# Question about learning TC



## charyuop (Feb 27, 2009)

Hello. I doubt many of you will remember me so before asking my question I give you a little background.

I started doing TC under the training of a Chinese sifu (well, I had done it before for almost 2 years with videos, but that was my first with a real teacher), but she just teaches it for health and no martial art involved. Ok, to learn the form is more than excellent, so I went there for several months. Not seeing meeting my requirements for the future I started attending even Aikido classes. Unfortunately Aikido, TC, work and family was too much so I had to give up one and TC was my choice to give up.

Now I get to the point. I have been doing Aikido for 3 years now. Just for a mere curiosity I tried the other day to see if I remembered anything of the TC form and I actually did. But the point was not that. My form, even tho a long time I didn't do it, felt much better than it ever did in the past. By doing Aikido I have learned what it means physical contact, what it actually means moving with the center under pressure, how easily you lose the softness when you have two hands pulling and pushing you all around, what it means staying relaxed during a technique yet not being a piece of soft rubber, how to try and remain relaxed when things don't go as expacted and the other person actually does something to you.
Now mind, I am not saying I mastered all of that, but I can recognize now in me when the tension arises and when a movement is disconnected and so on.

I think this experience that I grew doing Aikido made so that I could perform the TC form with a different understanding of what I was doing. Now my question is...is it really possible to grow the same awarness by just performing the form over and over without experiencing a real "conflict" (not talking about ring, but even a paired up practice).

No criticizing involved here. Mine is a honest question. I am just wondering if I could actually get to the same awarness by just doing the form over and over.


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## mograph (Feb 27, 2009)

At the very least, I think you need some kind of friendly resistance applied to your postures and movements.


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 27, 2009)

charyuop said:


> Hello. I doubt many of you will remember me so before asking my question I give you a little background.
> 
> I started doing TC under the training of a Chinese sifu (well, I had done it before for almost 2 years with videos, but that was my first with a real teacher), but she just teaches it for health and no martial art involved. Ok, to learn the form is more than excellent, so I went there for several months. Not seeing meeting my requirements for the future I started attending even Aikido classes. Unfortunately Aikido, TC, work and family was too much so I had to give up one and TC was my choice to give up.
> 
> ...


 
Who are you? 

Answer pretty much no.

You need to train the form over and over again with intent you need to train push hands and, IMO, you need to do free style push hands as well. 

But first and foremost when you are talking Taiji you need the basics (in both form and push hands) and lots and lots of practice (years) and of course patience...lots of patience


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## charyuop (Feb 28, 2009)

http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37652 << I was this one ;P

Thank you for your answers. I asked that question because I thought (clearly I was wrong) that when you learn TC you go on a long time just by learning the form before actually having kind of contact (and I repeat I am not talking about fights with contact).


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## ggg214 (Mar 1, 2009)

i agree with Xue Sheng.
without contact training, such as push hands or free fight, you couldn't understand the form. "understand" here means your body understand, not your mind.
and you can not find out  defects in your body postures.


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