taiji fajin

each class is taught differently. Mine focuses more on techniques than anything else (though techniques don't take up the majority of the class time, usually). Only one class in two months that focuses on techniques? I'm surprised, what else do you guys do? Maybe talk to your instructor about your interests.

we normally spend about half a hour on techniques, sometimes a little less or more. However, we meet about three times a week (four for some in the class), and we practice that much each time.

would like to, but cannot. If you go, tell us how it went.

David is right in that you need an experienced teacher. While any style *can* be good, I would highly recommend, as David did, Chen style. It is the original, and has many very important aspects that I feel are lost in the other styles. My Laoshi is currently away (actually, he might be back in town by now) at some national health conference, but when I see him again I will ask him if he knows anyone around your area. He is a formal disciple of Feng Zhiqiang and is one amazingly impressive guy. Actually, he just came out with a book I would highly, highly recommend, I'm in the process of reading it now. What I think would be very beneficial for you is that part of it talks about how to find a good teacher. It isn't a "here's how you do the first form, here's how you do the second form" book. It goes into underlying principals of how to practice, the philosophy of taiji, what things you will get out of it and how to get them out of it, etc. What I like is that it bridges Taiji to Western science, as he is finishing up his PhD now. Ok, enough of me pushing the book, sorry. I just really like it. If you are interested in it I can pm you links about it and where to buy it. Back to the subject, it honestly is just going to boil down to you having to find a teacher in your area, or close enough you can travel to occasionally to learn from. There's no other way you can get the true benefits from taiji.

There's a lot more to it than making a noise, tommarker is right. That being said, I've heard some hysterical ones. One guy I knew would make a sound like "t-hice" (one syllable, t noise then sounds like the word "dice" but with a "h", not a "d"). I about laughed my a** off when I saw someone jokingly try to do an entire form in one long kihap with a pained expression.

I keep seeing "it builds leg muscles," "it gets you strong," "it builds endurance." I'm wondering if these people didn't read the intro post to the thread, or if they just have nothing new to add, b/c these were addressed in that, and they aren't really saying anything to dispute or agree with what was said. EDIT: I should point out that I've clarified myself during the thread, I'm talking about when the stance is held (90 degrees) for long periods of time.

That website is almost as accurate as the old "realultimatepower." Too bad that website that is no longer up so I can't post a link . Please tell me none of you thought he was being serious by posting that site. . . . .

searcher, I prefer dynamic stretching more than static. I haven't read that book, but it sounds interesting. Our class time is limited, so we stretch before hand (to make sure everyone has done it so no one gets injured) and tell them after class is over that they should do it, though we have to leave are practice room as we share it with others and our time is up.

I'm not even sure where to start with this. First off, I would like to see some evidence he was "undisputedly" the "best martial artist around." Or that he "was one of the best grandmasters of all time, unarguably." I can think of other people that I would put above him for best grandmaster, and I've met other people that I would put money on against him in a fight. As for his philosophy? While I don't remember the name (I'm sorry, I know that's a horribile thing to say since it give sme no credibility as it gives you guys nothign to check up on) I have talked with someone who has a PhD in philosophy who practices martial arts that says Bruce Lee's philosophy was just rehashed from some other guy in the past who wasn't that famous. Remember, you can give them the title of "grandmaster" all you want, and I'm sure most have earned it, but in the end, they are just humans who worked hard. In my opinion, that's a good thing. It means if we work hard and dedicate ourselves, we can be just as good (yes yes, assuming we train right, are taught correctly, blah blah blah).

I'm surprised at how few people think he should get some money. Its not that I don't want him down here to hold a seminar, I just dislike feeling I have to bring him down and for a lot of money (compared to what our club has). There are other factors, but they are things I can't really talk about on here. I shouldn't have brought this up, I guess I was just wondering what you guys did with visiting instructors.

Yes, that is my problem, is it seems very closed off. Though I am mainly just wanting to add stretches, to talk about things such as how to avoid knee problems that I learned outside of Kuk Sool (from differenty health classes). Not adding in joint locks or anything. krzychicano - KSW is an amazingly extensive ma, I'm not trying to put a whole new ma into it. Just the types of things I said above.

My school is somewhat different, in part because we have multiple instructors of the same level. They are a hour and a half long and broken up like this: 15 min - warm up / stretching 30 min - practice / teach (focus on techinques or forms, but also falling, weapons, kicks, etc) 30 min - split group. Up to the students to either keep practicing techniques (no new ones taught) or to do a self defense oriented workout. Students are not suppose to do the same group the entire week (class meets 3-4 times a week, depending on belt level). 15 min - meditation and ending class.

Lineage is nice, I enjoy knowing where my style came from. That being said, you don't have to have it, and it can be faked. I know there are people who trained under my taiji grandfather for a day or two. And by "trained," I mean they were in the back of the group probably more closely watching the people in front of them than the grandmaster. Yet they put on their lineage that they trained under him.

Long staff (8-9') or middle staff (5-6')? That sounds like a nice spread of different weapons. I'm looking forward to the rope, it seems different enough from most of the others I know (staff [long, medium, short], sword, throwing knife, jool bohng) that is should be very interesting to learn. Besides teaching you how to use the rope as a weapon, are there any "new" joint locks with it?

This could get to be a bad topic, but here goes: How much do you guys pay for visiting instructors? Our old instructor who left has . . . . not so subtly told us how often we should bring him down, and for what price. The problem is, we don't charge much for people to join ($70 a school year, 100 a full year), and he knows this. If we bring him as often and for as much as he wants, after paying for the space where we practice, insurance, etc, our club will have no money. I want to bring him down so the students can learn from someone of his level. At the same time, though, he doesn't show them anything that the upper ranked people at our school could (I know he knows it in more depth, but he does not show them that), and I don't like every cent we have going to him for putting in the same amount of teaching time in a year that the rest of us do in a week. Suggestions?

Doug, I know what you mean, back in high school I wrestled, and it stuck in my blood so I love doing grappling. Many people in our school like it too, actually, so when class is over many people will stay behind to work on it. Thankfully we're also in contact with a Sa Beom Nim who's very good at grappling and will meet with our school and teach stuff occasionally. My only problem is getting people to realize that they need to drill more than they need to go live. As for the horse stance, I've seen some handy things about it posted. I'm still not that convinced its good to hold it for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, etc, as its bad for your health (and if you lose your health practicing a martial art, well, what's the point?), but I was glad to see some info about it.

Sounds like a good test, I wish I could have seen that. Am I to take by your statement, "Oh well, I have my homework for May," that you didn't (couldn't? I know they wouldn't let us pass the first time we tested for 1st degree, was more to get us use to the test and get all the paper work going) pass this time? I'm not sure how it works when you get that high up in rank. Which weapons did you guys do during it?

Maybe it was just with my instructor, but the political battles that happen(ed) in Kuk Sool seemed a very taboo thing to talk about. You could only get small pieces of information from him (and his peers), and had to rely on most of your information from the people not in positions of authority, or from researching online. Actually, part of that research is how I found this site!

While this is only from word of mouth, Kuk Sul Do is founded and run by a man who practiced Kuk Sool Won, but then had a falling out with Kuk Sa Nim (Grandmaster of Kuk Sool Won) and so went off to teach his "own" style. Pretty much, he teaches Kuk Sool Won under a different name and is not a part of the organization.

Hedgehog! I cover myself in spikes and curl up in a little ball. More seriously, unfortunately I haven't learned any yet, though someone I knew told me of a monkey form where the person used a staff, and at one point stuck it in the ground and ran up it and was on top of it. Can anyone tell me if he was full of * or not? Seems like one of those things that would be insanely hard if not impossible, but people do train to do things that are insanely hard / should be impossible.

I know that Kuk Sool has a double sword form (at the very least), but you won't learn it for awhile. Starts with open hand techniques/forms and works its way up. Might be worth looking into for you, though.

Thanks Doug. I hadn't planned on adding in anything as syllabus material, just a stretch or workout exercise, something akin to that. With the other school, I don't think I would even hold it in the same building. I would probably hold it outside in a park, or in a public space. I would never run a non Kuk Sool school out of a school with the Kuk Sool logo on it. That seems wrong to both Kuk Sool and the students. Now for a really stupid question. Sa Mo Nim? Is that another way of spelling Sa Beom Nim? I've never seen anyone mention or spell out "sa mo nim" before.

For all of you practicing / teaching Kuk Sool, how bad of etiquette is it, or is it bad, to integrate other things from other martial arts into your teaching of Kuk Sool? I'm not talking about adding a form or technique or anything. I more mean things such as stretching exercises, information about Ki, etc. My instructor always came off seeming (but never saying) that this was a very, very bad thing to do. Yet Kuk Sa Nim seemed fine with similar things whenever I saw him (talking about meditating, even bringing in a monk to do a different style of it, ways to practice slowly, etc). Even more telling, Kuk Sa Nim has said that he studied with other people to form Kuk Sool. This comes up because I may someday want to open another school in another martial art along with (not instead of!) Kuk Sool, and it has things such as "Silk Reeling" exercises. They teach many things, including counter-joint locking, but you can very easily use them as just an effective stretching and range of motion increasing exercise.

Yes, there are several differences between the two. I only meant the gross movement in one could help in training the other. more examples: There are times when returning to left gaurd stance where I will swing my right arm in a semi-circle, from back to front, so the hand is slightly out in front of me. Then I will take it in a straight line running alongside (but not against) my body, while the left hand, ever so slightly under the left moves in the exact opposite straight line, ending up in front of me, so I am in a normal left gaurd stance (this all happens in one fluid motion. This could be a grab with the right hand (comes forward to grab) and then pulls the person back, almost into me, while the left strikes out against their incoming body with the edge of the hand. First step up to one leg in cho geup hyung could be evasive foot work for in close fighting (avoiding a foot sweep, perhaps), and then coming down to regain stability or even stomp on the lower part of the leg that was just trying to sweep you. Two quick side questions, what is the purpose of the ending for go geup hyung / dae geup hyung? what is the purpose of, as I like to call it, (Charlie) Chaplin Ja Se? You guys know what I mean . I've heard a reason for it, but I'm not sure how reliable it is.

Thank you both for the encouragement. I'm still a little fearful of the incorporating things from one into the other, as one of my martial arts seems very against that. Then again, perhaps that was just my instructor, as the head of the organization will do things such as bring in Zen Buddhist monks to teach us their style of meditation. Hmmm, time to go make a post in another forum here.