videos of tai chi push hands, sticky hands, spar, the form

[cgarland]

what do you make of this, it looks like real power, a solid root, adhering to tai chi principles, very effective,

http://www.internalartsonline.com/video.htm

[Josh Young]

i would label it as better than average, but my opinion is that there is too little information in the videos to make an informed judgment about it
http://www.internalartsonline.com/questionanswer.htm
I like it more than a lot of what i have seen being marketed, if you have it available and close then it seems worth it,
but then the test of it is so much more than can be seen online or printed in words
if it works for you then that is great, but is it taking the group approach or the individual approach, because ultimately as a human being one must employ the individual approach in the end, despite the group approach being useful in the beginning

[cgarland]

i would label it as better than average, but my opinion is that there is too little information in the videos to make an informed judgment about it
http://www.internalartsonline.com/questionanswer.htm
I like it more than a lot of what i have seen being marketed, if you have it available and close then it seems worth it,
but then the test of it is so much more than can be seen online or printed in words
if it works for you then that is great, but is it taking the group approach or the individual approach, because ultimately as a human being one must employ the individual approach in the end, despite the group approach being useful in the beginning

the class takes the individual approach, the teacher does not believe in teaching as a group. we have an advanced class that does certain drills as a group but that is a little different. it is harder to see in a video exactly what is going on. the one thing that has continued to impress me is the teacher does not want his butt kissed, he wants his art, and pushing ability to be tested and has always encouraged us to get as low as we want and try as hard as we can. some of the pushing hands videos that i have seen out there by contrast seems to show people backpeddling or starting in a stance that does not have much stability, with mark when you get pushed you just go flying stright back as if hit by a train and you can try as hard as you can to stop him. i saw him send a 400 pound guy flying stright back through the air curled up in a ball. i have also witnessed a technique where he sent a blast of chi without making contact with me through cushions and knocked the wind right out of me then with a few pats on my back i was fine again within seconds. the defense technique is impossible to track, you can try as hard as you want to strike him it feels like you are punching into nothing,

[Josh Young]

interesting,
it does not resemble any push hands i have ever seen before
in the group i was initiated in there is the following sequence of push hands learning:
single hand pattern
two hand pattern
two hand pattern stepping forward and backward (3 forward, 3 backward)
Da-lu pattern (diagonal stepping)
free play (no set pattern or stepping)

here is how i test a teacher's skill:
play with his pupils, if none of them have the skill of the teacher then it doesn't matter how good the teacher is
if the pupils have the skills you want to learn, the teacher is good
if only the teacher has the skills, then the teacher is a good martial artist, but not a good teacher

i'd love to test some of his students

[cgarland]

interesting,
it does not resemble any push hands i have ever seen before
in the group i was initiated in there is the following sequence of push hands learning:
single hand pattern
two hand pattern
two hand pattern stepping forward and backward (3 forward, 3 backward)
Da-lu pattern (diagonal stepping)
free play (no set pattern or stepping)

here is how i test a teacher's skill:
play with his pupils, if none of them have the skill of the teacher then it doesn't matter how good the teacher is
if the pupils have the skills you want to learn, the teacher is good
if only the teacher has the skills, then the teacher is a good martial artist, but not a good teacher

i'd love to test some of his students

i'd love it if you came to a class and spoke with mark and us students, you seem to have some real knowledge, and i have no doubt you would be impressed with mark and some of his students.

[cgarland]

interesting,
it does not resemble any push hands i have ever seen before
in the group i was initiated in there is the following sequence of push hands learning:
single hand pattern
two hand pattern
two hand pattern stepping forward and backward (3 forward, 3 backward)
Da-lu pattern (diagonal stepping)
free play (no set pattern or stepping)

here is how i test a teacher's skill:
play with his pupils, if none of them have the skill of the teacher then it doesn't matter how good the teacher is
if the pupils have the skills you want to learn, the teacher is good
if only the teacher has the skills, then the teacher is a good martial artist, but not a good teacher

i'd love to test some of his students

i'd love it if you came to a class and spoke with mark and us students, you seem to have some real knowledge, and i have no doubt you would be impressed with mark and some of his students.

i was busy ealrier and could not give a full response. i have seen vincent chu refer to the type of push hands that we do as dynamic push hands, he does it a little higher and further away, in my training it was always simply referred to as push hands. we do not do the listed forms that you listed because that is not how mark was taught by sifu lee wah yook and so naturally that is not how he teaches. he does teach sticky hands which is almost sparring. i will tell you that mark is not just a good teacher, he is a great teacher. he does teach all ages, so for example one of his students has overcome arthritis to a significant degree, when she started she could not even walk up the stairs, and she can now move furntiture and i have seen her hold her ground against women much younger and taller and aparently stronger than her. i have personally had experience where i was attacked (not in class) and because of my training i only slightly moved and saw my attacker flip on his back. i dont think i could have done that and remained so calm without training. sure i cannot send chi out of my hand and blast someone without making contact the way mark can, but anyone i have ever demonstrated to has been surprised at my ability. i could be alot better than i am and have a long way to go, and should practice a lot more than i do. the gentleman from the video, steve is actually really good. he has gone into other schools to test the instructor not in an arrogant way and it was all friendly and with instructors permission or his students and no-one has been able to touch him, which makes how easy mark makes it look with steve all the more impressive. seriously, if you ever wanted to come down and check out a class, you would be welcomed, mark is a one of a kind, very rare find, and you will like him, it is a fun very relaxed atmosphere.

[cgarland]

interesting,
it does not resemble any push hands i have ever seen before
in the group i was initiated in there is the following sequence of push hands learning:
single hand pattern
two hand pattern
two hand pattern stepping forward and backward (3 forward, 3 backward)
Da-lu pattern (diagonal stepping)
free play (no set pattern or stepping)

here is how i test a teacher's skill:
play with his pupils, if none of them have the skill of the teacher then it doesn't matter how good the teacher is
if the pupils have the skills you want to learn, the teacher is good
if only the teacher has the skills, then the teacher is a good martial artist, but not a good teacher

i'd love to test some of his students

i'd love it if you came to a class and spoke with mark and us students, you seem to have some real knowledge, and i have no doubt you would be impressed with mark and some of his students.

i was busy ealrier and could not give a full response. i have seen vincent chu refer to the type of push hands that we do as dynamic push hands, he does it a little higher and further away, in my training it was always simply referred to as push hands. we do not do the listed forms that you listed because that is not how mark was taught by sifu lee wah yook and so naturally that is not how he teaches. he does teach sticky hands which is almost sparring. i will tell you that mark is not just a good teacher, he is a great teacher. he does teach all ages, so for example one of his students has overcome arthritis to a significant degree, when she started she could not even walk up the stairs, and she can now move furntiture and i have seen her hold her ground against women much younger and taller and aparently stronger than her. i have personally had experience where i was attacked (not in class) and because of my training i only slightly moved and saw my attacker flip on his back. i dont think i could have done that and remained so calm without training. sure i cannot send chi out of my hand and blast someone without making contact the way mark can, but anyone i have ever demonstrated to has been surprised at my ability. i could be alot better than i am and have a long way to go, and should practice a lot more than i do. the gentleman from the video, steve is actually really good. he has gone into other schools to test the instructor not in an arrogant way and it was all friendly and with instructors permission or his students and no-one has been able to touch him, which makes how easy mark makes it look with steve all the more impressive. seriously, if you ever wanted to come down and check out a class, you would be welcomed, mark is a one of a kind, very rare find, and you will like him, it is a fun very relaxed atmosphere.

correction, it is called fixed push hands and it is the same push hands yeung sau cheung did. sifu lee wah yook leanred this technique from chu gin soon and also travelled to china and learned directly from yeung sau cheung before passing down his system to sifu mark bram.

[cgarland]

I have searched through youtube and the internet tirelessy, I can't find anything that even comes close to what he is doing