Hi all. What is the best way to go about learning Tai Chi for people who have no teachers around for miles. Please donot tell me I need a teacher. I know this already but unless you're willing to pay for my lessons, I'm practically lost b/c I can't afford it. The lessons weren't handed down by the Gods to one man. They came from the creativity of men. Meaning other men are capable of imitating them (Quite well) if they are dedicated enough. Yes, a teacher will help you learn things which it will take years to learn on your own but right now on my own is my only option. Yes, teachers insure the successful learning of the art so that it may be passed down correctly to future students. I respect that system but I don't have the luxury of using it b/c it's extremely commercial driven (which has a way of chiping away at the culture of it anyways). Now that I've basically commited blasphemy against the Tai Chi gods (every time I suggest learning on my own it seems to upset people like crazy) I'm interested in learning the Yang long form and a sword fighting form. I was wondering if someone could give me a list of valid sword fighting forms also. I used to be very intuitive and I am still somewhat of a private person. I like learning on my own and I have taken down professional fighters before with nothing but intuition. Now I'm having trouble finding myself in life and I need a hobby. The problem is, the one hobby I want to learn I can't pay for. So I thank you guys for all your help.
If you have access to professional fighters, train with them. You'd be lucky to reach mediocrity without an actual teacher, and that's a low bar when it comes to martial arts. If you really want it, you won't take shortcuts. Take up boxing, wrestling, or judo at a university or something. There are usually free clubs around and some schools will let you work in lieu of payment. Or get a job.
Or you could just watch youtube videos. Choson DTG karate, Wushurichard, Thefiercehadou and plenty of others are wonderful examples of how rewarding that route can be. Spoiler They're terrible. And you will be too, if you try to do this without a good training environment. We've seen it here hundreds of times.
Get a job. That seems to be society's answer to everything these days. It doesn't matter what else is going on in a person's life. If they don't have the ability to purchase something they want, they must not have a job and thus must not be contributing to society. . . I love this capitalistic movement people have now. I'm not taking shortcuts. Learning is a process. You get little bits and pieces and you combine them all together to form something. I don't want to box, wrestle or take up judo. I simply would like to learn Tai Chi.
You can't learn it without a teacher any more than you can learn to swim without actually getting in the water. Oh sure you can move your limbs in an approximation of the moves, but the end result would be a waste of time If you don't want to take advice from experienced practitioners then this is not the site for you. The advice you will get is always going to be the same - get a teacher because you cannot learn form videos or books. You are not skilled enough or experienced enough to go against that advice or you would not be here in the first place. Free online lessons are worth exactly what you pay for them. Also I call shenanigans on the "taking down professional fighters" story
You want something, you have to pay for it. If you can't afford martial arts lessons and you want them, you're going to have to find a way to pay. Again, that might be doing work for the owner of the school and it might be taking a second (or first) job. Except you don't know what pieces are good and which ones will fall apart under pressure, you don't know how they go together and you don't have an environment with other people who also know what they are doing, to cement what you have gathered into a coherent, solid product. Martial arts is a group activity. You may learn all the moves and you may do them in the air in the official prescribed order but you will not attain any level of proficiency without a teacher to guide and correct you and a school full of fellow practicioners to practice with/on. You need the feedback of other bodies and minds moving with you, as many as you can train with. Why do you think serious practicioners train with other serious practicioners? Steel sharpens steel. At this point you're on the path to being about as hard as oatmeal.
Actually, it does. Combatting ideas like this improves martial arts in general, much in the same way modern MMA made pressure testing more popular and exposed a great deal of witch-doctoring in the martial arts. When we allow ignorance to spread, the overall talent pool shrinks and shallows. When we correct information like this publically, fewer people fall into those traps and the talent pool deepens. Like I said, steel sharpens steel. I want lots of solid people to train with and a robust global martial culture to immerse myself in. Deliberate ignorance and self-decieving mediocrity are my enemy.
Call what you will. I'm the only person who has actually lived my life. Everything has a weakness and it doesn't take super-man to see them. If you don't believe me, fine. It's no skin off my back if I'm lying or telling the truth.
LOL I get the need to practice with others but like I said I have no local teachers and oatmeal placed in the right circumstances can be pretty deadly.
In other words you think I will be teaching this to other people. Yeah, like I said I'm a private person. I don't teach. I never will. When we correct information like this publicly? I haven't spread anything around yet.
You're posting on a public forum. Posting a bad idea. That's what we're countering, currently. . It doesn't take superman to see most weaknesses, but actually capitalizing on them is a different story. Making the most of weaknesses against a professional fighter requires a similar level of skill, a great deal of luck, or a poor opponent. The latter two don't say anything about your intuition. What exactly was the weakness you used to take him down?
Doesn't stop you making the details of said life up I can see how to bench press 800lbs which does not mean I can do anything about it. The former rather than the latter is infinitely more probable
Have the school holidays started early? This might be what the original poster was looking for. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaZwO3Z8k0s"]Tai Chi for Kids - Everyone has fun! - YouTube[/ame]
MA training is for someone who has - free "time" to train, and - free "money" to spend on tuition. Without both, MA training may not be your best choice.
if you want to learn tai chi for the health benefits, why not take up yoga instead? it's easy enough to find yoga DVDs and they have the same health benefits. if you want to learn it for combat applications - you need a teacher
You can't really separate the health benefits from the martial aspect.In internal arts combat training often refers to the conditioning aspect that prepares the body for combat.It dosen't always refer to beating the snot out of each other during sparring. If you take western boxing as an example,it has some excellent health benefits if you do all the conditioning work.This prepares the body for combat and you can only go into combat if you have a healthy body. In my style the conditioning exercise is san ti shi,or post standing and this has more health benefits than doing the form.
saying that - learning forms from the internet all day without someone explaining the combat applications really just makes it a health exercise.
I doubt if it is possible to learn forms from the internet,let alone applications.Its difficult enough when you have a good teacher.
I also call balony on the "can't afford it" jib. I work part time on minimum wage and I afford some of the best tuition in the Country. Before I had a job I trained at the local boxing gym for £3 a day sessions. It's all about priorities mate.
