OK, I've been studying Taiji for about 4 years now. In that time, I've trained the barehand form and apps, separate qigong/meditation, some pushing hands, basic Taiji chin na and Taiji saber. From my limited experience, it seems to me that you could really spend MANY years mastering ANY of these aspects of the arts---and I still haven't learned Taiji sword or staff/spear that's taught at my school. I certainly understand the progressive nature of the training, in that the form training builds rooting and body mechanics necessary for saber, pushing hands builds sensitivity necessary to apply the chin na, etc.----the different facets of the art are all interconnected. But my question is, after 10 years or so, when you've pretty much learned all the major aspects of your style----how do people focus their training? Clearly, the more you practice something, the better you get at it---but we're all dealing with a finite amount of time to train and learn, and it seems to me there's always room for improvement no matter how good you are. Personally, I love the saber. Other classmates of mine can't get enough chin na, and some people prefer (and are naturally better at) forms, or pushing hands. After you've built a solid foundation in the art, do people tend to really focus and develop one facet that they really love, or is it better to focus equally on all aspects? It seems to me that you have to make a sacrafice somewhere----if you divide your training time equally between all facets, then you're not going to be as good a swordsman as someone who spends 75% of his time on sword. Is it better to even out your training, or to develop one major completely awesome skill?
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