From Teacher to Teacher!

As I surf the web for articles, videos and other information that would add to our Kung Fu and Tai Chi interests... I find that the various forums are filled with "experts" that know a lot about various martial arts forms and teachers. Even ones they have not themselves studied.

It struck me when I came to a response that renowned instructor Doc Fai Wong had to write to defend his material and the origins of his teaching. He even went to the extreme of having to explain past nicknames that people called him... i.e. the "Five Animal Kid".

Now... I wish I had the kind of background that Doc Fai Wong has. He has studied with some very respectable teachers and has developed an amazing school of his own. I can just imagine having to explain where I learned things if I were under such scrutiny.

I have learned my forms from many different instructors. Sometimes I would start a form with one instructor and due to their moving or other reasons, I would have to find another instructor to finish the form and develop it. I also relied on books and videos to fill in gaps and maintain a standard. This is one reason that I now teach only a handful of forms, all of which are very documented and standardized.

I understand why the "expert" critics in the martial art's forums do what they do... and many times it is very helpful to view their input. However, when it comes to doubting another persons teachings, as to whether they are unchanged, etc... one has to wonder how stable even the originators of particular Kung Fu and Tai Chi forms were. After all, we see various forms of Taijiquan evolving from Chen style, etc. I wonder if Yang Lu Chan were to read a martial arts forum about the imense changes that were made as he developed the Yang Style. I can also imagine the outrage toward Yang Chen Fu as he changed from old style to new.

Martial arts are usually taught to someone by a teacher, and then become influenced by that persons' background, style, ideas and beliefs. Sometimes a martial art can pass from instructor to instructor with very little change. Other times they can undergo major modifications... for better or worse. Inevitably I believe that a student must investigate the movements they are taught and make them work... with the teachers guidance if available.

The main form that I teach is the Yang Style Taijiquan Long Form. This form has many variations and also has a few variations even among it's best known standards. I have been taught the Yang Style form, and portions of the form by quite a few different instructors with varying influences. The information I took from each instructor was of immense importance in understanding the movements. Even though there are many variations... there are standards available in books and videos that now help maintain the art more effectively.

Unfortunately for the purist, there is no way to go back to the originator of each martial art's style. As time goes on... we loose masters each year... so we must now rely on successive generations. The further in time we go from the original masters, the more difficult it is to maintain the purity of the art. Sometimes this is to the detriment of the art, and other times the art evolves into something even more effective.

Fortunately we now have documentation via books and videos that at least keep the postures and movements more standardized. Therefore, I commend instructors that take the initiative to develop such documentation, even though they open themselves to possible scrutiny from the critics.