quit taijiquan

[bodhitree]

Hey guys, I quit practicing taijiquan. I haven't had enough focus, and am currently teacherless. I am still doing my external gong fu. Has anyone else went through similar?

[dwid]

I haven't had a teacher for quite a while in Bagua. I still practice, but not with the ferocity I once did.

I think this is due to a combination of factors, though. The main one is the lack of an inspiring teacher presence in my life. But there is also the fact that I've been applying to grad school, working full-time, taking classes... etc... Sometimes it's just difficult working practice into my schedule.

One thing that being teacherless can do for you is to allow your personality and goals to be more of a force in your practice. When I was learning a new fighting application or two (linear forms) every week, I had so much material to practice that I didn't really take the time to decide on what areas to focus on. Anymore, I have a "less is more" attitude. I don't do linear sets at all. They just aren't valuable to me personally. I just do my pre-heaven circles and my guang hua circles.

[Brad]

Yeah, I stopped training for awhile, and am just now starting to get back into it. BTW, dwid, even though my teacher had come back he's decided to retire from teaching everything but taijiquan... and he recently moved to LA :p I'll send ya an email latter today.

Anyway, being a young guy, sometimes it's hard for me to concentrate on the slow form and I end up just wanting to practice longfist ;)

[PHILBERT]

What caused you to loose focus? What kept your focus for so long?

When I loose focus in my training, I stop and read the famous fight between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man. Regardless of who won that fight (Don't know, don't care, don't discuss it here), it helps me find the motivation to keep training.

[count]

Originally posted by Brad
Yeah, I stopped training for awhile, and am just now starting to get back into it. BTW, dwid, even though my teacher had come back he's decided to retire from teaching everything but taijiquan... and he recently moved to LA :p I'll send ya an email latter today.

Anyway, being a young guy, sometimes it's hard for me to concentrate on the slow form and I end up just wanting to practice longfist ;)
Wait! Are you saying An is living in LA now? Can you tell me where?

[bamboo_ leaf]

You are your own teacher, everything else is a guide helping to get to some point that you decided to go. With my first style something similar happened but I kept at what little I knew and made it work for me. I constantly sought deeper understandings to inner questions that I had, this process eventually lead me to finding taiji or maybe taiji finding me hard to know sometimes. :)

What I have found and observed; when ones focus is not really in sync with ones life, there is little incentive to pursue it, this may be a good chance to for some quite time to see what is.:cool:
What ever was there is still there, waiting, should you seek it again.

[Brad]

Wait! Are you saying An is living in LA now? Can you tell me where?
Sorry, that should say he MAY have recently moved to L.A. :p When he came back from China, my classmate told me he was taking a job in either L.A. or New York to teach taiji. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to talk to him while he was here, so I don't know the details :( I'll ask my classmates though.

[Brad]

dwid,

never mind about me sending you an email. Just found out I may have a worm/virus on my computer so I'm not going to be sending out any emails until I can update my anti virus software :(

[bodhitree]

"What caused you to loose focus? What kept your focus for so "
Philbert


I don't know, I think its additional responsabilities in my life, I still do practice MA, just not internal ones. I have no internal arts teacher. I don't practice any qigong or meditate. I like all of the above, but I have no ability to focus.

[PHILBERT]

In all of Pittsburgh, you can't find an internal instructor? Or you just don't want to?

I would give almost anything to move there to be honest. You haven o idea how much I envy you.

[bodhitree]

I don't want to take classes from Zhang Yun until I can put the time, effort, and energy into it. I do study with a lot of people that also study with him, Maybe I will start xingyi with him over the summer time. Good suggestion. There is a good article with a bunch of guys from Pittsburgh in it in the journal of asian martial arts (not jama hahaha) this month. Its about tongbeiquan.

[SPJ]

There is time for everything, There is time to study. There is time not to study. I had practiced Wushu with teachers since the age of 8. When I was 16, I quited for several years. I restarted practice, when I went back to college, which means I dropped college for 2 years.

I am in my mid-40's. I got bored with a lot of Wai Jia schools of Wushu. I went on to another. I practiced one school of Wushu for 10 months and then switched. Today, Tai Ji is still my favorite. Granted I was bored to death by it so many times.

You need teachers to guide you thru the door. However, most of the study comes from you and you alone. (Shi Fu Lin Qin Men. Show Xing Zai Ger Ren).

Please refer to the book "The treasure book of Chinese martial arts" www.1stbooks.com. There are several chapters on Tai Ji Quan.

When you practice mid punches and mid kicks so many times and feel good about yourself. Do not forget to practice Brush Ears and Brush Knees (Low Si Ou Bu). That is Tai Ji defense and counterattack the mid punches and kicks.

When you study Wushu, you have to study move and counter move in pairs. The attack is Yang. The defense is Yin.

When you study something and reach the boredomhood. You know what do not quit. You continue your study further that is when you are actually learning and advancing.

My brother practice mid punches and kicks 300 times a day. You know what I practice Brush Ears and Brush Knees 400 times a day. You do not need to.

The study of Wushu is consisted of 2 parts: techniques practice (Ji) and mastering the arts (Yi). You win by more skillful in techniques (Ji) which comes from practice over and over far beyond boredomville. You also win by studying the tactics and stretagy (Yi) of the techniques. You have to study the arts more and outsmart your opponents. This part is hard and hard. But also fun and fun.

Best luck with your endeavors whichever you choose for yourself. You are not alone in the boredomhood.

[blooming lotus]

you're still doing something internal right?...like, at leaast some Qigong?....doesn't that just become a part of the way a day goes???;) :D

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

At the risk of sounding too philosophical.... it's all Taji, we either do it well or poorly.. But, as has been stated above, research is always a great motivator.. try researching Taoist Martial Arts, read "Chronicles of Tao" by Deng Ming Dao, or Scholar Warrior by the same author (good motivators).. Kung Fu or Wushu skills will ultimately deterioriate and become frustrating, Taiji skills seem to continue to deepen and enhance one's life.. (at 53 and after 15 years of Taiji it still keeps getting better, for me).. sure, i still train my external skills but it's the Taiji that soars my spirit, it's the Taiji that offers me the freedom from "fear', the confidence to negotiate conflicts (physical or emotional) knowing that my training works..

Taiji is a rare gift from the ancient masters that, when combined with meditation and philosophy, shapes a complete and competent being.. Bored?.. never!!!

Be well..

[dwid]

dwid, never mind about me sending you an email. Just found out I may have a worm/virus on my computer so I'm not going to be sending out any emails until I can update my anti virus software

viruses suck.

thanks for the update - just e-mail me whenever:)

[8gates]

bodhitree:

Hey guys, I quit practicing taijiquan. I haven't had enough focus, and am currently teacherless. I am still doing my external gong fu. Has anyone else went through similar?


Think about more on "why" you want to quit Tai Chi, then you'll come up with more of a answer... One thing you might want to try, if you do not already, is to throw in a few Tai Chi movments "with" your External Gung Fu...
Going from External to Internal...
at all levels, is very awesome indeed..
Some people don't like to mix up MA's but, that is my preference...

After doing Shaolin Kempo for 20 years, I switched to Yang Tai, and have been doing it for about 7 years now
(not including when my Late Uncle taught some of it to me when I was very young..)
... I also started to practice Aikido for about a year now.. and I've started to "re-connect" with Shaolin Kempo again...
I think the saying
"whatever choice you make is the correct one..." applies well....

I hope you are happy, whatever you choose to do,

8Gates :)

[SPJ]

Tai Ji Xin Fa is the highest learning in Wushu.

When you practice the movement slowly, your mind may be bored to death. That happened to me, when I first started. My teacher told me to focus. I was not. He would stop me and ask me to start over again.

The purpose of slow movement and focusing your mind is to train you to detect minute movement of your body and that of the opponent.

How do you focus? Your eyes always follow your lead hand and so turns your waist, and a little neck movement. You are shifting weight between 2 legs, too.

Why is it important? It trains and increases the acuity of your body and your Qi and your mind.

How do you use it in fighting?
When somebody punches you, you only need to move minutely away from the target. You will not be hit. The opponent used up a lot of Qi (O2) and Jin to deliver a full arm length distance punch. You only move your waist a little. Even if just 1/8 of an inch, that is all you need. You save a lot of Jin and Qi.

His exposed full arm is allowing you do all the Tai Ji moves any way you want.

You contact. You move when he move minutely earlier. The contact point is the center of the circle.

You listen to the Jin. You follow. He comes you welcome him. (pull away from you) He goes you push him.


The highest level of Tai Ji is that you may sense Jin in all of your body. You respond the same way as with your hand techniques. You have Jin all over you. (Wuan Shen Si Jin). Your Qi flows on and on like a river.

Practice Tai Ji, you have to think small, very small force. Use a small force in a smart way to defeat the bigger force.

Want to learn more? Yah, Yah, go to the book "The treasure book of Chinese martial arts"

[SPJ]

Use stillness to overcome the moving.

Why? The opponent's punches and kicks have get to you to work. You wait for him to come. Once he moves, you move accordingly, too. He starts first, you detect and know his certain move. You move accordingly. He does not know your move yet, because he moves first.

How do you detect his move? Read the book.

How do you move accordingly? Read the book.

Rule of thumb, he starts his move based on your current position. Once he moves, you move away from that position and to a new position that is advantage to you. How? Read the book.

He comes to you. You avoid his punching arm, the rest of his body is delivered to you for your mercy. That is why you use stillness to fool the opponent.

You manuver a little bit late. You move to a new position that is advantage to you. There is a whole chapter on the manuver. There are several chapters on how to neutralize the punching force.

Yah Yah! Read the book. Everything you need to know how to use Tai Ji to fight and more!

Everything that I know how to wake myself up in Tai Ji practice is in the book. When you are bored, read the book. Granted you will be bored more. When you are not! Hey, pad on your shoulder. You are a true Tai Ji master like my teachers and many before them. I merely pass on what were passed on to me. Cut the chase. Read the book!

[Doug]

Overall, those are pretty inspirational posts, SPJ.

Check out 365 Tao and Everyday Dao by Deng Ming-Dao. Whenever I was not practicing, I would find a section that related to whatever I was doing at the time and read it (a page long for each section). I found (and still find) that inspiring too.

Also, poetry from the various dynasties are inspirational too.

Here is one from the early 1980s that, without the textbook I found it in, would never have inspired me to continue difficult bouts of training. It came from Antioch Review, volume 39, #3 (Summer 1981). You can find it in Steven Lynn's Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory, 2nd ed. As I read it, I can feel the mist and sounds moving about me.

Doug M


My Father's Martial Art (1982)
Stephen Shu-ning Liu

When he came home Mother said he looked
like a monk and stank of green fungus.
At the fireside he told us about life
at the monastery; his rock pillows,
his cold bath, his steel-bar lifting
and his wood-chopping. He didn't see
a woman for three winters, on Mountain O Mei.

"My Master was both light and heavy.
He skipped over treetops like a squirrel.
Once he stood on a chair, one foot tied
to a rope. We four pulled; we couldn't
move him a bit. His kicks could split
a cedar's trunk."

I saw Father break into a pumpkin
with his fingers. I saw him drop a hawk
with bamboo arrows. He rose before dawn, filled
our backyard with a harsh sound hah, hah, hah:
there was his Black Dragon Sweep, his Crane Stand,
his Mantis Walk, his Tiger Leap, his Cobra Coil...
Infrequently he taught me tricks and made me
fight the best of all the village boys.

From a busy street I brood over high cliffs
on O Mei, where my father and his Master sit:
shadows spread across their faces as the smog
between us deepens into a funeral pyre.

But don't retreat into night, my father.
Come down from the cliffs. Come
with a single Black Dragon Sweep and hush
this oncoming traffic with your hah, hah, hah.