Can you successfully study an internal art from a book??

[delta1]

I am really interested in tai chi forms but I cant seem to find an instructor in my region.

 

Then either find a good instructor within driving distance and get private lessons, or don't do it. There are too many subtleties involved in the postures and transitions that will never be adequately addressed on a tape or in a book. As I said before, done wrong you will destroy your knees in short order. Also, it takes years of constant correction under a good instructor to even begin to be able to use Taiji effectively. I just can't see it happening without instruction.

 

I started out trying to learn from tapes and books. It didn't work. Fortunately, I had the good sense to put it aside until an instructor moved into the general area fom Iowa. Hands on instruction made all the difference. I still use my books and tapes for reference and to get another perspective, but everything gets run by my instructor. By the way, the proper term is Instructor, untill told by Sifu-my Sigung- that she is advanced enough to rate the title Sifu. She was rated an instructor prior to comeing here. She also holds ranking in several other CMA's, and does Kali as well in a class I've worked out with and done full contact stick fighting with- they are all seriouse martial artists, no slackers in the bunch! And she still goes back to Iowa regularly for private instruction. So, if she needs instruction that much, I'd think that is a good sign that a begginer needs it even more.

 

I've also known other senior martial artists who tried to learn Taiji from tapes and books. It has never worked for anyone I know of. Just last week, one of the instructors in my TKD class asked me about this- guess what the chief problem was... severe pain in the knees!

 

If you can't find a good Taiji instructor, maybe try for another internal art. But, my advice is, don't try to do it on your own. If you do, remember that one of the chief concepts of the internal arts is living in your body. That means you listen attentively to everything your body feels (among other things). If (should read 'when') your knees start talking to you, pay attention and do what they tell you- "STOP", before you do some real dammage!

[Gou Junxiong]

Studying any martial art from a book or tape is possible. But to become truly profiecient and skilled in an art, especially an internal art is not easy, and is almost impossible by this method. Keyword being, almost. It has been done in the past, and will be done in the future. Commitment is a big part of the whole deal. In the end it is best to find a competent teacher, even if he only helps you obtain training resources, and then corrects you from time to time.

 

On a side note Liu He Bafa Quan is a rare internal art and was traditionally only taught to those who had first studied the other three main internals (Taiji, Xing Yi, and Bagua) Though I am curious where you found any tapes and books on Liu He Bafa... Perhaps you wouldn't mind sharing a link or two?

[ramymensa]

I simply don't get it. Why are so many people interested in studying at home a MA. Why? Are they afraid of being into a community, lazy to walk to the gym/dojo?

 

No it's not a good idea to do this. Books and videos are great as complementary material, but the instructor's role is esential. Go to the dojo, socialize, work out, ask questions, take into consideration the tips and comments from the master and enjoy the training. It's nice.

[Sasori_Te]

ramymensa, I think you are discounting the fact that not everyone has the money every month to pay dues at a dojo. Let's face it, mmost dojos these days charge on average of $50.00 American per month. The one time cost of a book seems attractive for some people that don't really know any better.

[ramymensa]

In Romania you can train for 300000 lei (1 $ = 32000 lei). The medium wage is 3000000 lei, 10% would go to training, though there are many other things to be taken care of (rents, food and so on). Still they can find the money to train. I don't know what's the medium wage in your country, but I guess it's more than 500 $ a month

 

From another point of view, there are also opportunities to train cheaper, some members here pointed them out. There are dojos not so expensive.

 

Learning from a book, without an instructor is almost ZERO. You can find out some useful information, but an instructor is needed to correct and explain. We all know it's harder to correct than to prevent the mistake from the beginning, so learn something correct from the start. Then bad habits wouldn't be a problem.

[ramymensa]

Not to mention ... a good karategi is 100 $, that's my entire wage for the work done in a month

[italian_guy]

Yes I think for most working adults MA education is not a money problem. Things changes if you have financial problems or you are a kid in a non-wealty or large family.

 

Sometimes the availability of school compatible with working schedule or reasonable distance may be a problem... in any case most TMAs have internal benefit so if availability of a internal MA school is the problem the best thing to do is do what you can find and try to focus on the internal aspects of your karate/TKD.

 

Anyhow for an external art like kickboxing I can say that learning it from books or tapes maybe is better than nothing but for an internal art learning from books can be even harmful.

[Sasori_Te]

I guess I should have qualified my statement more by saying most dojos in America are an average of $50 per month. I personally only charged $20.00 per month for my students.

[daoshi]

books are good after an art is learned. You cannot learn basic training from a book though.

[White Warlock]

Yes I think for most working adults MA education is not a money problem. Things changes if you have financial problems or you are a kid in a non-wealty or large family.

For me, money was 'sometimes' a problem. But, what was more a problem was schools closing down and my constant moving (lots of Americans move often). I found books/videos to be very helpful in maintaining my studies during my transitions from one school to the next and for those times when i was out due to injury.

 

As a standalone, hell no. Good stuff... but disconnected from the reality of application.