Seeking Advice

[kidswarrior]

Flatlander said it best...

After personally going through several starts and stops with several different arts/schools/instructors, some with privates, some not, over a period of almost 15 years, have to agree with Drac: Flatlander says it best. Follow your passion; the rest will follow. (And I can justify not offering specifics because the rest of my fellow posters here have already done such a comprehensive job of providing so many how's to make this work). Good luck Yeti! Just trust your gut. :ultracool

 

[Yeti]

Also, when everyone in a class trains, they tend to "feed off each other" in a good way, that people are energized by someone else training hard.

Finally, if you train regularly with a good group of folks, don't be surprised if some of them end up becoming some of the best friends in the world you could ask for.

I must say that I am leaning toward what the majority of you guys have said. BUT...Grenadier makes a very good point and one that I've thought long and hard on. That is something that I do miss from my earlier training. I do know that there are others in this class that can only train once per week....perhaps they would be available at a time when I am as well and we could have our own "group" class outside of the school.

Man!...isnt' this supposed to be easy?

Thanks again.

 

[Flying Crane]

I would say take the privates, if you have already done your homework and are feeling pretty strongly that your interest in that art is significantly greater than the other. Maybe give the group class a chance, just to be sure, but otherwise, go with the privates.

Much of my training for the past 10 years or so has been done this way. My sifu teaches a tai chi class that is geared mostly at middle-aged people who want exercise and health. But my sifu has an extensive history training the traditional fighting arts. So he has been giving me private instruction in the things that he doesn't teach to the main tai chi group. This includes the more difficult elements of tai chi, like Chen style, the weaponry involved such as sword and broadsword, and the traditional external arts like Tibetan White Crane, Shaolin Lohan, and stuff like that. This is the kind of thing that he teaches me, on the side, after the tai chi for health group is done.

Yes, I do pay extra for the privates. Yes, sometimes they are short. Yes, my progress depends largely on my own motivation to train, 'cause he doesn't stand there and tell me "do it again. do it again. do it again." Rather, he shows me, makes sure I have it down, then I practice while he works with others. He will check up on me, and I can always ask for more clarification if I need it, but I have to be motivated to learn. He won't pound it into me otherwise. But this works well for me. Training has always been a very personal and rather private thing for me, and I am ok working like this.

I feel that you really learn the material when you are forced to grapple with it yourself, rather than just following along with a group. If you follow too much, you only learn to follow and mimick. You need to take the stuff, think about it, and make it your own. This only happens when you work it without someone constantly looking over your shoulder.

Yes, there are shortcomings. I am learning things that others have not learned from him, so that often means a lack of training partners. He has old injuries that prevent him from working a lot of the hands-on applications with me, so I do a lot of basic technique and forms. There are one or two other students with whom I can mix it up a bit from time to time, but I realize it isn't as much as it should be. But that's the way it is, and I am learning things that are somewhat rare, and are really interesting and unusual. For that, I am content.

My sifu has told me, when he studied Tibetan White Crane with his uncle, his uncle would show him one thing, make him repeat it, then go into the back room and read the paper for an hour. Then he would come back, and check on my sifu's progress. He'd make a few adjustments and clarifications, then leave him alone to train again. That was the traditional way it was done. The student was responsible for his own progress. For many people, this can be very frustrating, as we as a culture tend to expect things to be handed to us on a silver platter in outline form. But for me, it works and I've learned some great stuff that I would not have had the chance to learn otherwise.

So that's my take on it.

 

[IcemanSK]

I would go where my interests lie, rather than just what's available.