ed209Ed: geek, staffer, past participle
122 posts
Location: London, UK


Posted:
Hi all,

I used to do a fair bit of martial arts culminating in a three year love affair with Tai Chi which I've taken a break from to recover from a recurring shoulder injury. In the mean time, staff spinning is filling up the resulting hole in my life.

Just wondering if anyone else here has done Tai Chi before and has any insights to share about links between that and staff - it seems to me that a lot of the principles are shared and could be used to improve what the things I'm learning now.

Cheers,

E wink

GlåssDIAMOND Member
The Ministry of Manipulation
2,523 posts
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom


Posted:
smile

SkulduggeryGOLD Member
Pirate Pixie Crew Captain
8,428 posts
Location: Wales


Posted:
A little bot off topic here but......

I did Tai Chi a very long time ago and I seem to recall there are many different (for want of a better word) 'types'of it. I'd like to have another go at it. I really don't remember all that much about the moves we did back then. Is there a 'type' that is best to do as a beginner? If so how do I go about finding out if there is a teacher in South Wales?

Feed me Chocolate!!! Feed me NOW!


UCOFSILVER Member
15,417 posts
Location: South Wales


Posted:
Try having a click on:

https://www.homeofpoi.com/gallery/showgal...en-ja-men&=



then clicking "Return of the Chi"



"If so how do I go about finding out if there is a teacher in South Wales?"- Ever heard of the internet my love? smile



biggrin

SkulduggeryGOLD Member
Pirate Pixie Crew Captain
8,428 posts
Location: Wales


Posted:
UCoF be nice or I'll have my Assassine Biatch free up the post of Biatch no1 ! lol

Feed me Chocolate!!! Feed me NOW!


UCOFSILVER Member
15,417 posts
Location: South Wales


Posted:
Never.
I shall always be your No.1 biatch

wink

d-eyeGOLD Member
Member
60 posts
Location: Canberra, Australia


Posted:
Written by: ed209


Hi all,

I used to do a fair bit of martial arts culminating in a three year love affair with Tai Chi which I've taken a break from to recover from a recurring shoulder injury. In the mean time, staff spinning is filling up the resulting hole in my life.




You took a break from Tai Chi to recover from a shoulder injury but you are spinning ?

Wouldn't Tai Chi be better for your shoulder than spinning ?

I do an unarmed martial art, but find that the stances are very useful for staff, I am thinking of converting some of our patterns to staff/sword moves - particularly using double.

ed209Ed: geek, staffer, past participle
122 posts
Location: London, UK


Posted:
skulduggery - there are a lot of different Tai Chi styles and they vary in terms of moves, forms etc. but probably the main differences will boil down to indiv. instructors. Some people teach just the slow-moving handform but others teach the whole spectrum of Tai Chi skills including weapons, self-defence and pushing hands (grappling). A ny of the styles would suit beginners; it's more important to find a teacher who covers the range of things you want to learn. The one I did allowed everyone of different levels to work together which was great. Alas, there are no instructors I know of in Australia. Sorry.

UCOF - thanks

D-eye - I tore a tendon in my rotator cuff which scarred really badly. The pushing hands stuff in Tai Chi caused the shoulder to move in most possible directions meaning that every month or so it found a position it didn't like and tore again. Staff so far doesn't do that - I'm finding that by moving the joint and surrounding muscles in a controlled way it's actually helping to strengthen the area.

SkulduggeryGOLD Member
Pirate Pixie Crew Captain
8,428 posts
Location: Wales


Posted:
Thansk for that info ed.... Um I'm in South Wales in the UK not Oz. My bad for not making that clearer. Sorry.

Feed me Chocolate!!! Feed me NOW!


UCOFSILVER Member
15,417 posts
Location: South Wales


Posted:
rolleyes

I get a one word reply. wink

biggrin

ed209Ed: geek, staffer, past participle
122 posts
Location: London, UK


Posted:
Skulduggery - D'oh! No that was plenty clear; apparently when I first read it I must've seen New South Wales. SW might be easier - try www.taichichuan.co.uk. Their listing doesn't have anyone Welsh but if you contact the admin he may be able to help.

UCOF - ubblol (one graemlin reply).

LavatwilightGOLD Member
old hand
834 posts
Location: Wellington somerset, UK


Posted:
biggrin mmm tai chi. it is brilliant stuff is it not?

who are you taught by?

things to go with staff, deffently look at shadow contacty stuff by ben, from that i found the only way to actually do backwards fishys, was to do the chi ball.

I'll put some more input in, maybe later when im not so half asleep

Drawings by chalk minds, strech between the stars

Kyle Mclean-
Contact without dance is like sex without wiggling.
A) it does feel as good
B) it does not look as good on film


duvanancient oachkatzlschwoaf
248 posts
Location: germany


Posted:
sorry for that harsh comment but the video from benjamen doesn't have anything to do with tai chi wink
therefore it's way too fast and too scrappy =:)

LavatwilightGOLD Member
old hand
834 posts
Location: Wellington somerset, UK


Posted:
lol, the thought behind it does, try doing it, propperly, makes it lovley, and the speed induces natrual movement, which is what tai chi aims for, slowed down is just so you can see, and work on the circles, the intent has to be the same as for doing things in real life. so fast slow...no matter, as long as what you do, is natrual

Drawings by chalk minds, strech between the stars

Kyle Mclean-
Contact without dance is like sex without wiggling.
A) it does feel as good
B) it does not look as good on film


ed209Ed: geek, staffer, past participle
122 posts
Location: London, UK


Posted:
I second that. Tai chi doesn't mean slow - we do slow things to learn about how the body ought to move. The self-defence and grappling aspects are done fast as you like as long as the principles are maintained.

Lavatwilight, TC is indeed brilliant. One of the best things I ever took up. Started in the Cambridge Uni society and then did some classes down in London in Dan Docherty's Practical/Wudang Tai Chi school. Looking forward to further awake input smile

Bender_the_OffenderGOLD Member
still can't believe it's not butter
6,978 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
i suppose then that no-one in Australia has even attempted to learn grand-celestial-fist!

Laugh Often, Smile Much, Post lolcats Always


ben-ja-menGOLD Member
just lost .... evil init
2,474 posts
Location: Adelaide, Australia


Posted:
Written by: duvan


sorry for that harsh comment but the video from benjamen doesn't have anything to do with tai chi wink
therefore it's way too fast and too scrappy =:)




nice one very constructive, i learnt lots from it thanx

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourself, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous and talented? Who are you NOT to be?


ed209Ed: geek, staffer, past participle
122 posts
Location: London, UK


Posted:
Bender, I just meant that for the style I learned, I couldn't find any listed instructors in Oz, not that none existed! Sorry mate. wink

GlåssDIAMOND Member
The Ministry of Manipulation
2,523 posts
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom


Posted:
Duvan is someone who knows of what he speaks in this thread smile.

StoneGOLD Member
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
sure ed209, I did some Tai Chi at easter confest, and I think it’s all pretty similar movements really. The tough thing I found, was slowing down enough to learn properly.

ubblove

If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh


LavatwilightGOLD Member
old hand
834 posts
Location: Wellington somerset, UK


Posted:
ok i am awake, so some more imput is on its way.....
the self defence in the tai chi, and the bigger slightly more showey kung fu (fung shau( that isnt spelt wrong but that i cant change))
really is something else, transfer that in to creating a hole for the staff to fall in, not moving out of the way, but drawing, and expressing through the stick, and as my master says, it is one of the best ways to show where you fall off in the from, as it makes every thing external.

What i said about the chi ball, thing ben does, was, to find how to do, reverse fishtails, after a lot of practice, and failing, was to do the ball ex, as it makes you move from your center, as to keep the ball, ball shape (for want of a better epression). and rotate, as should be done, around the thumb edge.

By no way am i that experianced in tai chi, or kung fu, but these things i have found.

and you can on occastion, do as is ment by the whole lot, and find the energy/ballance/center point and sit on it, whilst spinning....
the moving meditaion that is the tai chi...

please correct me, if you dont agree with what i have said, or have put something wrongly

Drawings by chalk minds, strech between the stars

Kyle Mclean-
Contact without dance is like sex without wiggling.
A) it does feel as good
B) it does not look as good on film


duvanancient oachkatzlschwoaf
248 posts
Location: germany


Posted:
don't take it personal benja wink

well see, the only thing I see you do is a nice fishtail variation
but I feel kinda offended if someone calls this Tai Chi frown

Tai Chi is lots more of coordination of the whole body, it's much slower and lust but not least it has a much more intensive structure

LavatwilightGOLD Member
old hand
834 posts
Location: Wellington somerset, UK


Posted:
ok was working a lot the other day, with foot patterns, and seeing where they let me go, or where going lead me, depending on how much i was concentrating, the less concentration the better it was.

altho i am trying to get something, i just need to be able to grasshopper correctly, with weight transfer solid in the air, then some strange leg stuff can work......need somehow to learn a life times worth of stuff in a week or two.....

Drawings by chalk minds, strech between the stars

Kyle Mclean-
Contact without dance is like sex without wiggling.
A) it does feel as good
B) it does not look as good on film


yoniGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,099 posts
Location: Bideford and Bath, United Kingdom


Posted:
there's a place that does thai chi near me but generally i don't have time to do it at the moment. i've done a bit before bt not since i started staff and it was to long ago now to remember and apply it now. is it worth learning from a book or should i just continue striving to get more time to do stuff so i can learn of a teacher

UCOF "evolution: Poi -> stick -> hoops -> devil stick -> juggling club -> juggling ball -> crayons."

Supergroovalsticprosifunkstication
In other words, it's the thumps bump


LavatwilightGOLD Member
old hand
834 posts
Location: Wellington somerset, UK


Posted:
depends on how your style evolves, and if you did it for a while, before then what you learnt will never leave you, you will find your self doing it with no thought

Drawings by chalk minds, strech between the stars

Kyle Mclean-
Contact without dance is like sex without wiggling.
A) it does feel as good
B) it does not look as good on film


ed209Ed: geek, staffer, past participle
122 posts
Location: London, UK


Posted:
I'm of two minds about that. You will remember some of what you learnt, but it's not quite like riding a bicycle. If you stop practicing, I think you start getting pretty rusty. I've not trained for about two years now and I don't think I can seriously consider myself a martial artist anymore.

Oh and yoni, my opinion is that it is impossible to learn Tai Chi (or actually any martial art for that matter) from a book in any serious way. You might scratch the surface but there is absolutely no substitute to finding a good teacher and people to practice with. For a start, the book won't give you any constructive criticism, and there are a lot of subtleties about martial arts you won't pick up by yourself.

Then again, maybe I should take up my own advice and get off my ass and get back into training biggrin

LT: I also find that there's a sort of zone of concentration (or lack of) where everything comes easier. If I think too hard, my body does the action of the move without actually considering what the staff is doing, with the result that mostly it just falls off. The lessons that I think the pushing hands I did can bring to learning contact staff is to try and not to do rigid set movements but to do the movements in reaction to the staff.

Monkey of the Voidnewbie
3 posts
Location: Adelaide, South Oz


Posted:
Hello Ladies and Germs,
I am a monkey, and I am new to this whole posting game. I have a little experience training with various Tai Chi exponents, so if my knowledge can be of benefit to anyone, I will be a happy lil' monkey.
In response to the question of whether Tai Chi has anything to offer staff, I think that the key to both is staying sensitive. That does not mean you should give your staff a cuddle after a good twirl, it means that you should never have to fight the staff into position. Feel where it wants to go, and let it do the work. This approach works best with larger staff as they have a bit more momentum to work with. This is the approach in Tai Chi. You do not resist force, you yield to it. If it has nothing to push against or pull on, it is easy to unbalance.
Thank you for reading this.
Have a lovely day.

Beware the Rampaging Monkey...


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