taiji fajin

Not really. We have an award ceremony where people get new belts come up and it is done in front, but that's more just how kuk sool is done than some tradition for my school. I guess we do have a potluck whenever it is an instructor's bday, and a barbecue at the end of the year, but we're always having potlucks. We like to eat good food.

Oddly enough, while females seem heavier on top, they're center of mass (com) is actually far more towards the hips than men (except in extreme cases). Guys com lies closer to their chest. This is why the old trick of "women are stronger than men" works, where the person attempting to lift a chair while bending far forward will be unable to lift it if they are a man (com is in the chest above the chair and is needed for a base of support) and will lift it easily if they are a woman (com is in the hips and the chair is not needed for their base of support). That's a horrid description of the "trick," but it would be very long to write out and I feel like being lazy.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to come off as insulting, I was making (what I thought was) an obvious overexaggeration to make a point, and to reference the Incredible Hulk for my own amusement. I know you didn't think that you could just sit there and increase in size. As for thinking during meditating, there are many different types of meditation, some in which you focus on certain objects or thoughts, but in taiji you are suppose to "go into quiet." It should be a kind of alert relaxation of the mind, where you are not thinking about anything, but you are (more?) aware of what is going on around you.

Hmmm, I didn't even consider weight. I use to wrestle in high school, and the lightness never really went away. I don't look thin, yet I'm 6' and top the scale out at 155 after a very large meal. While I'm sure its possible for a heavier person to learn, it probably is harder. Eventually, its all about feeling that moment of weightlessness, though. Good luck trying it (though don't do anything that even quasi risks your shoulder on it, not worth it)

Wow. I must say, I am amazed that they are behaving that way. People with that mentality will never (as long as they hold that mentality) understand the true potential of taiji. Don't let them concern you. If you are learning good taiji from a good teacher, stay with it. Avoid practicing with them, as they will only hinder your progress. Take some breaths, relax, and enjoy taiji.

Glad to help . I had always wanted to do it and been of the opinion that "I can't do those." My roommate (fellow ma practicioner) gave me the pointers I gave you guys, with the same time frame. I didn't believe it would happen in about a week, but we pulled out a mat and I would do that, and sure enough I started getting them to the point where I can just do it now. Of course, he took videos of me my first day or two so he could laugh at me. Gotta love roommates.

While I'm very happy that this helped your knees out, it sounds like a special case of how your legs (knees) were, if they were hurting since you were 12. Keep up the good work with it, and hopefully they'll last a long time (make sure your instructor goes over it so you're not doing things like sticking your knees over your toes).

Yes, its referred to as a kip up and can be learned in about a week. You roll back, bring your legs into your chest (upper back is touching the ground now), and your hands are up by your ears with the palms flat on the ground, fingers pointing "down" towards your bottom. At this point you kick your legs "straight" (at a 45 degree angle) as hard as you can. There will come an instant when you feel light. This is just the momentum of your legs going up pulling your body behind it. It is at this point of weightlessness that you push up with your hands. Your feet will fall to the ground (you might pull them in a little, do not over emphasis this) and your body will follow. You curl in your body some (do a crunch) to help it pull forward. To be blunt, you will fall on your back a lot. Get a pad. You're going to start falling on it more and more directly (instead of your butt than your back). Then you will start landing on your feet, but having your weight shifted too far back and fall backwards. Eventually, you will get one or two. Then more often. Then your form will start to become more natural with it. Honestly, just practice 15-25 minutes every day, and within a week you will have it. Don't try and shortcut, don't do "15*7 - 25*7, if I practice 105 - 175 minutes, I'll get it in one day!" It does not work that way. Just practice some, every day, and you'll have it. Good luck, its a fun move.

Well, you have to understand he's only had a little over four years, he can't be expected to have colored both of them yet.

I was in a car, and the driver took a wrong turn onto a highway that was a bridge (under construction), one lane both ways with a concrete divider, no way off for miles, and traffic backed up and not moving for miles. To top it off, the gas tank was hovering around empty. After about 2 hours, everyone in the car was angry and frustrated, but I was very calm, relaxed, and happy. To be so relaxed, happy, and able to let things go, when just a few years prior I was so full of anger I would go out looking for fights, is my best accomplishment. I owe it to meditation and martial arts.

Welcome to KF, looking forward to your thoughts on Taiji

I have 5 uniforms, with 4 classes a week. I just wear a new one each time and then try to wash them once a week, with a spare one in case I don't get to them in time. random side note: Gotta love the black uniforms!

not a problem . Oh, one thing I forgot to mention, we were always told that the hyungs were graded by the Five Hyung Laws (Eyes Bright, Mind Clear, Hands Fast and Precise, Feet Slow and Controlled, Stance Low), so keep that in mind with your training for it. I'm sure you'll do fine with sparring, most people in the ones I've seen had very little to no sparring training. Aggresiveness is good, as long as you don't open yourself up with it. If you get a semi decent block in there, they almost never call it as you being tagged. Just make sure you don't actually hit the other person with any force. They didn't like it when someone actually got smacked hard. Anyways, I'm sure you'll do good, and get to stand on the podium with your medal. Oh yeah, bring a camera of your own, they charge a lot for the pics of you getting your medals, its always easier to just have a friend take it at the same time while everyone is up there.

In my school, people get a new belt (we don't do stripes until brown belt) every semester. If they stay over the summer, they can get one over the summer. From brown to black takes usually 2 years, if they can't test at our school and have to test somewhere else, its possible to do it in a year and a half. That's all kind of rough. So, if you try to speed through it, from joining to black belt *could* be done in 3 years, it normally takes 4.

Those are some good techniques from the red belt options. I'm trying to remember which ones I chose when I was a red belt. It might have actually been Maek Cha Gi 5. I think I also did Maek Chi Gi 15 and Maek Cha Gi 3. Sparring is . . . . . I dunno. Don't expect it to be like a real fight. At least with the tournaments I've gone to, it was more who could reach in there and tap the other person. It didn't matter if the attack, had it been done at full force, could have even hurt a child. A tagging with hands and feet compitition rather than a sparring competition. Maybe that was just here, though. In any case, go into everything with confidence. I went in expecting everyone to be a lot better than they were. Have confidence in what you do, and you'll do well. Remember, though, that it is just for fun, and sometimes judges make calls that seem . . . off. My center judge one year had such bad eye sight that he is legally blind and not allowed to drive a car! I don't know how good / bad of etiquette it is, but if there's a break here or there where you get to talk to a judge, ask him for advice on what to improve. It may have been bad etiquette when I did that, but honestly, how often are you surrounded by that many masters who can give you feedback?

A low horse stance (90 degrees at the knees, weight centered, or at least that's what is being referred to here as horse stance) can be done in several different ways. As SevenStar and other people have said, putting the knees over the toes, or having the toes pointed forward, puts strain on the knees. Both of these problems can be "solved" by rotating the toes outward some (though this may lead to patella femoral pain syndrome). However, this causes you to either be in a stance that is either in horrible balance (the weight is shifted too far to the rear of the base of support and it is easy to knock a person backwards), or to lose "central equilibrium." By central equilibrium here, I am not talking about the weight being centered left and right between the feet. Rather, the whole body being linked as one unit. The upper and lower halves of the body are "split" and now acting independently. Yes, they can work on the same action, the legs can push up as the body pushes up, and this will have a cumulative effect, but it is not the same as the whole body working as one unit. Along with that, many directions are no longer available to be used. As I originally said that no one has responded to (my apologies if I overlooked a response to this) you lose the ability to absorb perturbation or release energy in the downward direction. Also, you lose a large amount of your ability to rotate the waist. Being able to rotate the waist has many, many applications in martial arts. Does this mean low stances should never be used? NO. I use them in several places, and others in this thread have even given specific techniques to use them with. However, it does point out both medical problems and martial limitations to an excessively low horse stance. The horse stance becomes something that should be done with extreme care (to avoid medical problems) and one that should be done rarely for techniques / in a fight (as it takes away from many options and cuts away certain abilities) and with a specific goal in mind (as there are only a few general motions to be used from it). None of these cover the training of horse stance for long periods, ie, holding it while doing punches or some other activity, not moving your feet or raising your body for 5, 10, 30 minutes, or however long you can hold it. While I agree there are advantages to coming in and out of a low stance (which can train you to be comfortable in it, if done correctly [slowly?]), holding it for long periods does little more than increase brute strength. That leaves us back where we started. If the goal is to increase brute strength, there are better ways to do it, that are less risky on the body and more effective.

Yeah, two brothers or eight cousins are worth it. Sigh, I'm such a biology dork.

Simple answer, highly effective: meditate.

Qigong has an effect on the physiology of the brain (which parts are active, hormones being released, nueral connections, etc). The brain affects the body (hormones control different physiological responses in the body). Does chi affect physiology? Yes. Am I going to focus my chi and have my muscles bulk up? Unfortunately, I'm not like the Incredible Hulk. "You wouldn't want to see me meditating . . . . . "

As I talked to you about, I've been sick and haven't seen my laoshi yet (not that its guaranteed he would know of someone there). Anyhow, I would avoid doing it with Master Chen Zhonghua. I've looked at the website, read what info there was on it and watched the videos. From what you've said you want, that would *not* be it. I'm not saying those people are not good martial artists, or that they wouldn't be able to handle themselves in a fight, but if, as you said, you "want the real deal, I want the real internal benefits of it," this is not the place to find it.

How often do your schools promote to the next belt color? (obviously brown to black and on takes much longer than the previous ones). I feel that mine advance too quickly, however, it is left over from my old instructor, and I have no doubt that changing it now would cause many in the class to become very upset, if not outright leave. For right now I'm just going to try to change it in brown belt to black belt, as that had a much more flexible timeframe for advancement in my school.

If its giving you what you need, while at the same time not putting you at risk (either through direct injury or by giving you a false sense of what you can accomplish so later you become injured), by all means stay. If its not, leave. There are "real" martial arts in my town, and "McDojangs," and while I would choose the real ones, I know people who the McDojangs far better suit what they want out of a martial art. To them, there's no point in going to a real one over a McDojang.

Its no longer his school, but we do go through him to the organization (Kuk Sool is fairly well regulated). We've got it fairly worked out, now. He's just coming down less often so we can afford it, though the black belts might just start going up there for private instruction and then bringing stuff back.

Have you ever been to one before? What events are you signed up to do?

I've seen several different techniques to disarm a person with a gun. Unless you are in very close, and are pretty d*** sure he is going to fire, and have practiced these techniques over and over every day for years and years, my favorite one is "here's my money." Don't let your ego get you killed.