I would like to share with the community an online resource I have found recently. This is a youtube channel created by a Sifu named Glenn Hairston, who focuses heavily on Tai Chi application. I hope this content helps somebody in furthering their practice if application is part of the training they are seeking. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyNWD3 ... 0OSdGYpxmw Here are a few recent videos: I have done some research and his bio is quite unique in that he isn’t just an academic practitioner of Tai Chi, but comes from a law enforcement, corporate executive protection, and military & law enforcement combatives training background. He is currently, and has been for the last 30 years, a narcotics detective. As his Tai Chi experience comes from actually using Tai Chi to fight and subdue criminals in the street (no rules), I have found his perspective to be quite interesting as I am not sure I have seen any other Tai Chi teachers in recent years who claim to have actually had a lifelong career utilizing Tai Chi for real fighting (again, no rules, not sport). His bio makes for some very interesting reading. For those who are interested in this sort of thing, as part of my research, I also discovered that he has consulted for the film industry and was a fighting choreography consultant to director Ben Ramsey on the movie Blood And Bone, which was a pretty badass street fighting movie starring Michael Jai White. You can actually see him in the movie as he briefly makes an appearance playing a bodyguard near the end of the movie, right before the final fight scene (Rolls-Royce Phantom VII in "Blood and Bone"). He was also involved as a technical consultant on the film Silence of the Lambs, and again played a brief part in this movie as well (@ timestamp 5:03 ) If anyone in the community knows of other Tai Chi masters / teachers who have a strong pedigree in application, I would much appreciate it if they could share those online resources if they exist/are available. Many thanks.
Greetings, That is a rather glowing write up, so I am curious, what is your connection to this teacher? Do you actually study from him? Just take online classes? Are an employee of his or a family member? If a student, have you experience in other lineages of Tai Chi Chuan? Or other martial arts? If so, what? I am just wondering about the context of this post. If you only study from him online, how do you get in partner practice for the application work? Looking forward to your response, Cheers
Similar posts on RSF,BBForum,MartialMan..... Always w/words to the effect of "Recently came across...". Seems a new member on at least some of these forums. Advertising. As for Hairston,studied w/some good people.
Huh, pretty interesting if somewhat overly dramatic. Nostalgic, I guess. 10 Questions with Glenn Hairston
Yeah,but his videos generally don't really say much.Nothing unusual in that tho'. Example-the "rollback" vid above.Hardly notes angles when applying the force to break the root,doesn't mention possibility of using "an" to drive directly into opponents base to sever. Think one needs to understand such things already when viewing his vids. This is not a disparagement of his ability.Wish he was in my neighborhood.
I studied combat Tai Chi for 14 years under an amazing instructor. But I am always skeptical about videos like this. An instructor can make anything work if the student is just standing there and the student is deferential to the instructor. I know it has to be done that way for a demo of a principle, but that does not mean it will work against a determined, skilled opponent. I have seen videos online where Tai Chi "masters" go up against hard style guys and they get knocked out almost immediately before they ever have a chance to "break the root."
Something that lends some degree of credibility to Hairston's ability is the fact he is/was a police officer, so has had to "make it work" against resistant opponents. As you say, a demo for the camera has to be set in a particular format to get the message across.
It is just a demo. He wasn't showing "amazing" abilities,just demonstrating balance attacks,counters,etc.The "externals" of what he's doing aren't non-transferable to non TC people.For example,I don't see why a good Goju man couldn't do the rollback at speed-altho his mechanics would be different the end result would be the same. It's not a big deal. As for people being KOd-some obviously clueless so called "masters" we've seen KOd don't mean much. I've seen Asian vids of TC guys doing well against Kyushinkai dudes. CMA tourneys in SE Asia are open so TC has to fight whatever other systems.I know at least as recently as a few years ago a TC team from Malaysia still went places and not for push hand tourneys. I haven't kept up on things so I don't know if the Wu TC in Hong Kong still sends people into the ring in the kickboxing and other tourneys there but they were always one of the leading bodies represented. I don't understand why someone would need to "break the root" -just strike the other individual.Balance attacks aren't obligatory.
