Tai Chi Music on this site.
http://www.taichivideostore.com/index.html

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Personally, I think if including music to your training activities or atmosphere keeps you motivated, keeps your students in training or in any other way eases some of the bordom and monotony of training, then it is useful. It is certainly helpful for the relaxation period afterward. I don't really care how they "classically" trained in 300 B.C. China, Japan, Korea or anywhere else. If music, new equipment, cross training or any other more modern advances help me or those I teach, I think we should use it.

and MUSIC does help "put a little rhythm in your workout". just choose the appropriate music for the task at hand.

 

In the above case it seems like music is like some kind of internal training wheels for Taijiquan practitioners, thats fine. Some people get on a bike and know how to ride straight away, they are at one with the bike while others might want training wheels. This seems to be a metaphor for attaining deeper focus in Taijiquan but I still adhere to the classical methods of the Yangs which at no point requires the student to use music but rather to listen to the breath and the body.

I have nothing against music perse', I am a professional musician ... I just am not a fan of it in conjunction with Taijiquan. Nature was always intended to be the music of Taijiquan, thats my point. The idea that music keeps you from boredom and puts rhyhmn in your workout ( are we actually calling it a workout now? ) ... well I'll refrain from further comment on that other than to say it is alien to me ... your bodies rhythmn is the point of focus, everything else is scenery.

Impasse ...

 

Holy heck... when do you get any time for school or work...??? You must train for about 9 hours a day or so...

 

How do you manage to focus on all those arts?

 

From June I pretty much was since I finished 6th Form (college) and only worked on saturdays. Now I've got more of a full time job so a lot of my free time goes on training. So I'm having to cut down on class attendance.

Um... I don't know I have real trouble trying to keep the Japanese, Korean and Chinese terminology straight in my head though...

 

Seriously though it must be quite challenging to focus on all the different power generation methods and techniques and ways of movement.

 

I never really had a problem with it. It just goes in and most of the time it stays in. I'm a kinetic learner, I learn through physical activity really well. But if it comes to something like mathematics or science, my mind goes completely blank.

 

No serious teacher would allow or recommend a student practice that many arts at the same time ... take that information to any number of other forums and watch the credibility factor fly out the window.

Seriously ...

 

I love you Syd :love:

EDIT: Maybe your jealous? Cant keep up with youthful, peppy me?

 

You picked me ... green with envy. I'm just calling it like I see it, nothing personal at all.