Thank you everyone who has expressed your support of my voice on this ❤🙏 This is the first time I have ever publicly spoken out against another instructor/school/program and I really did grapple long and hard if it's something I should do and fully prepared to weather the blowback from speaking out. I am so deeply honored that my words resonated with you and hope this can be a start to us coming together from our different parts of the martial arts spectrum and collaborate and grow together. I'd like to speak a little more to the others who don't see why this is a big deal and think I'm just being a bully. I want to begin by saying that what didn't make the edit was my spending quite a long time in my original talk defending the trademarked programs like Tai Chi Easy, Tai Chi Chih, Tai Chi for Balance and these other programs that take aspects of Tai Chi and build specific programs around that have really helped a lot of people. These programs do not claim to be teaching Tai Chi and there are many of these certified instructors who are contributing great value. The thing is, 太极 and 太极拳 are an important part of my culture and has a meaning that has been defined a long time ago. I believe people who have never learned it authentically shouldn't be allowed to make up their own meanings for it and then trick people into thinking they have learned it and get to teach it. Let me offer some additional examples. We have a great need for more qualified doctors in our society. There are just not enough medical doctors to treat all the people who need medical help. It's REALLY hard to become a doctor. You have to get into medical school, you have to do your residency, it takes a lot of time and a lot of medical students drop out during the process and in the end, we just don't have enough qualified doctors. It would be so great if we could produce more. So imagine if some nurses decide that it's just not right to have to go through medical school to earn your MD. What if some nurses got together and issued a MD degrees? Then we can have more doctors, right? Would you support that? As a hiring organization, would you hire a nurse holding an MD degree from an organization not recognized by doctors who went to medical school? In my video I mentioned the difference between pizza and English muffin pizza. I realized there is a better food example and I made this comment in another reply thread here. The better example is BBQ. A lot of people don't know what BBQ is and don't know that there is actually a definition of BBQ. The term is used so generically. Anything you throw on a grill is referred to as BBQ. BBQ ribs is used for ribs cooked any which way with BBQ sauce brushed on top. But anyone who knows their BBQ will tell you that BBQ has a definition. If a BBQ pit master goes to another BBQ restaurant and orders BBQ ribs and they get served oven baked ribs with BBQ sauce on top, they would be pretty annoyed. They will tell you that BBQ needs to be smoked and the meat needs to develop a smoke ring. If it doesn't have that, it's no BBQ. Yes, there are many different varieties of BBQ but all pit masters will agree it can't be called BBQ if it's not smoked. So imagine a certification program that certifies pit masters but teaches them that BBQ is baking meat in an oven and putting BBQ sauce on top. To the general public, it's kind of the same thing. But that doesn't make it BBQ. You can use whatever example has meaning in your life. Something that has a definition that others in the general public may not know about. Now replace that with Tai Chi. Tai Chi to me is what and MD means to doctors and what BBQ means to pit masters. And that's why I made this video. Thank you for listening 🙏❤ PS: A really thoughtful comment asked me what is the source of my frustration? And I realized I haven't really articulated this point well. The source of my frustration is really over the proliferation of these fake Tai Chi certification programs in the U.S. and the growing ecosystem that has been legitimizing them. In the U.S. there is no recognized governing body over Tai Chi so TONS of certification programs have popped up and we've been ignoring them because we don't take them seriously. But have you looked at the landscape lately when it comes to how Tai Chi is presented to the general public? We've all been celebrating the positive articles about the successful scientific studies on Tai Chi for all sorts of ailments. But have you noticed that all the recent articles have been interviewing fitness trainers who are "certified" Tai Chi instructors as their experts? Since these people never learned it authentically, they can only talk about the physical movements and "mindfulness" and what we can just call "Tai Chi aerobics" and nothing more because that's all they know. But every time a big news outlet presents these "certified" Tai Chi instructor personal trainers as the experts, it legitimizes the fake certification programs and more of them pop up. Meanwhile it de-legitimizes instructors who teach it authentically. I've had instructor friends who are amazing practitioners get their credentials questioned and lose out on teaching jobs because they don't have a "certification". I've had teacher friends who teach authentically have to quit teaching to get other jobs in order to feed themselves. Meanwhile these bogus certification programs are hauling in huge profits. My master has trained me to speak up when you see injustice and call a spade a spade. I think this is injustice.
Only you can decide where you want to put your energy. Our energy is not infinite and we have to choose what's important. Unfortunately you'll always find those people who watch a video, copy the movements and then tell people they're teaching Tai Chi. Sad but true. I choose to spend my time and energy helping my students, studying, and not giving any attention to those that are teaching what I call New Age Tai Chi. I do understand about the cultural appropriation and I do appreciate that point.
I support your mission and have been using my voice and my pen, writing tens of thousands of words on this very subject. (The bots seem to be my only readers, but that just means it's all going into the Google databases for posterity and future research:) I've even started to see the chatbots spreading the word. I've begun to address them as sentient beings. Amituofo! 😇🙏
I've been tracking this problem for some years and the opportunists should know that there are many of us who look on them with displeasure. It's distasteful to have to call them out, especially directly, and we always feel some guilt doing it, because out Sifus in the prior generation believed it was better to ignore them. That was before the internet. I have many friends and martial relatives, sisters, brothers, aunties, uncles and cousins, who are dependent on this income. They spent decades in many cases, studying to gain competency to teach. Every single one of them made enormous sacrifices. We're lucky in this generation because we can use our voices instead of our fists. It is imperative that we all speak up and raise our voices. Drown out the noise by calling out fraud and supporting qualified teachers. If anyone has a problem with what you're doing, tell them to come talk to me. I'd be very interested in meeting them.
Thank you SO MUCH for making this video! I study and teach Taijiquan, and every time I see these ads - EVERY SINGLE TIME - my blood boils. Shared your video, hoping it goes viral...
Thank you for this video! The students of these types of instructors are unknowingly cheating themselves out of the benefits they could be receiving from practicing true Tai Chi. There was a old Master who once said that without learning the fundamentals, people are just waving their hands around and "directing traffic in the park."
In her "Q&A About the Tai Chi Certification" video, she actually has the audacity to refer to herself as a Master. Her certification training, which only involves learning the 24 form, takes 3 to 4 months. After you receive her certification, you are "qualified to teach". It took me 3 years just to begin understanding the 24 form and that was training every day.
That’s about the same time frame for the hard style martial arts like Kung Fu and Japanese karate also. You don’t really get the forms down until after years of training. Heck, it took me ten years before I felt like Tai Chi was part of me.
Tai Chi Chuan has become a wide river. The banks are shallow, ankle deep at most. But in the centre fairway, the river is still of fathomless depth and amazing powerful flow. Most people stay in the shallowness, some dare to swim. Praise to those few who are willing, able, courageous and skillful enough to explore the mysterious centre flow of the great river.
Thanks for taking time to expose the fake Tai Chi. As a martial arts instructor, the most challenging aspect of teaching is correcting bad habits taught by previous instructors. You have done a great service to your art. Well done.
“English Muffin Pizza”! I’ll never forget this term. And will commence using it…often! :). It seems to me that people don’t want to know/learn Tai Chi Chuan so much as they wish to be supported in saying that they know Tai Chi.
@@beunbad They were my go to snack for my kids when they were little. English muffins, jar tomato sauce, package shredded cheese, pop in toaster oven and "pizza" in 3 minutes!
I agree with all of this. I've been studying and teaching Chinese arts of kung fu and tai chi for 35 years. There is a huge amount to learn - how to stand, move and breathe, how to root through your whole body, how to issue and receive force, the deep philosophy of Taoism and so on. These charlatans - or kung fu cowboys as my old Master used to describe them are like drawing a cartoon of the Mona Lisa then selling it as real. I don't know how we can collaborate as the Chinese arts and lineages are so divided but I think only through educating the public as to what the real arts look and feel like can we claim back this fabulous heritage.
Sharing your experiences here with everyone is how we can begin collaborating :) I am grateful to be able to connect with fellow like minded practitioners and instructors. I think some people have a misunderstanding of my stance, maybe because I didn't explain it well enough. I WANT Tai Chi to grow and change with the demands of the times. I just want those who have devoted themselves to its study to be the ones driving that bus and I want it to be a very very big bus that we all take turns driving 🙏❤
I started 50 years ago with a chinese godfather then chinese masters, many famous, Shifu Chock is more than correct as the level of boldness and entitlement reeks...this person is a complete marketing hack, this was designed hjust to take money, its not only ludicrous it's dangerous.... I taught combat to police, military, special teams, womens defense, and much more ..when this bs first ce out I immediately asked them who the master who certified them was, the response was that white westerners know nothing,...btw, I'm half indigenous indian from the Anericas,... I lived in China studying with masters in internal Arts,... I am so insulted for them to devalue an Art I have practiced my whole life...they cant even stand right .. so sad and bad
Many times they don't even realize that they are portraying themselves as charlatans. Their effort is earnest, but their source of information is flawed. Meeting the right teacher that can actually transmit an art is tough, most are teaching the external aspects and leaving the internal up in the air. An art is not Internal just because it is classified as such. A proper teacher makes the difference in not veering off the correct approach with mind, body, and spirit. The norm these days offer a lot of Body, a little bit of Mind and no Spirit
I will just say thank you for posting this .I will not go into my experience that is not necessary now .I am just grateful to see someone calling out those that downgrade a wonderful Art and have lead to the situation that we now have.Truly believe me when I say I was so very pleased to come across your channel and happy to see your passion for this subject..Have a great day and keep doing what you are doing it is appreciated.
This was so refreshing to listen to and I agree with everything you said. I have been fortunate to have learned tai chi from authentic masters from Chen Village. When I felt confident enough to teach at a local fitness center, I was told that the class would be on a “drop in” basis. Tai Chi is being promoted in so many articles and health books, yet so few people actually stick around long enough to really understand it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and putting into words what is so frustrating.
I'm no master, but my experience tells me Ur spot on. This is a video to share far and wide. I will add it to my { tai chi, kung fu, move sum'n } playlist of martial best. Thanks for sharing.. Totally subbed. 👊🏾😎👍🏼 🙏🏼😇🙏🏾
I'm so glad you mentioned Fake Jake Mace. The bagua community really despises him. People like this are excellent marketers. These types are in all businesses. It only takes some research to figure out the truth. I have taught traditional Wu Family taijiquan for years. I have practiced for over 30 years, yet I still have so much to learn. My teacher's teacher, Ma Yue Liang, at age 96, told my teacher, "I'm better than I was last year!" I have students in their 20's and near 80. All are required to understand structure, the 8 energies, and what each move can be used for. I and they know that they will not use it for fighting, but knowing the purpose gives their form intention. And taiji is all about intention. Without it, it's just moving your arms around.
It does seem that in CMA the amount of money you make is inversely proportional to your knowledge and ability in the art 😆 So we have to learn how to be better at the marketing and business side too. I'm going to put out some videos aimed to help fellow instructors to better navigate bringing their knowledge online so they can be more visible. I've learned so many things these past 18 months online and will share everything I learned if it can help others grow.
I learned the long form back in my 30s. I dropped off practicing after I moved to an area without an instructor. Now that I'm older and have a few physical problems I decided to start practicing again because it would help. Since I can't find a group less than an hour away, I've been considering just focusing on Qigong. In your words, where do you recommend I go to fill my void? (You provide great content BTW)
Thank you 🙏❤️ That's wonderful you want to resume your practice. I am not against online Tai Chi instruction if you don't have a good teacher locally. I am just opposed to online only instructor certifications. Best is a good local instructor. Second best is live online instruction with a good instructor who has a good set up for online instruction. Qigong is also a great practice and if you have a good local instructor, you should try it out. Qigong and Tai Chi are very complimentary. Good luck!
As a recent tai chi practitioner, I appreciate this video. One challenge I have had is that I live in a town with only one in-person tai chi school/teacher, the same one that Mr. Mace learned from. It has been great for an introduction, but I am now thinking that learning online, while not an idea will be better for now and perhaps I can meet up with instructors when I travel.
All kidding aside, I enjoyed your critique and it’s warranted! I’ve seen similar offers as this. I lucked out and got to train with legitimate great instructors but have also been fooled some by these charlatan Taiji teachers.
Thank you so much 🙏❤️ I was prepared to get a lot of hate for making this video and have definitely gotten my share. But I can't be an effective Tai Chi practitioner and teacher if I'm not willing to do what I think needs to be done to defend my art 😊
Few days ago I've joined your channel and I'me very happy. This video is so important and I've great appreciate it. I've started to practice martial arts at 17 (with JuJitsu and Aikido and now I'm 68) at 60 I've started to study Tai Chi Chuan (Yang style) with a direct disciple of Gran Master Doc Fae Wong and now Tai Chi is the most important part of my life. I 100% agree with you. Tai Chi is awesome and so difficult, but there are too many fake teachers around. Next week I will start my first course as teacher and I define it "introduction to Tai Chi Chuan" because I believe eight years of practice don't make me a really qualified instructor despite the opinion of my Sifu. Thank you Sifu 🙏🏻
That is so fantastic, I hope you had a wonderful first class ❤️ I think anyone who has respect for the art and sees themselves as a custodian of the art will be an excellent teacher and you definitely sound like you have that. Feel free to reach out anytime!
I have often been asked to join groups to learn tai chi, and I’ve not yet completed the 108. But when I ask them to explain a few martial application it becomes clear that they have no knowledge of the art. No basics in respects to kung fu, and are often not open to learning them.
Thank you for speaking up!! You are so right to the point on her movements. No root, no soft, no peng, yet each movements are not in details from start to finish. It was so shocking for me that she certifies for others. It is very sad to know someone spreading fake Tai-Chi. I’ve been learning and teaching Tai-Chi for 18 years, yet still learning and researching the true authentic art. I can still remember that in my first 3 years of learning Tai-Chi from a local “qualified Tai-Chi teacher” was a mess! I was having lower back pain and knees discomfort after the Tai-Chi training sessions with him. So, I finally decided to quit learning from the local teacher. Until I met my Tai-Chi Master from Shanghai, then to open my eyes what is meant by Ying, Yang, and constant changes movements in real Tai-Chi Chuan. Your voice is so important!! Support the authentic study of Tai-Chi 拳
Thank you for sharing your experience and insight 🙏❤️ Yes, this is sadly so common when teachers who haven't learned enough to teach properly but think they are qualified go out and teach but cause more harm than good because they don't know how to identify poor alignment and improper weight shifting and their students develop knee and back pain. It is sadly much too common these days because of these for profit certification programs 😢
Totally agree with you, unfortunately people want many things in life without making any effort, and many people take advantage of this fact, particularly online. This has always been the case. I've been training in Tai Chi Chuan since 1983, with authentic, and well known Teachers, and I'm still learning. I've taught since 1993.
Lol! The same reaction when I saw someone posting a recipe for tiramisu with totally different ingredients. I said” you can call it what you want but not tiramisu!”
Right!? Imagine if Hot Pocket advertised their pizza flavored pocket as just simply Pizza or even worse, authentic Italian cuisine. 😡 like it’s totally fine that it exists but if they called that actual pizza rather than admit it’s just a pizza influenced thing then I would be furious.
Thank you. Having done an American martial art variation of Tai Chi and having done a few classes with a Wudang monk I whole heartedly agree with what you are saying. Unfortunately, people look for it, wanting authentic Tai Chi but not knowing what to look for. What they find and learn is exactly as you are saying, but not because of how authentic Tai Chi is not accessible or digestible, but because there are no other options available.
I so agree with this - I have studied Tai Chi since 1988 and became an instructor in 2000 - my Master insisted on at least 5 years experience in the art and an understanding of the basic principles and concepts before allowing you to teach - even then you taught under his supervision at the school for a while so he could give any advice etc. Tai Chi on line is impossible - during the pandemic i tried to give my students on line classes and even that was impossible because you just couldn't give the corrections needed. The unfortunate thing is this is not the only on line course available - it makes me sick to see how Tai Chi is becoming watered down and I have no hesitation in sharing this video - thank you.
Hopefully we can harness the power of the Internet to reach the folks who don't know any better to be able to see the difference. A lot of my focus is to reach people who are in the process of learning Tai Chi and exploring in themselves and asking the question "am I actually doing it internally?" Hopefully through this personal exploration it will also lead them to the next question: Does my teacher do it internally?
Thank you for this. I tend to be too polite to call out people like this. My main gripe is that there is a difference between fluidity of the body and fluidity through the body. I don't see much fluidity through the body anymore because Tai-chi has become flowery. Teachers will even say that the body has to remain completely erect (stiff). To me, the term "whole body movement" means that each joint is moving at all times in relation to all the other joints and that the movement within the body is then expressed by the body as a whole. I see to many dead sticks moving slowly and smoothly - but they are still dead sticks.
Dead sticks 😆 I went through a period when I was emphasizing to students not to add extra unnecessary motion in their movements because the disconnected extra motion dissipates the energy. But I think I overemphasized because then everyone was focusing on keeping so still they were completely stiff. The image that popped into my mind was they were like ice cubes. But I want them to me like jello cubes. Jello cubes hold their shape but aren't stiff, they have give and move within the shape. Ice cube would be your dead stick I think.
I have studied with my main teacher Master George Xu for 30 years. He has always emphasized connection and aliveness as a result of proper understanding of correct principles. I like what you said. The highest levels of Taiji I have witnessed have looked nothing like what this type of "certification" program Taiji teaches.
My Sifu once told me, “If authentic people keep quiet when the non-authentic people are super-loud about their cons, then the non-authentic becomes authentic, and you cannot stop it”. Thank you for this video, Sifu Shirley. I will share this within my Taijiquan community.
As a Taoist Monk of 50 plus years..and a certified instructor.. by my Instructor of Tai Chi Chuan forms..I am truly and deeply saddened by this phenomenon. It took me over 20 years to get certified by my instructor...20 years. Not 20 minutes. I practiced 3 one hour sessions day..EVER DAY. I have absolutely no regrets. Greatest way to to spend your precious time and Life. My counsel..FIND A GOOD TEACHER.
Unfortunately when you are exploring any sort of breathing/body/mind/health practices you have to sift through the garbage to find the gold. I learned that the hard way when first exploring on my own while going through a difficult time in my life with health issues. I'm very grateful slowly but surely stumbled upon some gold over the years and some of the videos sometimes had no more than 100 views that were the ones that taught me the most in an authentic way. Thank you for being one of those sources!
Thank you for exposing this fake taiji... I 100% agree with you.. I've been teaching for 30 years and I see more and more of these cheap/fake "instructors"... thanks for your video!
Very well said! It’s almost as if just because someone is louder, they are being heard more, whereas well studied humble martial artists keep to themselves. Jake mace Lololol ugh.
Thanks for being vocal. Coach He Weiqi, a close friend to Aiping was my teacher. I've been vocal about fake taiji for decades, good marketers with no skill and bad form. I've been against people displaying "woo-woo" skills that would never work in the ring or cage even against a amateur wrestler or boxer, but only works on their mindless co-operative devout student. Of course I am seen as the bad person for saying thing publicly. Cheers
Hi Matt! So happy to hear from you! We hung out almost 20 years ago at A Taste of China All Taijiquan Championships :) I always wanted to reconnect. You can find my contact info in the About section. It would be great to catch up ❤️
Thank you for calling the FAKE out! Your points are well articulated. I am laughing and getting angry at the same time watching the FAKES making easy money.
I completely heard what you said about the value of learning in person. I did receive training from an excellent authentic teacher many years ago and am searching for an online school. Plus I’m moving to a rural area and don’t think I will find in person classes. I may have the opportunity to teach children a year from now. I think it would be excellent for children with various disabilities. My son has Tourette’s and we homeschool. I would like to start with him but it’s been 20 years and I’ve forgotten much of what I learned. I considered Paul Lam’s Tai Chi for Health Institute as a possibility. That one stood out because I have a passion for natural healing and often study health. I just found your site and see it as a great asset on this journey. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
This has been done in America for a long time with many disaplin. I think your application is fantastic! The people do it with Thai Qi, Yoga and other things. Anything they can do to make money! I love the way you teach on line and have started following you. As a senior. I can't come to your location, but love your approach.
As a tai chi practitioner for 15 years I have wondered a long time how to teach the art online or with dvd, but it's just impossible. The true art is transmitted via feeling and touch from the master. Without that Tai Chi is just a shell.
This is why our school will always be my primary focus because it really does require personal in-person instructions. Sadly, the consequence of the explosion of these online and weekend certification programs is you have more and more instructors out in the community teaching very poor quality McTaiChi. And as these instructors take over all the teaching jobs in the community, the instructors who do know it authentically don't get the same teaching jobs they used to so they have to stop teaching in order to get jobs that pay the bills. So what's a person to do when they don't live somewhere with a good school/ instructor near them? Go to the local McTaiChi instructor to learn bad Tai Chi/ fake Tai Chi in-person? Stop all together? Both are not good options. This is where online resources fill a need until we can produce enough qualified instructors to be in all the communities. But sadly, with your amount of money to me made by these certification programs and by the fitness industry usurping the teaching jobs, I think the ecosystem will get worse, not better :(
Online works well as long as the student touches with the teacher at least once a month. Online classes provide the teacher a way to help students across a larger demographic to maintain the same viewpoint. The single biggest problem in transmission is leaving the viewpoint up to interpretation. Ones viewpoint and approach to the practice is directly tied to one's psychological framework and related action. Proper TCC starts with Right Mind which leads to Right Action which translates to Right Speech when teaching which leads to Right Understanding...... Etc (Eighyfold Path)
@@NinjatoSama I myself learned a lot of what I currently know online. I support the Shifu in this video teaching online, because she sets realistic expectations about what it can do for the student and how long it will take to benefit the student. It works, absolutely. But it’s definitely ideal or even necessary to at *some* point in your life do Tai chi in person. And at very least we should accept it’s not going to get us there as quickly as more intensive in-person training. Depending on the individual it’s possible to truly learn online. But it’s hard, dude.
@@NinjatoSama I agree that the main reason it can be taught online is that the student will interpret for themselves what they will. The problem though isn’t online lessons. It’s simply misrepresentation. The Shifu in this video isn’t arguing against online lessons. She’s arguing against the “easy way” or “quick way” because it doesn’t exist.
You tell ‘um Shirley! Taichi can’t be learned online. Perhaps with AR or VR in the future it may be possible, but the online certification you mention here is a sham. Keep up the good work.
Well said teacher. I have been a student for 40 years but it is only in the last 13 under the tutelage of a True Teacher. Only recently did I begin to comprehend the 5 Elements, Intention, and Peng. Most people will not invest in failure long enough to learn the external much less the internal. I heard you on Karen Hunter’s show. I was the caller who recommended that she have a Tai Chi practitioner on her show. I told her my understanding is very limited compared to my teacher. He says the same of his teacher. We are all students at different points on the Way. It’s funny, I see people who criticize Grandmaster Ma Yueh Liang’s form and question his ability because it does not look martial enough for their liking or it does not look like performance Chen Style. Little do they know. This is a life long journey. Good luck on yours
Thank you so much for setting into motion the idea for a Tai Chi teacher to be on Karen's show. It came at the same time my student, Rev Odell Montgomery Cooper came out with her book about overcoming tragedy and trauma and how Tai Chi helped her on her healing journey. She always was trying to find ways to get her African American female friends to know more about Tai Chi and how it can help with their emotional wellness. Our mutual intentions must have all found each other and brought me to the Karen Hunter Show ❤️🙏
Great Analysis! The availablity of Great Neijia Arts instructors are diminishing rapidly! People like her do the same appropriation tactics regarding Yoga.
Thank you for the post. Seeing videos like this is not surprising. I assisted George Xu over 35 years ago in teaching many of his students Taiji (and Kung Fu). Interesting enough, I saw some advertisement flyers from some of those students within the same week of the lessons teaching "Tai Chi Secrets". While it's true that there are no oversight authorities for Taiji, the risk is that there's plenty who would want to promote themselves without the proper knowledge and experience. There's also the challenge of the "ego" with some of those who want only to be the teacher with no room for learning the actual principles which have been well-handed down in Asia.
excellent video. my teacher says at LEAST ten years of study before you can even BEGIN to think of teaching, and the amount I've learned in 5 years has shown me how much more I need to learn. fake taiji is a scourge, which is why the ancient masters kept it so secret. on the upside, the masses' misunderstanding makes my combat techniques more deadly, since no one knows the real stuff, much less how to defend against it. but the downside is that the mass misunderstanding doesn't let me take pride in my accomplishments - there is no mass reverence for the art. we're in such a weird era in martial arts with the advent of the internet - we can see true masters and their footage dating back to the earliest days of the camera, and we can also be bombarded by the fakers and opportunists. cheers for making such a strong statement against the fake.
I studied Yang style T'ai Chi Chuan in the early 1970s from Master Marshal Ho of Los Angeles. This was not in LA, but at the Aspen Academy of Martial Arts outside Aspen, Colorado. Our classes were 4 hours per day and 5 days per week. The 4 hours in the morning were the advanced class, and the 4 hours in the afternoon was the beginner class. We usually were there all day, watching the other class and attending our own. We also gathered around 5:30 to 6:00 PM in a park in Aspen for additional practice and informal instruction by senior students and assistant instructors. I learned more about push hands, including the beginning of combat form, in that park. I could not count the times I heard, "keep elbows down!" as my face hit the grass. On weekends we would go for hikes in the mountains, often beginning and/or ending our day with forms practice. It was a reasonably immersive experience. One of the people that had attended both in LA and in Aspen, said the level we were at after this condensed two month program was about the same as the 3-day per week LA students after 1.5 years. Sadly, life took me elsewhere after only two summers. Over the years, I bought video instructions, first VHS tapes and later DVD, and a number of books, but without a one-on-one initial grounding in T'ai Chi Chuan, they would have done almost no good... little as they did. If you want to really learn ANY martial art, especially one with the subtleties of T'ai Chi Chuan, find as good an instructor as possible.
Wow, that sounds like the most incredible experience. I am so jealous 😭 thank you so much for sharing that piece of history with us. I really think people today need to hear that there were many students willing to go through that kind of training. So many instructors automatically assume no one will want to do that but you show us that's not true, if it's a good instructor and you're learning something valuable, the students will come 🙏❤️☺️
HI just watched your video and totally agree there is so much crap out there, all i can say is try not to get stressed with it, because when they eventually see the light and see what you are doing is different and the correct way to do Tai Chi they will eventually realise they have been wasting their time and money on rubbish. keep up the good work. Neil
Shirley, Truth be told, I got away from TCC for this very reason. In this country (USA) I can cou8nt on one hand how many people actually have real Tai Chi skill. I'm not talking about moving through a form correctly, but understand the ins and outs of force manipulation based on the principles and concepts that are written in the classics. After listening to your talk, I was wondering if you would host a workshop for me to come up and offer an approach that may help make teaching TCC easier and more transmittable to students.. I am a disciple of Grandmaster Sam FS Chin and the Philadelphia Group learder/instructor.
Lan, I would love to have you come up and teach a workshop! I want to host more guest instructors for workshops in our space and would love to host you! I'll reach out on FB and we can set a date for spring 2023 :)
Hallelujah . You are saying in this video exactly what I've been saying for so long. Taiji without Internal intent, understanding and movement is not Taiji. Yes, this is perhaps a good moving yoga but that movement is empty, with out any real internal body. Thank you for putting this video out there. Oh, and because of teachers who give people what they think is Taichi, the real teachers don't get recognized .😢
Having said that, I enjoy a number of your videos. The coming-to-standing meditation pose is one of the best I have experienced. As an older guy, the improving spine stability video is very helpful. I'm working on it. Good content hopefully increases views and helps folks! We all start with limitations, biases, and scattered information. In general, I think it's better to talk to each other rather than about each other. This RUclips format is better suited for the latter. On the other hand, there are wonderful discussions, debates between folks with different ideas on RUclips as well. Perhaps that is a fruitful direction regarding the increasing challenges to the growth and interest in tai chi and qigong. This parallels so many current charged areas: what is the real yoga, the real sushi, the real jazz. On and on. Unfortunately, we are caught in this negative spiral: if we can talk about it, we can fight about it, and then establish tribal camps. Like children throwing words around like in the telephone game. The boundaries between our real and virtual worlds are dissolved. So here we are.
Thank you 🙏 ❤️ I do appreciate your perspective. I will have to say that one of the great things about Tai Chi is it should help people be able to confront pressure. We shouldn't fall apart when our tires are kicked in a little. There is no Tai Chi without the ability to balance yin and yang. Positive and negative are all part of the whole. I know the Open the Door program got a lot of visibility after my video and it got new followers who think it's the perfect program for them. And that's great because it was a choice made with open eyes. I also agree more content and more discussion is good for the development of the art.
Well said. As long as we continue to discuss issues there is some movement. Thing is, we don't know the directions the "flow" of conversation, like water, will go. By the way, if I didn't say before, I see you continue to add excellent content. And speaking of levels, I suspect it is not easy to shape teaching to the great variety of learners out there. We are a work in progress. @@AipingTaiChi
so. i'm 49 years old and my body is full of aches and pains. can tai chi help me to get fit and healthy again? and where can i learn from scratch? i'm in staffordshire, england.
I do believe practicing Tai Chi can help you get fit and healthy again. All good Tai Chi instructors will tell you that the best way to start is finding a good teacher to learn from in person. Online resources can serve as a guide but true learning needs to be done with an instructor who can see you and place their hands on you so you can understand how tiny adjustments can make a profound difference. I am not familiar with the Staffordshire area but I know there are many really good Tai Chi instructors in England. I recommend doing what many of us have done when we started our journey. Visit every single school and try a class and evaluate how the instructor moves and teaches and how the students move. Then talk with the students after class and listen to their experiences, how long they have been studying there, what they say. You don't need to know much to be able to evaluate which schools are the good ones. Good luck!
Mr. Roberts. I am 74 years old and began my studies with Shifu Shirley two years ago. I have bursitis in both shoulders the right being severe, stenosis in my lower lumbar, because of my lower back I have misalignment from my left hip down my left leg, the stenosis and misalignment pinches my sciatic nerve causing periodic trauma, osteoarthritis in most of my joints, and from a Lyme disease infection I contracted many years ago I have neuropathy in both feet. I know I'm only a single example, but I assure you my Tai Chi study has improved my mobility, balance, mitigated the severity of my pain, and made my mental state far, far better than it was this time last year when any movement was painful. Now I sleep through the night and have energy throughout the day. The counterfeit forms of Tai Chi that Shifu Shirley refers to in this video would have you think Tai Chi doesn't have to be difficult so to accommodate an uninformed public they offer a McDojo form of the internal martial art that fast tracks you to a healthy recovery. You and I know there is no such thing. It takes time, learning, concentration, and dedication to a lifetime of discovery of Tai Chi's physical and mental balance, intent, and energy, and oh yeah, some pain along the way as the body begins to heal. Follow Shifu's advice. Visit schools, see for yourself, speak to others as well as the teacher and his/her students, and trust your instincts. I did and am eternally grateful.
The main issue i see here is the requirements to encourage others to learn TC for health as well as the mental benefits which they can apply to their own well being. In order to teach/instruct others in these forms, one has to have some approval/certification in order to pass on the ways of the past. Being certified by an organization allows me to instruct at various gyms/fitness centers with regards to these facilities operating insurance policies. But the issue is, do instructors just follow what i call a "basic" requirement for legal purposes, or do they look to advance their knowledge of the "Masters" practices and skill to their requirements. I personally follow a few of the Masters and their practices and add them to my basic instruction. I appreciate your videos which you allow the public to view, as it adds another (feather in my hat, so to say) definition to each move and practice to my study and instruction. Many thanks to you for your presentations and views as well as "passing the torch" to the next generation of practioners. May you continue to carry on your masters/family studies...
Finally I found a serious and professional person who found this Fake Taichi web site.....it's totally obvious as soon you see these movement. You don't need to be an expert to notice that. The disturbing here is how they are using names of the companies that they are are not in any way to Taichi or QiGoing. Thank you for your opinion and point of view.
Thank you, I called them out many times, they berated and insulted me as some one who has practiced and studied with Chinese masters for over 50 years....they are so insulting....
This is a very important video! Very well thought out, expressed, and executed! I have been doing martial arts since 1968 including Japanese, Filipino, and Chinese arts, have multiple high dan ranks in Okinawa Ti (I've lived in Okinawa for 20 years) and jujutsu, and studied Wing Chun, Tai Chi/Qi Gong and Filipino MA for many years. I had my own dojo for 10 years back in the US where I did teach the fundamentals of Tai Chi/Qi Gong as well as there is much cross over between all the arts, but as you implied, they also have very serious differences - foundational, internal, and external, that must be understood. I stopped giving out ranks as ranks are not commensurate with the sheer desire to learn. I also did not charge anything after the 1st year if the student was serious and continuously worked hard. After 1 year of paying a nominal fee, just to see if the student would stick with it, only donations were accepted. I do not believe that anyone is qualified to teach any martial art until they've been doing that art for many years, and they can only teach up to two levels below their level. And I do not believe in being called a master unless that person has been teaching (and learning) continuously for at least 30 years. Sensei or Sifu meaning teacher is acceptable, but not master.
Just sparked an interest in tai chi and know nothing about it, but came across this video. Thank you for this.. this act goes for a lot of things people are doing nowadays making fake versions of things. I appreciate this. Makes so much sense ♡ and you can also see how bad she's doing omg
Thank you so much for sharing this ❤️🙏 I'm so glad this sparked an interest in Tai Chi for you and really glad you can get started on your journey with a little better knowledge on what to look for and what to look out for as you find teachers. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions on anything.
This is my second year in a Tai chi school , and i understand how impossible is to learn just online. My respect to this ancient and beautiful art. Thanks Sifu 🙏🏻☯️
You cant learn Tai chi on line, no way. if you want to look at Tai Chi on line then look at Dong yingjie long form or look at Master wang Zhi Xiang. Tai Chi is for life and takes a life time to learn, and it takes practice at least twice a day every day until it becomes a natural to your daily life. Neil
I completely agree with your defense of this most amazing art. I have dedicated years to study and practice of Taijiquan, taught to me in its trzditionre, including the cultural significance. Deep bows of respect to you. Rag
A very late reaction but you're so right, however it is difficult to find a good teacher (at least here in The Netherlands). Appearantly I went to the wrong teacher, after one year of lessons I told my teacher "well, at least now I know the direction to look, perhaps one day I'll learn how tai chi works" I should have followed Dianne's course, certified and all in a few months :D :D. In my opinion it's impossible to learn without teacher and practice and it's NOT easy at all. But then if you watch somebody who mastered his/her trade everything looks easy until you try it yourself without knowledge. I discovered your channel a few weeks ago and thank you for your content, it's very educational.
This is the day and age. People also think they can fully understand fitness and rehab exercises online. It's not the same like learning years and decades together with people in the same room, see, touch, correct, talk.
There is good reason to be upset as taiji becomes diluted. You will draw the type of students to you who recognize what you have and who wish to learn with you. The lineage will continue.
The part I find very reveling is that it cost you $120. each year to keep your "certification". You are only certified to teach watered-down taichi for $120 a year or you are no longer certified to do that.
New to your channel. Love your content. I do Wu Style(Shanghai Wu). You have a really good gift of articulating your points very well I am a fan! Subbing!
It is challenging to be an authentic teacher,let alone be qualified to teach an art that relies on a feeling that has to be directly experienced, properly transmitted,and subtly corrected by a teacher who knows how to avoid the pitfalls and keep a student from reinventing the wheel. Thanks for this video.
Agree with you, it's like someone that has no understanding of dancing hula, and teaches hula with even knowing the culture. It goes deeper than just moves and dancing. It hurts the teacher that learned from their predecessor. I just started this art 3 years ago, and so so so much to learn.
2 years into my training, training intensely 3x a week under direct supervision of my teacher, she asked me to be one of her assistant instructors. There was no way I knew enough to teach out on my own outside the school. But apparently you can watch a few videos and then you're a certified Tai Chi instructor 😒
When I got certified to teach "Taichi for balance" not one other learning knew any Taichi and the instructor and creator of the state certification program only knew form. At least they labeled it "for balance". I took the opportunity to teach elderly some real Taiji foundation during the study and found it's actually easier to teach elderly than youth. I need to go back because it may be easier to produce elderly students who can express jin because their Peng surpasses their strength faster than the young.
I like the Tai Chi for Balance programs. They are very targeted and specific and help people who have limited mobility with a thoughtful program with lots of oversight. If this particular program were along those lines, I wouldn't have criticized it at all. I don't even criticize Tai Chi Easy or Tai Chi Chih because along the same lines, they are very clear what they are and what they aren't. I saw a comment on a RUclips video from someone who is taking this particular online certification program thanking the creator that his video explained how to shift weight properly and turn. She couldn't figure it out from the videos that come with the certification. There's no test or evaluation you need to take to get your certification. Kudos to this person who actually wanted to know what she is doing before she goes out to teach others. But I can only imagine how many of these thousands of certified instructors didn't do that and assumed they are actually qualified to teach because they have a certificate.
So true! I appreciate you're taking this up. I've learned Tai Chi Yang style 30 years ago from a very traditional Chinese master. Ever since I've seen so much fake Tai Chi everywhere, it hurts, even though it's not my culture. Unfortunately, the infighting you mention is a very real thing, and it's so destructive. On the other hand, there's no way of stopping this. The same thing happened to yoga, to meditation, Christianity, it happens to everything because the Western mind is so respectless and arrogant, we believe we can do everything better without even understanding it. In the end, there will always be only a few who search for and will find the real thing and luckily, people like you are here too. The big majority always wants shortcuts, and will find them, no matter what. For them, it's just entertainment, a fashion, a way to waste some time, and it's still better they waste their time learning fake Tai Chi than going shopping or doing other, more silly things. 99% of them will do this for a short while and then move on to a new distraction. And the distraction providers will continue to provide. When a true master only has 150 followers, well that's 150 people who have found the real thing. There will never be more because the big majority is not interested in finding anything other than distractions from their unhappy lives. So, don't worry too much. It just the natural way of humans. Continue with your good work and appreciate the people who appreciate you. Amituofo.🙏
I laud Aiping Tai Chi for being forthright, Sifu's two goals: 1). teaching classical principles of tai chi chuan (as my associate in the arts, Master Watson among a myriad of masters in the art I've encountered for over 50 years continue to do) and 2). finding harmony within tai chi instructor's "fractured community" who, regardless, continue to teach students at all levels of development. Harmony among students and teachers that truly endures and ripples out into the wider world comes from "wudi" or ethical integrity, meaning we who instruct others are there for giving, not for getting. I'm afraid this CT. business person is in it forgetting and is eminently forgettable Unlike the immortals at Aiping Tai Chi.
❤️❤️🙏🙏 Our school symbol IS 平 harmony :) Although I guess I wasn't very harmonious criticizing this program 😬 But the harmony I am seeking is with my fellow brothers and sisters here with the same goals as me.
Classic video, very true and funny too. Subscribed to support truth on Tai Chi Chuan. I have seen so many awful TCC classes or teachers. It is deeply sad. Competitions/ Competition forms and the clear issues with competition rules affecting real push hands training I feel is also an issue because it still bastardises Tai Chi Sport arts have to change to fit the rules so whilst it is fun they still need to focus on the real training more so Tai Chi is such a great art, deep and a wonderful personal journey.
Great article, straight to the point! Those idle motions don't even claim to resemble any connection with inner feelings. You know what! One has to have been practicing Tai-Chi for sometime to see the difference. Otherwise one's sure to become her follower. To avoid the issue Chinese Sport commity should publish the unambigues claim of authentithity check for those teacers, without which nobody, wherever he or she may reside would have no right to teach Tai-Chi. Even if their hands seem to be in the right position. Which is not the case here at all.
Besides the in-fighting in the Chinese martial arts community the other group of people hitting "dislike" on traditional martial arts videos, particularly tai ji quan and internal arts, are the MMA meatheads, many of whom value niu li ( 牛力）above all else and do not recognize the value of traditional technique. While this is largely due to unskilled "masters" misrepresenting internal arts, some traditional tai ji quan shifu have neglected the quan part of their art to such an extent that they can not apply it in anything resembling realistic combat. As you hinted at, Tai Ji Quan is supposed to be a martial art. I agree that if people just want some simple health benefits they should go do some kind of Qi Gong or Yoga pranayama and not ruin a traditional quan fa.
Hello to have an optimal results in our practice should we do only the Tai Chi Fundamentals: Rooting & Balance exercices for one year before we go to the next chapter of your program Parting Wild Horse's Mane & Repulsing the Monkey ?
Hi Thom. I don't think that's necessary but rooting and balance should always be practiced even when working on other movements. It's the core foundation of all other movements
A good video, unfortunately pointing out a well known issue. It's arguably easier and more damaging to fake the internal arts because of the difference in how people see these arts and what their focus is. I personally have an issue similar to this where I live. I have a martial arts teacher who is legitimately great at Karate. But a few years back he picked up selling Tai Chi classes as well. But he sells his art as Shaolin Tai Chi and the movements are clearly Karate with some movements that look like generic kungfu. But people where I live aren't heavily exposed to many different arts, so they know no better. I practice Chen Style Tai Chi, and have for many years for reference. But because of that I know how much dedication you need to the art to be skilled and experienced enough to teach it. To the few people I provide rudimentary training to they always talk about the small details and complexity even in what seem to be very basic movements. But these make all the difference in the perceivable yet indescribable quality of a properly executed form. I do hope in the future the true arts are allowed to shine through this fog of falsehoods. Edited for typo
I have a student who studied Tai Chi for 10 years at a karate school, thinking she was learning the real thing. She thought it was the real thing because they incorporated a lot of applications in the teaching But then she started reading more about it and realizing she wasn't actually learning it at all. She was only learning slow karate being taught as Tai Chi. She regrets she wasted 10 years because she didn't know any better and now she has 10 years of bad habits to empty out of her cup.
Thank you for this video. I agree with you, particularly about the one school you highlighted -- the contrast between the fake teacher and your master is phenomenal. For me you've opened up many, many questions. Even as far back as the 1960s when Cheng Man-Ching opened his school in New York he created quite a stir with older Chinese people not wanting him to teach Taiji to foreigners at all. He was criticized for his "watered-down" version of Taiji. Yoga is going through a lot of similar controversies also. I remember back in the 1970s when Hatha Yoga was first introduced separate from the Hindu cultural background and the controversies arose, again with the main criticism that it was a "watered-down" version of true Yoga. As a Zen practitioner, we run into the same thing with questions of "watered-down" Zen and cultural appropriation. How do we incorporate Taiji or Qigong or Chan (Zen) into our day-to-day lives with the deepest respect possible, yet as an American? Americans are not Chinese. You have showed us one way -- to be wary of fake Taiji teachers. I'm headed to China soon for a several month stay, unfortunately there I have even less skills in determining who is a real and who is a fake Taiji teacher and I have no doubt there are many fake taiji "instructors" in China who teach old people in the parks and who would love to take a foreigner's money. Maybe it's just trusting my gut feeling. While I can't articulate the differences between Cheng Aiping and the "fake instructor," I just know who is real and who is fake, the difference is palpable. When I saw your video on the tribute to Michelle Yeoh, I could see the depth of your practice, the inner calm and strength.
Well thought out and well articulated. I agree there is a market for legitimate teachers but that is not the way to form them. An experienced martial artist can easily see her lack of balance, poor focus, and jerky mivements. However, your teacher is amazing and so are you! I look forward to watching and learning from your videos. I will check out how I might be able to learn from you both online and in person. Dr Randy “Doc” p.s. a real docor.
Everyone! Please do due diligence when people claim expertise in any Martial Art (or actually any studies that interest you to pursue). Legit teachers should be able to provide VERIFIABLE proof of their lineage, who they studied under, where they studied, exact titles, achievements, and qualifications that they claim to have. I actually googled the Woman offering this McTaiChi Mastery (it comes with Fries) course and cannot find any proper qualifications regarding her expertise in Tai Chi other than a claim to having a 4th-degree black belt in Taekwondo in a place not listed, from a Teacher not listed. I could call the United States Taekwondo Association to even verify that claim but I do not care to waste my time any further regarding Ms. Bailey. Beware of lack of transparency regarding studies because that actually is a cultural appropriation RED FLAG. I thank Shifu Shirley Chock for this Video.
A most basic, fundamental axiom from the classics is that the arms don't move independently of the waist. "The spine is like a banner pole, and the arms are likened to a banner." Flowery arm movements have nothing to do with tai chi. That alone disqualifies this "teacher".
I applaud you for calling out the charlatans, as they really are doing untold harm to authentic tai-chi chuan in every aspect. And in the end, there really is no easy way to learn it, if you really want the real deal. It's otherwise known as sweat equity, or eating bitter.
I completely agree with everything in this video.. The missing element is this is not news.. If you look at Dr Yang Jwing Mings book Tai Chi Chuan Martial Power read his preface from 1986. That will help you see this is nothing new and happens also inthe external styles. It is said there are only 2 things you should never become upset about. One, things you cannot control. Two, things you can control. Real issue, people who think they can improve Tai Chi Chuan.
Especially those who even give out certificate after a 2 to 3 months course (1 day a week of training). Quite embarrassing even to have such a certificate. Just the basic 24 form takes me more than 2 years, still I am not graceful enough with my movements, still got a long way to perfection
Thank you everyone who has expressed your support of my voice on this ❤🙏 This is the first time I have ever publicly spoken out against another instructor/school/program and I really did grapple long and hard if it's something I should do and fully prepared to weather the blowback from speaking out. I am so deeply honored that my words resonated with you and hope this can be a start to us coming together from our different parts of the martial arts spectrum and collaborate and grow together.
I'd like to speak a little more to the others who don't see why this is a big deal and think I'm just being a bully. I want to begin by saying that what didn't make the edit was my spending quite a long time in my original talk defending the trademarked programs like Tai Chi Easy, Tai Chi Chih, Tai Chi for Balance and these other programs that take aspects of Tai Chi and build specific programs around that have really helped a lot of people. These programs do not claim to be teaching Tai Chi and there are many of these certified instructors who are contributing great value. The thing is, 太极 and 太极拳 are an important part of my culture and has a meaning that has been defined a long time ago. I believe people who have never learned it authentically shouldn't be allowed to make up their own meanings for it and then trick people into thinking they have learned it and get to teach it. Let me offer some additional examples.
We have a great need for more qualified doctors in our society. There are just not enough medical doctors to treat all the people who need medical help. It's REALLY hard to become a doctor. You have to get into medical school, you have to do your residency, it takes a lot of time and a lot of medical students drop out during the process and in the end, we just don't have enough qualified doctors. It would be so great if we could produce more. So imagine if some nurses decide that it's just not right to have to go through medical school to earn your MD. What if some nurses got together and issued a MD degrees? Then we can have more doctors, right? Would you support that? As a hiring organization, would you hire a nurse holding an MD degree from an organization not recognized by doctors who went to medical school?
In my video I mentioned the difference between pizza and English muffin pizza. I realized there is a better food example and I made this comment in another reply thread here. The better example is BBQ. A lot of people don't know what BBQ is and don't know that there is actually a definition of BBQ. The term is used so generically. Anything you throw on a grill is referred to as BBQ. BBQ ribs is used for ribs cooked any which way with BBQ sauce brushed on top. But anyone who knows their BBQ will tell you that BBQ has a definition. If a BBQ pit master goes to another BBQ restaurant and orders BBQ ribs and they get served oven baked ribs with BBQ sauce on top, they would be pretty annoyed. They will tell you that BBQ needs to be smoked and the meat needs to develop a smoke ring. If it doesn't have that, it's no BBQ. Yes, there are many different varieties of BBQ but all pit masters will agree it can't be called BBQ if it's not smoked. So imagine a certification program that certifies pit masters but teaches them that BBQ is baking meat in an oven and putting BBQ sauce on top. To the general public, it's kind of the same thing. But that doesn't make it BBQ.
You can use whatever example has meaning in your life. Something that has a definition that others in the general public may not know about. Now replace that with Tai Chi. Tai Chi to me is what and MD means to doctors and what BBQ means to pit masters. And that's why I made this video. Thank you for listening 🙏❤
PS: A really thoughtful comment asked me what is the source of my frustration? And I realized I haven't really articulated this point well. The source of my frustration is really over the proliferation of these fake Tai Chi certification programs in the U.S. and the growing ecosystem that has been legitimizing them. In the U.S. there is no recognized governing body over Tai Chi so TONS of certification programs have popped up and we've been ignoring them because we don't take them seriously. But have you looked at the landscape lately when it comes to how Tai Chi is presented to the general public? We've all been celebrating the positive articles about the successful scientific studies on Tai Chi for all sorts of ailments. But have you noticed that all the recent articles have been interviewing fitness trainers who are "certified" Tai Chi instructors as their experts? Since these people never learned it authentically, they can only talk about the physical movements and "mindfulness" and what we can just call "Tai Chi aerobics" and nothing more because that's all they know. But every time a big news outlet presents these "certified" Tai Chi instructor personal trainers as the experts, it legitimizes the fake certification programs and more of them pop up. Meanwhile it de-legitimizes instructors who teach it authentically. I've had instructor friends who are amazing practitioners get their credentials questioned and lose out on teaching jobs because they don't have a "certification". I've had teacher friends who teach authentically have to quit teaching to get other jobs in order to feed themselves. Meanwhile these bogus certification programs are hauling in huge profits. My master has trained me to speak up when you see injustice and call a spade a spade. I think this is injustice.
You are exactly right
Only you can decide where you want to put your energy. Our energy is not infinite and we have to choose what's important. Unfortunately you'll always find those people who watch a video, copy the movements and then tell people they're teaching Tai Chi. Sad but true.
I choose to spend my time and energy helping my students, studying, and not giving any attention to those that are teaching what I call New Age Tai Chi. I do understand about the cultural appropriation and I do appreciate that point.
Very good❤
I support your mission and have been using my voice and my pen, writing tens of thousands of words on this very subject. (The bots seem to be my only readers, but that just means it's all going into the Google databases for posterity and future research:) I've even started to see the chatbots spreading the word. I've begun to address them as sentient beings. Amituofo! 😇🙏
I've been tracking this problem for some years and the opportunists should know that there are many of us who look on them with displeasure. It's distasteful to have to call them out, especially directly, and we always feel some guilt doing it, because out Sifus in the prior generation believed it was better to ignore them. That was before the internet.
I have many friends and martial relatives, sisters, brothers, aunties, uncles and cousins, who are dependent on this income. They spent decades in many cases, studying to gain competency to teach. Every single one of them made enormous sacrifices.
We're lucky in this generation because we can use our voices instead of our fists. It is imperative that we all speak up and raise our voices. Drown out the noise by calling out fraud and supporting qualified teachers. If anyone has a problem with what you're doing, tell them to come talk to me. I'd be very interested in meeting them.
Thank you SO MUCH for making this video! I study and teach Taijiquan, and every time I see these ads - EVERY SINGLE TIME - my blood boils.
Shared your video, hoping it goes viral...
Thank you for this video! The students of these types of instructors are unknowingly cheating themselves out of the benefits they could be receiving from practicing true Tai Chi. There was a old Master who once said that without learning the fundamentals, people are just waving their hands around and "directing traffic in the park."
In her "Q&A About the Tai Chi Certification" video, she actually has the audacity to refer to herself as a Master. Her certification training, which only involves learning the 24 form, takes 3 to 4 months. After you receive her certification, you are "qualified to teach". It took me 3 years just to begin understanding the 24 form and that was training every day.
That’s about the same time frame for the hard style martial arts like Kung Fu and Japanese karate also.
You don’t really get the forms down until after years of training. Heck, it took me ten years before I felt like Tai Chi was part of me.
I think that people confuse the ease of "learning forms" with learning to do them correctly and being able to use them as an actual martial art.
Tai Chi Chuan has become a wide river. The banks are shallow, ankle deep at most.
But in the centre fairway, the river is still of fathomless depth and amazing powerful flow.
Most people stay in the shallowness, some dare to swim.
Praise to those few who are willing, able, courageous and skillful enough
to explore the mysterious centre flow of the great river.
Thanks for taking time to expose the fake Tai Chi. As a martial arts instructor, the most challenging aspect of teaching is correcting bad habits taught by previous instructors. You have done a great service to your art. Well done.
“English Muffin Pizza”! I’ll never forget this term. And will commence using it…often! :). It seems to me that people don’t want to know/learn Tai Chi Chuan so much as they wish to be supported in saying that they know Tai Chi.
I remember my Mother making English muffin pizza…they were delicious!
@@beunbad They were my go to snack for my kids when they were little. English muffins, jar tomato sauce, package shredded cheese, pop in toaster oven and "pizza" in 3 minutes!
I agree with all of this. I've been studying and teaching Chinese arts of kung fu and tai chi for 35 years. There is a huge amount to learn - how to stand, move and breathe, how to root through your whole body, how to issue and receive force, the deep philosophy of Taoism and so on. These charlatans - or kung fu cowboys as my old Master used to describe them are like drawing a cartoon of the Mona Lisa then selling it as real. I don't know how we can collaborate as the Chinese arts and lineages are so divided but I think only through educating the public as to what the real arts look and feel like can we claim back this fabulous heritage.
Sharing your experiences here with everyone is how we can begin collaborating :) I am grateful to be able to connect with fellow like minded practitioners and instructors. I think some people have a misunderstanding of my stance, maybe because I didn't explain it well enough. I WANT Tai Chi to grow and change with the demands of the times. I just want those who have devoted themselves to its study to be the ones driving that bus and I want it to be a very very big bus that we all take turns driving 🙏❤
I started 50 years ago with a chinese godfather then chinese masters, many famous, Shifu Chock is more than correct as the level of boldness and entitlement reeks...this person is a complete marketing hack, this was designed hjust to take money, its not only ludicrous it's dangerous.... I taught combat to police, military, special teams, womens defense, and much more ..when this bs first ce out I immediately asked them who the master who certified them was, the response was that white westerners know nothing,...btw, I'm half indigenous indian from the Anericas,... I lived in China studying with masters in internal Arts,... I am so insulted for them to devalue an Art I have practiced my whole life...they cant even stand right .. so sad and bad
Many times they don't even realize that they are portraying themselves as charlatans. Their effort is earnest, but their source of information is flawed.
Meeting the right teacher that can actually transmit an art is tough, most are teaching the external aspects and leaving the internal up in the air.
An art is not Internal just because it is classified as such. A proper teacher makes the difference in not veering off the correct approach with mind, body, and spirit.
The norm these days offer a lot of Body, a little bit of Mind and no Spirit
Same as the fools who claim to awaken Kundalini and have no clue of the dangers!
I will just say thank you for posting this .I will not go into my experience that is not necessary now .I am just grateful to see someone calling out those that downgrade a wonderful Art and have lead to the situation that we now have.Truly believe me when I say I was so very pleased to come across your channel and happy to see your passion for this subject..Have a great day and keep doing what you are doing it is appreciated.
Thank you 🙏❤
This was so refreshing to listen to and I agree with everything you said. I have been fortunate to have learned tai chi from authentic masters from Chen Village. When I felt confident enough to teach at a local fitness center, I was told that the class would be on a “drop in” basis. Tai Chi is being promoted in so many articles and health books, yet so few people actually stick around long enough to really understand it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and putting into words what is so frustrating.
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I'm no master, but my experience tells me Ur spot on. This is a video to share far and wide. I will add it to my { tai chi, kung fu, move sum'n } playlist of martial best.
Thanks for sharing.. Totally subbed. 👊🏾😎👍🏼
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I'm so glad you mentioned Fake Jake Mace. The bagua community really despises him. People like this are excellent marketers. These types are in all businesses. It only takes some research to figure out the truth. I have taught traditional Wu Family taijiquan for years. I have practiced for over 30 years, yet I still have so much to learn. My teacher's teacher, Ma Yue Liang, at age 96, told my teacher, "I'm better than I was last year!" I have students in their 20's and near 80. All are required to understand structure, the 8 energies, and what each move can be used for. I and they know that they will not use it for fighting, but knowing the purpose gives their form intention. And taiji is all about intention. Without it, it's just moving your arms around.
It does seem that in CMA the amount of money you make is inversely proportional to your knowledge and ability in the art 😆 So we have to learn how to be better at the marketing and business side too. I'm going to put out some videos aimed to help fellow instructors to better navigate bringing their knowledge online so they can be more visible. I've learned so many things these past 18 months online and will share everything I learned if it can help others grow.
I learned the long form back in my 30s. I dropped off practicing after I moved to an area without an instructor. Now that I'm older and have a few physical problems I decided to start practicing again because it would help. Since I can't find a group less than an hour away, I've been considering just focusing on Qigong. In your words, where do you recommend I go to fill my void? (You provide great content BTW)
Thank you 🙏❤️ That's wonderful you want to resume your practice. I am not against online Tai Chi instruction if you don't have a good teacher locally. I am just opposed to online only instructor certifications. Best is a good local instructor. Second best is live online instruction with a good instructor who has a good set up for online instruction. Qigong is also a great practice and if you have a good local instructor, you should try it out. Qigong and Tai Chi are very complimentary. Good luck!
Thank you for your post. You make some very important and valid points.
As a recent tai chi practitioner, I appreciate this video. One challenge I have had is that I live in a town with only one in-person tai chi school/teacher, the same one that Mr. Mace learned from. It has been great for an introduction, but I am now thinking that learning online, while not an idea will be better for now and perhaps I can meet up with instructors when I travel.
All kidding aside, I enjoyed your critique and it’s warranted! I’ve seen similar offers as this. I lucked out and got to train with legitimate great instructors but have also been fooled some by these charlatan Taiji teachers.
Very well put. Thanks for posting this expose of fake tai chi. A very detailed analysis.
It was very courageous of you to speak out. Thank you for keeping real Tai Chi alive.
Thank you so much 🙏❤️ I was prepared to get a lot of hate for making this video and have definitely gotten my share. But I can't be an effective Tai Chi practitioner and teacher if I'm not willing to do what I think needs to be done to defend my art 😊
Few days ago I've joined your channel and I'me very happy. This video is so important and I've great appreciate it. I've started to practice martial arts at 17 (with JuJitsu and Aikido and now I'm 68) at 60 I've started to study Tai Chi Chuan (Yang style) with a direct disciple of Gran Master Doc Fae Wong and now Tai Chi is the most important part of my life. I 100% agree with you. Tai Chi is awesome and so difficult, but there are too many fake teachers around. Next week I will start my first course as teacher and I define it "introduction to Tai Chi Chuan" because I believe eight years of practice don't make me a really qualified instructor despite the opinion of my Sifu. Thank you Sifu 🙏🏻
That is so fantastic, I hope you had a wonderful first class ❤️ I think anyone who has respect for the art and sees themselves as a custodian of the art will be an excellent teacher and you definitely sound like you have that. Feel free to reach out anytime!
🤗❤🙏🏻@@AipingTaiChi
amazing video and well delivered truth my friend. I do my best to explain this to those crowds. Not I can just share your video, well done!
Thank you brother ❤🙏
I have often been asked to join groups to learn tai chi, and I’ve not yet completed the 108. But when I ask them to explain a few martial application it becomes clear that they have no knowledge of the art. No basics in respects to kung fu, and are often not open to learning them.
Thank you for speaking up!! You are so right to the point on her movements. No root, no soft, no peng, yet each movements are not in details from start to finish. It was so shocking for me that she certifies for others. It is very sad to know someone spreading fake Tai-Chi.
I’ve been learning and teaching Tai-Chi for 18 years, yet still learning and researching the true authentic art. I can still remember that in my first 3 years of learning Tai-Chi from a local “qualified Tai-Chi teacher” was a mess! I was having lower back pain and knees discomfort after the Tai-Chi training sessions with him. So, I finally decided to quit learning from the local teacher. Until I met my Tai-Chi Master from Shanghai, then to open my eyes what is meant by Ying, Yang, and constant changes movements in real Tai-Chi Chuan.
Your voice is so important!! Support the authentic study of Tai-Chi 拳
Thank you for sharing your experience and insight 🙏❤️ Yes, this is sadly so common when teachers who haven't learned enough to teach properly but think they are qualified go out and teach but cause more harm than good because they don't know how to identify poor alignment and improper weight shifting and their students develop knee and back pain. It is sadly much too common these days because of these for profit certification programs 😢
Totally agree with you, unfortunately people want many things in life without making any effort, and many people take advantage of this fact, particularly online. This has always been the case. I've been training in Tai Chi Chuan since 1983, with authentic, and well known Teachers, and I'm still learning. I've taught since 1993.
Dang! I just looked at the videos you are responding to here! 😢 I’m so glad I didn’t stop at just their videos.
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Lol! The same reaction when I saw someone posting a recipe for tiramisu with totally different ingredients. I said” you can call it what you want but not tiramisu!”
Yes, it's such a problem in cuisine too!
Right!? Imagine if Hot Pocket advertised their pizza flavored pocket as just simply Pizza or even worse, authentic Italian cuisine. 😡 like it’s totally fine that it exists but if they called that actual pizza rather than admit it’s just a pizza influenced thing then I would be furious.
Wow, 16 modules! Where do I sign up? After 8 years I still feel like a beginner, I really need this programme.
Thank you. Having done an American martial art variation of Tai Chi and having done a few classes with a Wudang monk I whole heartedly agree with what you are saying. Unfortunately, people look for it, wanting authentic Tai Chi but not knowing what to look for. What they find and learn is exactly as you are saying, but not because of how authentic Tai Chi is not accessible or digestible, but because there are no other options available.
I so agree with this - I have studied Tai Chi since 1988 and became an instructor in 2000 - my Master insisted on at least 5 years experience in the art and an understanding of the basic principles and concepts before allowing you to teach - even then you taught under his supervision at the school for a while so he could give any advice etc. Tai Chi on line is impossible - during the pandemic i tried to give my students on line classes and even that was impossible because you just couldn't give the corrections needed. The unfortunate thing is this is not the only on line course available - it makes me sick to see how Tai Chi is becoming watered down and I have no hesitation in sharing this video - thank you.
Hopefully we can harness the power of the Internet to reach the folks who don't know any better to be able to see the difference. A lot of my focus is to reach people who are in the process of learning Tai Chi and exploring in themselves and asking the question "am I actually doing it internally?" Hopefully through this personal exploration it will also lead them to the next question: Does my teacher do it internally?
Thank you for this. I tend to be too polite to call out people like this. My main gripe is that there is a difference between fluidity of the body and fluidity through the body. I don't see much fluidity through the body anymore because Tai-chi has become flowery. Teachers will even say that the body has to remain completely erect (stiff). To me, the term "whole body movement" means that each joint is moving at all times in relation to all the other joints and that the movement within the body is then expressed by the body as a whole. I see to many dead sticks moving slowly and smoothly - but they are still dead sticks.
Dead sticks 😆 I went through a period when I was emphasizing to students not to add extra unnecessary motion in their movements because the disconnected extra motion dissipates the energy. But I think I overemphasized because then everyone was focusing on keeping so still they were completely stiff. The image that popped into my mind was they were like ice cubes. But I want them to me like jello cubes. Jello cubes hold their shape but aren't stiff, they have give and move within the shape. Ice cube would be your dead stick I think.
I have studied with my main teacher Master George Xu for 30 years. He has always emphasized connection and aliveness as a result of proper understanding of correct principles. I like what you said. The highest levels of Taiji I have witnessed have looked nothing like what this type of "certification" program Taiji teaches.
My Sifu once told me, “If authentic people keep quiet when the non-authentic people are super-loud about their cons, then the non-authentic becomes authentic, and you cannot stop it”. Thank you for this video, Sifu Shirley. I will share this within my Taijiquan community.
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I truly agree with you. Thanks for verifying it clearly.
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As a Taoist Monk of 50 plus years..and a certified instructor.. by my Instructor of Tai Chi Chuan forms..I am truly and deeply saddened by this phenomenon. It took me over 20 years to get certified by my instructor...20 years. Not 20 minutes. I practiced 3 one hour sessions day..EVER DAY. I have absolutely no regrets. Greatest way to to spend your precious time and Life. My counsel..FIND A GOOD TEACHER.
Thank you for sharing your story and your insights 🙏❤️
So well said. Thank you for sharing your view so openly.
Good to see you telling like it is about the scammers teaching taichi, keep up the good work.
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i saw your form demonstration, your skill is very impressive. i am glad to have found your site.
Thank you so much ❤️🙏 I have only just scratched the surface. So glad you're here to join the journey!
Unfortunately when you are exploring any sort of breathing/body/mind/health practices you have to sift through the garbage to find the gold. I learned that the hard way when first exploring on my own while going through a difficult time in my life with health issues. I'm very grateful slowly but surely stumbled upon some gold over the years and some of the videos sometimes had no more than 100 views that were the ones that taught me the most in an authentic way. Thank you for being one of those sources!
Yes, it's so worth the effort to soft for the gold ❤️ thank you so much 🙏❤️
Thank you for exposing this fake taiji... I 100% agree with you.. I've been teaching for 30 years and I see more and more of these cheap/fake "instructors"... thanks for your video!
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Very well said! It’s almost as if just because someone is louder, they are being heard more, whereas well studied humble martial artists keep to themselves. Jake mace Lololol ugh.
The empty wagon makes the most noise.
Needed saying - well done, and thankyou 🙏
Thanks for being vocal. Coach He Weiqi, a close friend to Aiping was my teacher. I've been vocal about fake taiji for decades, good marketers with no skill and bad form. I've been against people displaying "woo-woo" skills that would never work in the ring or cage even against a amateur wrestler or boxer, but only works on their mindless co-operative devout student. Of course I am seen as the bad person for saying thing publicly. Cheers
Hi Matt! So happy to hear from you! We hung out almost 20 years ago at A Taste of China All Taijiquan Championships :) I always wanted to reconnect. You can find my contact info in the About section. It would be great to catch up ❤️
Thank you for calling the FAKE out! Your points are well articulated. I am laughing and getting angry at the same time watching the FAKES making easy money.
Thank you 🙏❤️
I completely heard what you said about the value of learning in person. I did receive training from an excellent authentic teacher many years ago and am searching for an online school. Plus I’m moving to a rural area and don’t think I will find in person classes. I may have the opportunity to teach children a year from now. I think it would be excellent for children with various disabilities. My son has Tourette’s and we homeschool. I would like to start with him but it’s been 20 years and I’ve forgotten much of what I learned. I considered Paul Lam’s Tai Chi for Health Institute as a possibility. That one stood out because I have a passion for natural healing and often study health. I just found your site and see it as a great asset on this journey. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
This has been done in America for a long time with many disaplin. I think your application is fantastic! The people do it with Thai Qi, Yoga and other things. Anything they can do to make money!
I love the way you teach on line and have started following you. As a senior. I can't come to your location, but love your approach.
Thank you so much 🙏❤️
As a tai chi practitioner for 15 years I have wondered a long time how to teach the art online or with dvd, but it's just impossible. The true art is transmitted via feeling and touch from the master. Without that Tai Chi is just a shell.
This is why our school will always be my primary focus because it really does require personal in-person instructions. Sadly, the consequence of the explosion of these online and weekend certification programs is you have more and more instructors out in the community teaching very poor quality McTaiChi. And as these instructors take over all the teaching jobs in the community, the instructors who do know it authentically don't get the same teaching jobs they used to so they have to stop teaching in order to get jobs that pay the bills. So what's a person to do when they don't live somewhere with a good school/ instructor near them? Go to the local McTaiChi instructor to learn bad Tai Chi/ fake Tai Chi in-person? Stop all together? Both are not good options. This is where online resources fill a need until we can produce enough qualified instructors to be in all the communities. But sadly, with your amount of money to me made by these certification programs and by the fitness industry usurping the teaching jobs, I think the ecosystem will get worse, not better :(
Online works well as long as the student touches with the teacher at least once a month.
Online classes provide the teacher a way to help students across a larger demographic to maintain the same viewpoint. The single biggest problem in transmission is leaving the viewpoint up to interpretation. Ones viewpoint and approach to the practice is directly tied to one's psychological framework and related action. Proper TCC starts with
Right Mind which leads to Right Action which translates to Right Speech when teaching which leads to Right Understanding...... Etc (Eighyfold Path)
@@NinjatoSama I myself learned a lot of what I currently know online. I support the Shifu in this video teaching online, because she sets realistic expectations about what it can do for the student and how long it will take to benefit the student.
It works, absolutely. But it’s definitely ideal or even necessary to at *some* point in your life do Tai chi in person. And at very least we should accept it’s not going to get us there as quickly as more intensive in-person training. Depending on the individual it’s possible to truly learn online. But it’s hard, dude.
@@NinjatoSama I agree that the main reason it can be taught online is that the student will interpret for themselves what they will.
The problem though isn’t online lessons. It’s simply misrepresentation. The Shifu in this video isn’t arguing against online lessons. She’s arguing against the “easy way” or “quick way” because it doesn’t exist.
@@davidgeldner2167 yes, I agree. I'm sure why you needed to tell me what I agreed to in the first place
You tell ‘um Shirley! Taichi can’t be learned online. Perhaps with AR or VR in the future it may be possible, but the online certification you mention here is a sham. Keep up the good work.
Well said teacher. I have been a student for 40 years but it is only in the last 13 under the tutelage of a True Teacher. Only recently did I begin to comprehend the 5 Elements, Intention, and Peng. Most people will not invest in failure long enough to learn the external much less the internal. I heard you on Karen Hunter’s show. I was the caller who recommended that she have a Tai Chi practitioner on her show. I told her my understanding is very limited compared to my teacher. He says the same of his teacher. We are all students at different points on the Way.
It’s funny, I see people who criticize Grandmaster Ma Yueh Liang’s form and question his ability because it does not look martial enough for their liking or it does not look like performance Chen Style. Little do they know. This is a life long journey. Good luck on yours
Thank you so much for setting into motion the idea for a Tai Chi teacher to be on Karen's show. It came at the same time my student, Rev Odell Montgomery Cooper came out with her book about overcoming tragedy and trauma and how Tai Chi helped her on her healing journey. She always was trying to find ways to get her African American female friends to know more about Tai Chi and how it can help with their emotional wellness. Our mutual intentions must have all found each other and brought me to the Karen Hunter Show ❤️🙏
Great Analysis! The availablity of Great Neijia Arts instructors are diminishing rapidly! People like her do the same appropriation tactics regarding Yoga.
No doubt
I'd love to see this McTaiji "instructor" stand in Jam Jong for an hour! Great video!
Yes you’re totally right.
It’s a tragedy for the art that so many poorly trained “teachers” are doing this.
Thank you for the post. Seeing videos like this is not surprising. I assisted George Xu over 35 years ago in teaching many of his students Taiji (and Kung Fu). Interesting enough, I saw some advertisement flyers from some of those students within the same week of the lessons teaching "Tai Chi Secrets". While it's true that there are no oversight authorities for Taiji, the risk is that there's plenty who would want to promote themselves without the proper knowledge and experience. There's also the challenge of the "ego" with some of those who want only to be the teacher with no room for learning the actual principles which have been well-handed down in Asia.
Thank you so much for sharing ❤️🙏 Wow 35 years, that's so great.
excellent video. my teacher says at LEAST ten years of study before you can even BEGIN to think of teaching, and the amount I've learned in 5 years has shown me how much more I need to learn. fake taiji is a scourge, which is why the ancient masters kept it so secret. on the upside, the masses' misunderstanding makes my combat techniques more deadly, since no one knows the real stuff, much less how to defend against it. but the downside is that the mass misunderstanding doesn't let me take pride in my accomplishments - there is no mass reverence for the art.
we're in such a weird era in martial arts with the advent of the internet - we can see true masters and their footage dating back to the earliest days of the camera, and we can also be bombarded by the fakers and opportunists.
cheers for making such a strong statement against the fake.
Thank you so much for your comment and insights ❤️🙏
I studied Yang style T'ai Chi Chuan in the early 1970s from Master Marshal Ho of Los Angeles. This was not in LA, but at the Aspen Academy of Martial Arts outside Aspen, Colorado. Our classes were 4 hours per day and 5 days per week. The 4 hours in the morning were the advanced class, and the 4 hours in the afternoon was the beginner class. We usually were there all day, watching the other class and attending our own. We also gathered around 5:30 to 6:00 PM in a park in Aspen for additional practice and informal instruction by senior students and assistant instructors. I learned more about push hands, including the beginning of combat form, in that park. I could not count the times I heard, "keep elbows down!" as my face hit the grass. On weekends we would go for hikes in the mountains, often beginning and/or ending our day with forms practice. It was a reasonably immersive experience. One of the people that had attended both in LA and in Aspen, said the level we were at after this condensed two month program was about the same as the 3-day per week LA students after 1.5 years.
Sadly, life took me elsewhere after only two summers. Over the years, I bought video instructions, first VHS tapes and later DVD, and a number of books, but without a one-on-one initial grounding in T'ai Chi Chuan, they would have done almost no good... little as they did.
If you want to really learn ANY martial art, especially one with the subtleties of T'ai Chi Chuan, find as good an instructor as possible.
Wow, that sounds like the most incredible experience. I am so jealous 😭 thank you so much for sharing that piece of history with us. I really think people today need to hear that there were many students willing to go through that kind of training. So many instructors automatically assume no one will want to do that but you show us that's not true, if it's a good instructor and you're learning something valuable, the students will come 🙏❤️☺️
HI just watched your video and totally agree there is so much crap out there, all i can say is try not to get stressed with it, because when they eventually see the light and see what you are doing is different and the correct way to do Tai Chi they will eventually realise they have been wasting their time and money on rubbish. keep up the good work. Neil
Thank you 😊🙏❤️
I greatly appreciate you doing this video and stating what many of us think!!! All martial arts take a lifetime to master - they are a way of life.
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Shirley, Truth be told, I got away from TCC for this very reason. In this country (USA) I can cou8nt on one hand how many people actually have real Tai Chi skill. I'm not talking about moving through a form correctly, but understand the ins and outs of force manipulation based on the principles and concepts that are written in the classics.
After listening to your talk, I was wondering if you would host a workshop for me to come up and offer an approach that may help make teaching TCC easier and more transmittable to students.. I am a disciple of Grandmaster Sam FS Chin and the Philadelphia Group learder/instructor.
Lan, I would love to have you come up and teach a workshop! I want to host more guest instructors for workshops in our space and would love to host you! I'll reach out on FB and we can set a date for spring 2023 :)
Thank You. I appreciate this video
Thank you for speaking out against fake Tai Chi and articulating your points well. Agree with your issues in this video.
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Hallelujah . You are saying in this video exactly what I've been saying for so long. Taiji without Internal intent, understanding and movement is not Taiji.
Yes, this is perhaps a good moving yoga but that movement is empty, with out any real internal body.
Thank you for putting this video out there.
Oh, and because of teachers who give people what they think is Taichi, the real teachers don't get recognized .😢
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and insights🙏♥️
Having said that, I enjoy a number of your videos. The coming-to-standing meditation pose is one of the best I have experienced. As an older guy, the improving spine stability video is very helpful. I'm working on it.
Good content hopefully increases views and helps folks! We all start with limitations, biases, and scattered information. In general, I think it's better to talk to each other rather than about each other. This RUclips format is better suited for the latter. On the other hand, there are wonderful discussions, debates between folks with different ideas on RUclips as well.
Perhaps that is a fruitful direction regarding the increasing challenges to the growth and interest in tai chi and qigong. This parallels so many current charged areas: what is the real yoga, the real sushi, the real jazz. On and on.
Unfortunately, we are caught in this negative spiral: if we can talk about it, we can fight about it, and then establish tribal camps.
Like children throwing words around like in the telephone game. The boundaries between our real and virtual worlds are dissolved.
So here we are.
Thank you 🙏 ❤️ I do appreciate your perspective. I will have to say that one of the great things about Tai Chi is it should help people be able to confront pressure. We shouldn't fall apart when our tires are kicked in a little. There is no Tai Chi without the ability to balance yin and yang. Positive and negative are all part of the whole. I know the Open the Door program got a lot of visibility after my video and it got new followers who think it's the perfect program for them. And that's great because it was a choice made with open eyes. I also agree more content and more discussion is good for the development of the art.
Well said. As long as we continue to discuss issues there is some movement. Thing is, we don't know the directions the "flow" of conversation, like water, will go. By the way, if I didn't say before, I see you continue to add excellent content. And speaking of levels, I suspect it is not easy to shape teaching to the great variety of learners out there.
We are a work in progress. @@AipingTaiChi
so. i'm 49 years old and my body is full of aches and pains. can tai chi help me to get fit and healthy again? and where can i learn from scratch? i'm in staffordshire, england.
I do believe practicing Tai Chi can help you get fit and healthy again. All good Tai Chi instructors will tell you that the best way to start is finding a good teacher to learn from in person. Online resources can serve as a guide but true learning needs to be done with an instructor who can see you and place their hands on you so you can understand how tiny adjustments can make a profound difference. I am not familiar with the Staffordshire area but I know there are many really good Tai Chi instructors in England. I recommend doing what many of us have done when we started our journey. Visit every single school and try a class and evaluate how the instructor moves and teaches and how the students move. Then talk with the students after class and listen to their experiences, how long they have been studying there, what they say. You don't need to know much to be able to evaluate which schools are the good ones. Good luck!
Mr. Roberts. I am 74 years old and began my studies with Shifu Shirley two years ago. I have bursitis in both shoulders the right being severe, stenosis in my lower lumbar, because of my lower back I have misalignment from my left hip down my left leg, the stenosis and misalignment pinches my sciatic nerve causing periodic trauma, osteoarthritis in most of my joints, and from a Lyme disease infection I contracted many years ago I have neuropathy in both feet. I know I'm only a single example, but I assure you my Tai Chi study has improved my mobility, balance, mitigated the severity of my pain, and made my mental state far, far better than it was this time last year when any movement was painful. Now I sleep through the night and have energy throughout the day. The counterfeit forms of Tai Chi that Shifu Shirley refers to in this video would have you think Tai Chi doesn't have to be difficult so to accommodate an uninformed public they offer a McDojo form of the internal martial art that fast tracks you to a healthy recovery. You and I know there is no such thing. It takes time, learning, concentration, and dedication to a lifetime of discovery of Tai Chi's physical and mental balance, intent, and energy, and oh yeah, some pain along the way as the body begins to heal. Follow Shifu's advice. Visit schools, see for yourself, speak to others as well as the teacher and his/her students, and trust your instincts. I did and am eternally grateful.
The main issue i see here is the requirements to encourage others to learn TC for health as well as the mental benefits which they can apply to their own well being. In order to teach/instruct others in these forms, one has to have some approval/certification in order to pass on the ways of the past. Being certified by an organization allows me to instruct at various gyms/fitness centers with regards to these facilities operating insurance policies. But the issue is, do instructors just follow what i call a "basic" requirement for legal purposes, or do they look to advance their knowledge of the "Masters" practices and skill to their requirements. I personally follow a few of the Masters and their practices and add them to my basic instruction. I appreciate your videos which you allow the public to view, as it adds another (feather in my hat, so to say) definition to each move and practice to my study and instruction. Many thanks to you for your presentations and views as well as "passing the torch" to the next generation of practioners. May you continue to carry on your masters/family studies...
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and insights 🙏♥️
Finally I found a serious and professional person who found this Fake Taichi web site.....it's totally obvious as soon you see these movement. You don't need to be an expert to notice that.
The disturbing here is how they are using names of the companies that they are are not in any way to Taichi or QiGoing. Thank you for your opinion and point of view.
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OMG her "tai chi" rotation!... 🤣 if someone open a window she falls!
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Thank you, I called them out many times, they berated and insulted me as some one who has practiced and studied with Chinese masters for over 50 years....they are so insulting....
This is a very important video! Very well thought out, expressed, and executed! I have been doing martial arts since 1968 including Japanese, Filipino, and Chinese arts, have multiple high dan ranks in Okinawa Ti (I've lived in Okinawa for 20 years) and jujutsu, and studied Wing Chun, Tai Chi/Qi Gong and Filipino MA for many years. I had my own dojo for 10 years back in the US where I did teach the fundamentals of Tai Chi/Qi Gong as well as there is much cross over between all the arts, but as you implied, they also have very serious differences - foundational, internal, and external, that must be understood. I stopped giving out ranks as ranks are not commensurate with the sheer desire to learn. I also did not charge anything after the 1st year if the student was serious and continuously worked hard. After 1 year of paying a nominal fee, just to see if the student would stick with it, only donations were accepted. I do not believe that anyone is qualified to teach any martial art until they've been doing that art for many years, and they can only teach up to two levels below their level. And I do not believe in being called a master unless that person has been teaching (and learning) continuously for at least 30 years. Sensei or Sifu meaning teacher is acceptable, but not master.
Just sparked an interest in tai chi and know nothing about it, but came across this video. Thank you for this.. this act goes for a lot of things people are doing nowadays making fake versions of things. I appreciate this. Makes so much sense ♡ and you can also see how bad she's doing omg
Thank you so much for sharing this ❤️🙏 I'm so glad this sparked an interest in Tai Chi for you and really glad you can get started on your journey with a little better knowledge on what to look for and what to look out for as you find teachers. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions on anything.
ive dont capoeira for over a decade and ive literally seen the exact same thing happen. miss, thank you for making this video.
This is my second year in a Tai chi school , and i understand how impossible is to learn just online. My respect to this ancient and beautiful art. Thanks Sifu 🙏🏻☯️
It is my hope that advances in technology can make online learning a better experience but we are definitely a long way off
You cant learn Tai chi on line, no way. if you want to look at Tai Chi on line then look at Dong yingjie long form or look at Master wang Zhi Xiang. Tai Chi is for life and takes a life time to learn, and it takes practice at least twice a day every day until it becomes a natural to your daily life. Neil
I completely agree with your defense of this most amazing art. I have dedicated years to study and practice of Taijiquan, taught to me in its trzditionre, including the cultural significance. Deep bows of respect to you.
Rag
Typo...Ray
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Thank you for pointing out the stuff
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A very late reaction but you're so right, however it is difficult to find a good teacher (at least here in The Netherlands). Appearantly I went to the wrong teacher, after one year of lessons I told my teacher "well, at least now I know the direction to look, perhaps one day I'll learn how tai chi works" I should have followed Dianne's course, certified and all in a few months :D :D.
In my opinion it's impossible to learn without teacher and practice and it's NOT easy at all. But then if you watch somebody who mastered his/her trade everything looks easy until you try it yourself without knowledge.
I discovered your channel a few weeks ago and thank you for your content, it's very educational.
This is the day and age. People also think they can fully understand fitness and rehab exercises online. It's not the same like learning years and decades together with people in the same room, see, touch, correct, talk.
There is good reason to be upset as taiji becomes diluted.
You will draw the type of students to you who recognize what you have and who wish to learn with you. The lineage will continue.
The part I find very reveling is that it cost you $120. each year to keep your "certification". You are only certified to teach watered-down taichi for $120 a year or you are no longer certified to do that.
New to your channel. Love your content. I do Wu Style(Shanghai Wu). You have a really good gift of articulating your points very well I am a fan! Subbing!
It is challenging to be an authentic teacher,let alone be qualified to teach an art that relies on a feeling that has to be directly experienced, properly transmitted,and subtly corrected by a teacher who knows how to avoid the pitfalls and keep a student from reinventing the wheel. Thanks for this video.
A friend of mine introduced me to some of Jake Mace's RUclips clips..... we both haven't laughed so hard!
His bank account has the last laugh tho 😒
Agree with you, it's like someone that has no understanding of dancing hula, and teaches hula with even knowing the culture. It goes deeper than just moves and dancing. It hurts the teacher that learned from their predecessor. I just started this art 3 years ago, and so so so much to learn.
2 years into my training, training intensely 3x a week under direct supervision of my teacher, she asked me to be one of her assistant instructors. There was no way I knew enough to teach out on my own outside the school. But apparently you can watch a few videos and then you're a certified Tai Chi instructor 😒
Shirley, thank you for calling out the BS and promoting REAL Taiji. The world needs more people like you.
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When I got certified to teach "Taichi for balance" not one other learning knew any Taichi and the instructor and creator of the state certification program only knew form. At least they labeled it "for balance". I took the opportunity to teach elderly some real Taiji foundation during the study and found it's actually easier to teach elderly than youth. I need to go back because it may be easier to produce elderly students who can express jin because their Peng surpasses their strength faster than the young.
I like the Tai Chi for Balance programs. They are very targeted and specific and help people who have limited mobility with a thoughtful program with lots of oversight. If this particular program were along those lines, I wouldn't have criticized it at all. I don't even criticize Tai Chi Easy or Tai Chi Chih because along the same lines, they are very clear what they are and what they aren't. I saw a comment on a RUclips video from someone who is taking this particular online certification program thanking the creator that his video explained how to shift weight properly and turn. She couldn't figure it out from the videos that come with the certification. There's no test or evaluation you need to take to get your certification. Kudos to this person who actually wanted to know what she is doing before she goes out to teach others. But I can only imagine how many of these thousands of certified instructors didn't do that and assumed they are actually qualified to teach because they have a certificate.
So true! I appreciate you're taking this up. I've learned Tai Chi Yang style 30 years ago from a very traditional Chinese master. Ever since I've seen so much fake Tai Chi everywhere, it hurts, even though it's not my culture. Unfortunately, the infighting you mention is a very real thing, and it's so destructive. On the other hand, there's no way of stopping this. The same thing happened to yoga, to meditation, Christianity, it happens to everything because the Western mind is so respectless and arrogant, we believe we can do everything better without even understanding it.
In the end, there will always be only a few who search for and will find the real thing and luckily, people like you are here too. The big majority always wants shortcuts, and will find them, no matter what. For them, it's just entertainment, a fashion, a way to waste some time, and it's still better they waste their time learning fake Tai Chi than going shopping or doing other, more silly things. 99% of them will do this for a short while and then move on to a new distraction. And the distraction providers will continue to provide. When a true master only has 150 followers, well that's 150 people who have found the real thing. There will never be more because the big majority is not interested in finding anything other than distractions from their unhappy lives.
So, don't worry too much. It just the natural way of humans. Continue with your good work and appreciate the people who appreciate you.
Amituofo.🙏
Yea, and Jack Mason..... don't get me going...the people who believe him deserve him😂
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I laud Aiping Tai Chi for being forthright, Sifu's two goals: 1). teaching classical principles of tai chi chuan (as my associate in the arts, Master Watson among a myriad of masters in the art I've encountered for over 50 years continue to do) and 2). finding harmony within tai chi instructor's "fractured community" who, regardless, continue to teach students at all levels of development. Harmony among students and teachers that truly endures and ripples out into the wider world comes from "wudi" or ethical integrity, meaning we who instruct others are there for giving, not for getting. I'm afraid this CT. business person is in it forgetting and is eminently forgettable Unlike the immortals at Aiping Tai Chi.
❤️❤️🙏🙏 Our school symbol IS 平 harmony :) Although I guess I wasn't very harmonious criticizing this program 😬 But the harmony I am seeking is with my fellow brothers and sisters here with the same goals as me.
Bravo Sister!👏👏👏👏👏👏 There is no secret sauce. It doesn’t exist. Taiji is a deep and complicated art that takes time. Only one way to do it right.
I love your videos!
Classic video, very true and funny too.
Subscribed to support truth on Tai Chi Chuan.
I have seen so many awful TCC classes or teachers. It is deeply sad.
Competitions/ Competition forms and the clear issues with competition rules
affecting real push hands training I feel is also an issue because it still bastardises Tai Chi
Sport arts have to change to fit the rules so whilst it is fun they still need to focus on the real training more so
Tai Chi is such a great art, deep and a wonderful personal journey.
Thank you 🙏❤️
Great article, straight to the point! Those idle motions don't even claim to resemble any connection with inner feelings. You know what! One has to have been practicing Tai-Chi for sometime to see the difference. Otherwise one's sure to become her follower. To avoid the issue Chinese Sport commity should publish the unambigues claim of authentithity check for those teacers, without which nobody, wherever he or she may reside would have no right to teach Tai-Chi. Even if their hands seem to be in the right position. Which is not the case here at all.
Thank you 🙏
Besides the in-fighting in the Chinese martial arts community the other group of people hitting "dislike" on traditional martial arts videos, particularly tai ji quan and internal arts, are the MMA meatheads, many of whom value niu li ( 牛力）above all else and do not recognize the value of traditional technique. While this is largely due to unskilled "masters" misrepresenting internal arts, some traditional tai ji quan shifu have neglected the quan part of their art to such an extent that they can not apply it in anything resembling realistic combat. As you hinted at, Tai Ji Quan is supposed to be a martial art. I agree that if people just want some simple health benefits they should go do some kind of Qi Gong or Yoga pranayama and not ruin a traditional quan fa.
Hello to have an optimal results in our practice should we do only the Tai Chi Fundamentals: Rooting & Balance exercices for one year before we go to the next chapter of your program Parting Wild Horse's Mane & Repulsing the Monkey ?
Hi Thom. I don't think that's necessary but rooting and balance should always be practiced even when working on other movements. It's the core foundation of all other movements
@@AipingTaiChi you mean stay in static position on each movement of the form? How do you advise in time ?
A good video, unfortunately pointing out a well known issue. It's arguably easier and more damaging to fake the internal arts because of the difference in how people see these arts and what their focus is.
I personally have an issue similar to this where I live. I have a martial arts teacher who is legitimately great at Karate. But a few years back he picked up selling Tai Chi classes as well. But he sells his art as Shaolin Tai Chi and the movements are clearly Karate with some movements that look like generic kungfu. But people where I live aren't heavily exposed to many different arts, so they know no better.
I practice Chen Style Tai Chi, and have for many years for reference. But because of that I know how much dedication you need to the art to be skilled and experienced enough to teach it.
To the few people I provide rudimentary training to they always talk about the small details and complexity even in what seem to be very basic movements. But these make all the difference in the perceivable yet indescribable quality of a properly executed form.
I do hope in the future the true arts are allowed to shine through this fog of falsehoods.
Edited for typo
I have a student who studied Tai Chi for 10 years at a karate school, thinking she was learning the real thing. She thought it was the real thing because they incorporated a lot of applications in the teaching But then she started reading more about it and realizing she wasn't actually learning it at all. She was only learning slow karate being taught as Tai Chi. She regrets she wasted 10 years because she didn't know any better and now she has 10 years of bad habits to empty out of her cup.
Thank you for this video. I agree with you, particularly about the one school you highlighted -- the contrast between the fake teacher and your master is phenomenal. For me you've opened up many, many questions. Even as far back as the 1960s when Cheng Man-Ching opened his school in New York he created quite a stir with older Chinese people not wanting him to teach Taiji to foreigners at all. He was criticized for his "watered-down" version of Taiji.
Yoga is going through a lot of similar controversies also. I remember back in the 1970s when Hatha Yoga was first introduced separate from the Hindu cultural background and the controversies arose, again with the main criticism that it was a "watered-down" version of true Yoga. As a Zen practitioner, we run into the same thing with questions of "watered-down" Zen and cultural appropriation.
How do we incorporate Taiji or Qigong or Chan (Zen) into our day-to-day lives with the deepest respect possible, yet as an American? Americans are not Chinese. You have showed us one way -- to be wary of fake Taiji teachers.
I'm headed to China soon for a several month stay, unfortunately there I have even less skills in determining who is a real and who is a fake Taiji teacher and I have no doubt there are many fake taiji "instructors" in China who teach old people in the parks and who would love to take a foreigner's money. Maybe it's just trusting my gut feeling. While I can't articulate the differences between Cheng Aiping and the "fake instructor," I just know who is real and who is fake, the difference is palpable. When I saw your video on the tribute to Michelle Yeoh, I could see the depth of your practice, the inner calm and strength.
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Well thought out and well articulated. I agree there is a market for legitimate teachers but that is not the way to form them. An experienced martial artist can easily see her lack of balance, poor focus, and jerky mivements. However, your teacher is amazing and so are you!
I look forward to watching and learning from your videos. I will check out how I might be able to learn from you both online and in person.
Dr Randy “Doc”
p.s. a real docor.
Thank you so much Dr. Randy ❤️🙏
Everyone! Please do due diligence when people claim expertise in any Martial Art (or actually any studies that interest you to pursue). Legit teachers should be able to provide VERIFIABLE proof of their lineage, who they studied under, where they studied, exact titles, achievements, and qualifications that they claim to have.
I actually googled the Woman offering this McTaiChi Mastery (it comes with Fries) course and cannot find any proper qualifications regarding her expertise in Tai Chi other than a claim to having a 4th-degree black belt in Taekwondo in a place not listed, from a Teacher not listed. I could call the United States Taekwondo Association to even verify that claim but I do not care to waste my time any further regarding Ms. Bailey.
Beware of lack of transparency regarding studies because that actually is a cultural appropriation RED FLAG.
I thank Shifu Shirley Chock for this Video.
A most basic, fundamental axiom from the classics is that the arms don't move independently of the waist. "The spine is like a banner pole, and the arms are likened to a banner." Flowery arm movements have nothing to do with tai chi. That alone disqualifies this "teacher".
No gong fa, no peng jin. Thank you for calling this out 🙏
Thank you Shifu ....
Bravo! You are absolutely right!
I applaud you for calling out the charlatans, as they really are doing untold harm to authentic tai-chi chuan in every aspect. And in the end, there really is no easy way to learn it, if you really want the real deal.
It's otherwise known as sweat equity, or eating bitter.
Thank you ❤🙏
I completely agree with everything in this video.. The missing element is this is not news.. If you look at Dr Yang Jwing Mings book Tai Chi Chuan Martial Power read his preface from 1986. That will help you see this is nothing new and happens also inthe external styles. It is said there are only 2 things you should never become upset about. One, things you cannot control. Two, things you can control. Real issue, people who think they can improve Tai Chi Chuan.
Especially those who even give out certificate after a 2 to 3 months course (1 day a week of training). Quite embarrassing even to have such a certificate. Just the basic 24 form takes me more than 2 years, still I am not graceful enough with my movements, still got a long way to perfection
Could you recommend a teacher in the city? Have you considered teaching here, even once a week? 🙏
The city as in NYC?
@@AipingTaiChi Yes :) I have found so many of your videos helpful. Really appreciate what you are doing. Thank you!