# Tai Chi in 3 minutes, okie dokie RANT TIME!!!



## Xue Sheng (Jan 4, 2007)

WARNING RANT AHEAD :soapbox: 

This is getting down right silly now please please PLEASE make this all go away, that or stop the world I want to get off.

OK, just when I thought it was safe to pop my head up and see if any new Tai Chi teachers were in my area I come across this. 

3 Minute Tai-Chi

In 3 minutes a day you can gain all the benefits of Tai Chi and after you are done you will feel the energy of the ancient masters

GIVE ME A BREAK.   

Apparently Tai Chi has now been made Sooooooooo simple and easy and the words of Tung Ying Cheih or just about any other ancient master that says to master Tai Chi takes time and hard work are COMPLETELY WRONG in todays modern society, we now apparently have developed Microwave Tai Chi, cook a roast in 6 minutes and do Tai Chi in 3. So Im guessing this whole there are no shortcuts is just be some silly superstition. :angry:

As every TRUE taiji practitioner knows from the Chen family right down to you and me it takes much MUCH longer than 3 minutes a day. 

It isnt bad enough that there are self professed taiji masters out there that know ONLY 24 form or just happened to go to ONE seminar of either the Chen or Yang family which magically transformed them into a Tai Chi master, now we have Tai Chi in 3 minutes a day. :flammad:

I think I will start a class how to become a Qigong master in a nano-second. Just think Qi and youre done...no longer any need for years of training and all for $39.95 and I bet I get a class full of people. 

Apparently I have wasted 12 years in Yang style and Qigong when all I needed was 3 minutes.

Rant done but I make no promises :asian:


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## Drac (Jan 4, 2007)

Xue Sheng said:


> I think I will start a class how to become a Qigong master in a nano-second. Just think Qi and youre done...no longer any need for years of training and all for $39.95 and I bet I get a class full of people.
> 
> Apparently I have wasted 12 years in Yang style and Qigong when all I needed was 3 minutes.:asian:


 
Sign me up *TODAY* Xue...It's no funnier than that guy on e-Bay selling a learn at home system that *PROMISED *to make you an elite level black belt in the privacy of your home in *ONE WEEK...*


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## SFC JeffJ (Jan 4, 2007)

I for one are glad you came across this Xue, been a while since I've seen one of your rants.  Kinda short though.

Jeff


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 4, 2007)

Drac said:


> Sign me up *TODAY* Xue...It's no funnier than that guy on e-Bay selling a learn at home system that *PROMISED *to make you an elite level black belt in the privacy of your home in *ONE WEEK...*


 
OK, your in.



JeffJ said:


> I for one are glad you came across this Xue, been a while since I've seen one of your rants. Kinda short though.
> 
> Jeff


 
You have to ease into these things.

Actually I am just a bit to angry about this to do the rant justice. I should have waited a couple of days before ranting, I found this just this moring while having my morning cup of tea and it is just incredibly annoying. 

I suppose I could open a Xingyangchen Wuqiquan school in 5 minute you can learn Xingyi, Yang Style, Chen Style, Wu Style and Qigong by doing the Xingyangchen, Wuqiquan meditation dance and sock hop. Its internal, its external its aerobic its silly and sadly I would have a room full of students. 

Not to be confused with the Taejuchuangzhang spin, jump and waltz style that I will offer next.

For crying out loud... Tai Chi in 3 minutes (shakes head and sighs)


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## SFC JeffJ (Jan 4, 2007)

Xue Sheng said:


> OK, your in.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, we have a few around here like that.  As long as the "instructors" keep stroking the egos of their "students", they'll stay profitable.


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## Jade Tigress (Jan 4, 2007)

Xue you fool! Wasting your time with all that training when all you need is 3 minutes a day. :shrug:

Oh what a sorry state of affairs. *shakes head* Worthy of a Xue rant for sure, don't hold back now!    :asian:


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## bushidomartialarts (Jan 4, 2007)

i have to admit i see very little problem with it.

yeah, it's silly to think that johnny MBA can get the benefits you, xue, have gained from years of study and training in just 3 minutes a day.

on the other hand, johnny MBA doesn't want the benefits you've gained.  at worst, johnny MBA wants to get his yoda on and impress the redhead account executive down the hall with his eastern mystic hobby.  at best, johnny MBA wants to drop his blood pressure, lower his stress, bump his flexibility a wee bit.

and yeah, 3 minutes (which is probably how long it takes to run the form -- not unlike the approved Yang in 8 form, nor too different from the Yang tournament form) will accomplish those goals a little. 

certainly more than if he hadn't done it at all.  and who knows?  maybe the taste will get him hooked and he'll go on to study something more serious.

for my money, anything -- literally anything -- that gets more people involved even peripherally in the martial arts is a good thing.  or at least has a good outcome.


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 4, 2007)

bushidomartialarts said:


> i have to admit i see very little problem with it.
> 
> yeah, it's silly to think that johnny MBA can get the benefits you, xue, have gained from years of study and training in just 3 minutes a day.
> 
> ...


 
I would agree with you but it doesn&#8217;t work that way when it comes to Tai Chi, and it is rarely a good outcome. And it is not the practitioner I am upset with it is the teacher making false claims like in 3 minutes a day you can get all the benefits of the ancients (to be honest the term ancients me too). It is plain stealing from the public in the name of Tai Chi that is all. 

And you are right there are going to be some people that are going just to impress others at how cool and sheikh they are because they do Tai Chi and then there will be others, very few others, that will say hay this is crap and go look for the real thing but there will be more that will use it as ammo to go off and say Tai Chi is no good or go off and show off there new found tai chi when it is certainly NOT tai chi and chip away a little more at the already tarnished reputation of Tai Chi that has gotten that way because of Charlatans such as this claiming you do not need to do anything but Tai Chi for 3 minutes and will have ALL the same benefits as those silly folk that study for years. But the truth is in 3 minutes day they don't get the same benefit they don't feel better and they don't get healtier from this and they then have another reason to say tai chi is no good. They would be better off going for a 3 minute brisk walk, but there is no money in that so call it Tai Chi. 

Try that with Kenpo. Jujitsu, Xingyi, Bagua, Muay Thai, MMA, Judo, Wing Chun, JKD, TKD and you will get laughed out of business but with Tai chi it ok isn&#8217;t it, because it is easy and slow moving and it is just a moving meditation, it isn&#8217;t a martial art so its ok, no big deal, who cares if he calls it Tai chi&#8230; it&#8217;s not a real martial art anyway&#8230;. WRONG.

There is a TKD school near me that is a black belt factory and I have little problem with it for the very reasons you state, it gets people interested and they learn something and they move on to other styles, it gets kids interested in MA, which is very good, but it is still for all intensive purposes TKD. There is a CMA school near me that teaches multiple forms, use to be a good Wushu school before the Sifu decided he liked money more than correct forms but I have less problem with that because they are still at least getting a little reality in training. The sifu actually knows the forms he is teaching, he just is not making his students do it right if they don&#8217;t want to, and many don&#8217;t want to. And some, with the help of this Sifu go to Wushu colleges in China, generally his younger students, but he is at least getting them to a area they want to go to.. Is it a real martial art like the much smaller Wing Chun School down the street? No, but it is at least based on the real forms and the Sifu has real training, I will be honest, many of his students annoy the living daylights out of me because they make statements like &#8220;I don&#8217;t do martial arts I do Tai Chi&#8221; or I am a master of &#8220;Yang, Chen, Wu and Sun styles&#8221;, but at least they are doing the forms or a close facsimile there of in the time necessary. I did have a real problem with him when he designed 2 shortened very badly done forms and forced all to train them, but he has since stopped that practice. 

But calling this stuff Tai Chi, just to try and ride the wave to make money is bilking the public and that is all. Calling it Tai Chi and saying it takes only 3 minutes is marketing at best but in reality it is false advertising.

I have a REAL problem with this. I also had a real problem with the Wing Chun school that use to be here that claimed Wing Chun lineages that it did not have nor did it really teach Wing Chun. It finally degenerated into a police tactics fighting school (which by the way was completely void of police) and then it vanished. BUT it gave a lot of people the ability to go out and say Wing Chun sucks because they trained it, when in fact they didn&#8217;t. 

Tai Chi has so many people out there claiming mastery or false lineages or calling what they do Tai chi when it most decidedly is not you can&#8217;t let this stuff slide. Tai Chi as a martial art is a dieing art because of guys like this. 

And for the record I do not do the Yang in 8 form, my line comes from Yang Chengfu via Tung Ying Cheih and the Beijing 24 form (Yang tournament form) takes longer than 3 minutes, but I no longer do that and the last time I did it looked incredibly traditional.


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## zDom (Jan 4, 2007)

Sweet!

Does it still work if you do two 11-minute sessions per week?

(grins, ducks, and runs away FAST  )


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 4, 2007)

zDom said:


> Sweet!
> 
> Does it still work if you do two 11-minute sessions per week?
> 
> (grins, ducks, and runs away FAST  )


 
Note to self: Remember he is a Hapkido guy so just smile and say no, he could possibly hurt you. :uhyeah: 


ahhhh no... but possibly if you do 3 sessions


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## Rich Parsons (Jan 4, 2007)

opcorn:

I know I will create a new video called *Two (2) minute (Abs) I mean Tai Chi*

It is ok to rant.


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## stone_dragone (Jan 4, 2007)

"Try that with Kenpo. Jujitsu, Xingyi, Bagua, Muay Thai, MMA, Judo, Wing Chun, JKD, TKD and you will get laughed out of business "

I think there is alreay someone trying that.  He used to advertise in Black Belt as a simple self-defense course to add to any other program.  Now I can't find it to quote...


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## bushidomartialarts (Jan 5, 2007)

zDom said:


> Sweet!
> 
> Does it still work if you do two 11-minute sessions per week?
> 
> (grins, ducks, and runs away FAST  )



don't worry.  xue is a tai chi guy.  you can run away slow.  but don't stand still cos if he ever makes contact your _wife_ will feel it.


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## bushidomartialarts (Jan 5, 2007)

those are some good points, xue, that i hadn't really considered before.

but what you're describing happens all the time.  some kenpo guy goes and does a self-defense workshop at the local gym.  everybody and their brother thinks they can pick up sticks and do their own style and call it 'escrima' these days.  i'm embarassed how successfully i've pulled off a 'taebo' class with just some boxing moves and a sense of rhythm.

while i dislike the cynicism of that approach, i can't help but support exposing the general public to these arts we love so much.

what is it about tai chi that makes this somehow worse?


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 5, 2007)

bushidomartialarts said:


> don't worry. xue is a tai chi guy. you can run away slow. but don't stand still cos if he ever makes contact your _wife_ will feel it.


 
Just don't tell him about the Xingyi, I want to surprise em


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## Carol (Jan 5, 2007)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Just what I needed tonight.  A good ol' fashioned Xue Sheng rant!


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 5, 2007)

I aim to please


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## theletch1 (Jan 6, 2007)

Xue, that was a high quality rant!  Americans want everything in a condensed version or instantly and that includes the martial arts.  I've talked to guys about my aikido training and one of the first questions out of their mouths is always "How long does it take to get a black belt".  I'll go through the entire monologue about how it's not about the belt that each of us as true martial arts understand while their eyes glaze over and then they'll repeat "So, how long til black belt." when I finally tell them that the average time is 5 to 7 years their eyes bulge.  The idea of putting in that much time and effort for dan ranking blows their mind...because they don't understand the true reasons for continuing a martial art past the initial "Hey, look what I'm doing" stage.  My instructor has a saying (as all instructors do )  "If you're going to excell at this art it has to permeet your soul, not lather the skin."  The 3 minute tai-chi is simply a little hand soap.  Those that pick it up might get the dirt from beneath their fingernails but the rest of their body will stink to high heaven.  Maybe, as Bushido said, a few will realize that there is so much more to it and seek a real instructor and that is a good thing for the martial arts but the rest of them will wait for the next big fad and then go get a "Be a master of art X in 3 minutes" tape and the tai chi tape will end up on the shelf beside the Jane Fonda workout tape that's still in the plastic wrapper.


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## chris_&#3617;&#3623;&#3618;&#3652;&#3607;&#3618; (Jan 6, 2007)

who ever is doing these "shortcut to a blackbelt" courses are ****ing scrubs.


il tell you what should be done about them: verkill: 

:soapbox:   pisses me off , think how many fake blackbelts there must be.





rant over 



chris


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## chris_&#3617;&#3623;&#3618;&#3652;&#3607;&#3618; (Jan 6, 2007)

chris_&#3617;&#3623;&#3618;&#3652;&#3607;&#3618;;694964 said:
			
		

> who ever is doing these "shortcut to a blackbelt" courses are ****ing scrubs.
> 
> 
> il tell you what should be done about them: verkill:
> ...


 
please excuse my language! got carried away:angel:


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 6, 2007)

theletch1 said:


> Xue, that was a high quality rant! Americans want everything in a condensed version or instantly and that includes the martial arts. I've talked to guys about my aikido training and one of the first questions out of their mouths is always "How long does it take to get a black belt". I'll go through the entire monologue about how it's not about the belt that each of us as true martial arts understand while their eyes glaze over and then they'll repeat "So, how long til black belt." when I finally tell them that the average time is 5 to 7 years their eyes bulge. The idea of putting in that much time and effort for dan ranking blows their mind...because they don't understand the true reasons for continuing a martial art past the initial "Hey, look what I'm doing" stage. My instructor has a saying (as all instructors do ) "If you're going to excell at this art it has to permeet your soul, not lather the skin." The 3 minute tai-chi is simply a little hand soap. Those that pick it up might get the dirt from beneath their fingernails but the rest of their body will stink to high heaven. Maybe, as Bushido said, a few will realize that there is so much more to it and seek a real instructor and that is a good thing for the martial arts but the rest of them will wait for the next big fad and then go get a "Be a master of art X in 3 minutes" tape and the tai chi tape will end up on the shelf beside the Jane Fonda workout tape that's still in the plastic wrapper.


 
There is an old story, which I can never remember when I need it. But it is something like a student goes to a master and asks how long until I am a master and the master says 10 years. The student then says what if I world really hard and do nothing else but kung fu? The master says 15 years. 

Well that was the long way around just to say I agree.

I run into this all the time in Tai Chi, people do not want to put in the time needed to understand what they are doing little alone master it. (I have a hard time with the label master by the way, but that's another post)

I did not and do not see this in Xingyi, probably because my Sifu starts with "you need to stand in Santi" BINGO they leave. 

But Tai Chi is much more subject to this kind of 3 minutes and you can understand all type things and it just sends me over the edge I am already tenuously walking on when it comes to Tai Chi.


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 6, 2007)

chris_&#3617;&#3623;&#3618;&#3652;&#3607;&#3618;;694965 said:
			
		

> please excuse my language! got carried away:angel:


 
You should have seen the unedited version of my initial rant. :soapbox:


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