does this school look legit?

[Shaolindynasty]

Guys I was thinking about furthering my sudies by training in an internal system of kungfu. Wu Dang has always interested me and I like the straight sword, but since my main study has always been shaolin I don't know much about it can you tell me what you think of this school I am considering?

http://www.ctmaa.com/

[Kumkuat]

how far are you from Champaign? Well, if you're pretty close you can visit Yang Yang. http://www.chentaiji.com/

I heard he was pretty good. I don't know about ctmaa though since I haven't heard of them.

[Water Dragon]

I posted this in the main forum. The Bagua is solid. i don't know about the other stuff.

[red_fists]

Bit undecided about it.

Is the School associated with the Taoist Tai Chi Temple or similar??
I heard some bad rumours about them.

One thing there I don't like is the requirements for grading, i.e. the sashes. To Japanese.

Personally, I don't think that you can put People studying internal MA into Groups like that.
Nor that you can really split a Form like that for grading.

I also don't like the idea of Assistant Instructors and like. Find out how much you will be training with the Head guy there.

I know that the 108 Form is split into 3 sections, but not for grading purpose.

Apart from that they don't look to bad to me. Classes appear to be small.
Can't say much about the Head Guy there from his Bio. Bit too vague and Photos with famous Masters can easily be had for a few Bucks at Seminars.

I know this won't help much.

[Shooter]

The Tai Chi looks very sound, and the Qigong programs look good as well.

[Eight_Triagram_Boxer]

I think there is something fishy about the Bagua. They seem to be collectors of forms. They do not list the actual lineage either. The most suspicious thing is that all of their Yin stuff corresponds with the release of Xie's tapes. That's just odd...
But go see for yourself. They may actually be good.

[Shaolindynasty]

"They seem to be collectors of forms."
Yeah when I compare them to the other internal schools I've been checking out it kinda seems that way.

I would check out Yang Yang but I couldn't find that he had any beginner classes on the weekend. Champaign is about 2 hours from me so a class during the week might not be possible.

I read a book by this guy and he seems pretty knowledgable.
I was also considering this school could you tell me what you think?

www.taichitaocenter.com

[Kumkuat]

Well, Waysun Liao is a famous author of some tai chi books. But those certified Instructors seemed to have a severe back lean in their pictures which isn't very good. They also seemed way too "new agey" for me.

[count]

The school in Skokie doesn't look half bad (except for the silly ranking system). Remind me again why you don't go see Choi? Jeez, I gotta get back to Chicago sometime soon:(

[Ray Pina]

Two hours? That seems jusy about right. It will be well worth your time if its the real deal. Better to spend 30 minutes with a real player than have Tae Bo next door.

[Shaolindynasty]

I am going to check out Choi but I also want to check out as much else as possible. I have a philosophy when looking for schools. "just cause a master is famous doesn't mean he is the most qualified".

"Instructors seemed to have a severe back lean in their pictures which isn't very good."

I don't know what this means :(

Could you explain it to me some more. Also did you see the video they had on the site. What can you tell from it?

[Kumkuat]

a recent discussion talks about leaning in general. http://martial.best.vwh.net/forum/showthread.php?threadid=9619

anyway, the way I was taught, no back lean. Your back has to be verticle, straight, and relaxed. A slight forward lean is okay. It's because of alignment. Also, a backwards lean can get you into trouble during contact stuff (push hands, sparring, etc.,) since the momentum comes towards your front, not your back. And if you lean back, you can lose balance or expose a vital area. Instead of leaning backward, I was taught to sink and redirect somewhere.

[Shaolindynasty]

Does anybody else think the Tai chi people on that site lean too much? They have a section with some short videos on it can you guys tell me what you think of their movement on those?

This school seems to be able to teach me all the aspects of tai chi does anybody know any different? I mean to say if I wanted to learn Tai Chi as a meditation and martial art does this look like a good place to go?

Also does anybody have experience with Yang Yang in Champaign, IL? Does he teach Martial Tai Chi or just Tai Chi for health? What quality would you say his tai chi is?

[Justa Man]

i'm by no means an expert on judging skill, but it seems you'd be learning a whole lot of forms at this school. and i know you've all noticed that already, but that's not really a good thing if you want to get very good at internal arts.
so where is your focus?

[Sam Wiley]

People speak well of Yang Yang and Wai Lun Choi, both. Though I have never met either, I doubt you could go wrong with either of them.

[taijiquan_student]

Shaolin Dynasty--

Even though the website puts taichi and martial arts in seperate sections, it seems like it wouldn't do any harm to go there. I have this feeling the master there is well known, and it seems like he knows some stuff, although how long before you learn it I don't know(i.e. the jin training is only done under close supervision by him--of course you want the teacher's close supervision, but the website made it sound like you have to be a really advanced student to start basic power training). It seems pretty good, however.

Just one thing I noticed that's interesting...

From the Taichi Tao Center webpage:

"Master's ability is beyond most people's conception, and if you stay with him 30 years like I have, you should be able to learn the bare hand of TaiChi along with the health, happiness, and exercise that will keep you young for the rest of your life."

Wow. 30 years.
I don't doubt that after 30 years you can learn the form and be healthy, but there are quicker ways. Don't look for a quick fix, because taiji's not, but 30 years to become proficient, even 15, is very unusual (mind you I don't mean master-level, just reasonably solid skill).

[Shaolindynasty]

Well I have read his book "Tai Chi classics" which has allot of additional information as well as a translation of the classics. He seems really "martial". I contacted the school and it's pretty expensive though. I could pay $100 registration fee plus $100 per month, that's not to bad considering you can train every day of the week but I wouldn't be able to go there that often. On the other hand you can pay $25 per class, that's way to expensive for me. Wai Lun Choi's school is 59$ a month for 4 classes. Still kinda high from what I am used to here but better and I have heard nothing but good things about Choi so he will probally be my choice.