Internal study - recommendation

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[Chris Knight]

Can anybody recommend John Bracy's online information and training for sale?

Does anybody know if this is worthwhile subscribing to?

Cheers Chris

[Demetrio Cereijo]

This John Bracy (http://rumsoakedfist.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5669&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a)?

[Chris Knight]

Yes thats right demetrio

[Thomas Campbell]

Entirely aside from whether you want your subscription money to go to that particular source . . . . Bracy's is a competently but not exceptionally executed rendition of one line of bump-and-throw Cheng Tinghua baguazhang. Take a look at his movement and applications clips on Youtube and you'll get an idea of what you'd be attempting to train from a distance. You won't be learning internal connection. And without an equally-committed and reliable training partner, attempting to learn MAs of any kind online is fraught with difficulty and opportunities for self-deception.

I think your time would be better spent exploring the art hands-on with a local teacher. There may be one close by, depending on the part of the UK you're located in.

[Chris Knight]

Hmm thanks Thomas. I agree. I suffer from lack of funds andfamily ties and until i can save to try to meet dan or mike or similar ive been looking online for a starter guide. I would never solely train online and my teacher trains with dan when he comes im looking for a guide in the interim to develop basics of body connection and intention etc
regards. Chris

[kewms]

Hmm thanks Thomas. I agree. I suffer from lack of funds andfamily ties and until i can save to try to meet dan or mike or similar ive been looking online for a starter guide. I would never solely train online and my teacher trains with dan when he comes im looking for a guide in the interim to develop basics of body connection and intention etc
regards. Chris

If your teacher trains with Dan, he's probably going to be a better source than any online resource, simply because the nature of this stuff is that videos are unhelpful.

Katherine

[Lee Salzman]

Hmm thanks Thomas. I agree. I suffer from lack of funds andfamily ties and until i can save to try to meet dan or mike or similar ive been looking online for a starter guide. I would never solely train online and my teacher trains with dan when he comes im looking for a guide in the interim to develop basics of body connection and intention etc
regards. Chris

If you don't have access to a teacher and just want something to get your feet wet, it looks like there are some Aunkai instructional videos in their online shop here:

http://www.aunkai.net/eng/shop/index.html

Maybe you've already seen them or ordered them, but in any case, either way, get those vids, watch them, dissect them, practice the material a bit every day, and rinse, lather, repeat. I had an old DVD from an Aunkai workshop I attended years ago that, if those new vids are at least as good, should really be all you need to keep you busy for quite some time.

If it makes you feel any better, there is no right way to start, so don't go worrying too much about that. Just jump in and start making mistakes like the rest of us. :D

[Chris Knight]

Hi Katherine.
He trains when he comes to the uk but he wants to feel confident in his own understanding before he tries to bring it into our aikido classes. .. Lee, Ive read some some brilliant posts of yours recently. Thanks for the link. Im definitely gonna pursue this. Ive been practising static stuff for around 12 months but want to get some video clarification until hands on time. Being aikido 4th kyu i think this is an Ideal time to incorporate things into my practice as Ive only really just begun
regards

Chris

[Thomas Campbell]

Hmm thanks Thomas. I agree. I suffer from lack of funds andfamily ties and until i can save to try to meet dan or mike or similar ive been looking online for a starter guide. I would never solely train online and my teacher trains with dan when he comes im looking for a guide in the interim to develop basics of body connection and intention etc
regards. Chris

I see where you're coming from, Chris, and I can empathize . . . . many of us interested in training for internal connection and strength have been in the same position at one time or another. However, you need to be careful of what and how you train, and be clear on your long-term goals. It's been suggested, for example, that you get the Aunkai DVDs and train from them. I would agree with Lee that the Aunkai DVDs provide clear, detailed instruction that you can follow on your own and with a partner . . . . clear, detailed instruction on the Aunkai methods, that is. However, if your long-term goal is to supplement and develop what you are training with your own teacher who's been training with Dan Harden--then immersing yourself in the Aunkai methods may lead you away from that goal. Akuzawa and Harden do not teach the same methods and there are some significant differences--for example with respect to the place of and training of tension. Similarly, Mike Sigman also teaches skill development for internal strength and has DVDs describing the training and exercises that he advocated from several years ago--but still really good material, even if his current approach has evolved to emphasize some different things. But what Mike Sigman teaches is again not the same as what Dan Harden teaches.

I'm not saying that you cannot explore all of these training paradigms and others. The risk though is that, at your self-described beginner's stage, you may encounter conceptual and proprioceptive confusion.

One other consideration is which approach best fits into your goal of integrating the internal strength practice with aikido. I haven't trained aikido in many years, but if you check with other people you will find differing opinions as to which approach fits better into aikido. Try to find someone who's had some success with integrating one of these approaches into their aikido.

I like your thinking about integrating internal strength and connection training early on in your aikido path. Best wishes for successful training.

cheers,

Tom

[Thomas Campbell]

One other consideration is which approach best fits into your goal of integrating the internal strength practice with aikido. I haven't trained aikido in many years, but if you check with other people you will find differing opinions as to which approach fits better into aikido. Try to find someone who's had some success with integrating one of these approaches into their aikido.



For example, reading his post below, Hugh Beyer might be able to share some insights into baguazhang training and how it works with aikido:

http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showpost.php?p=299513&postcount=11

Taking all the caveats above as given, and not knowing anything about this specific school, I found bagua highly enlightening.

If they're at all decent, and if you absolutely can't get on the mat with someone who has certified IS skills, I don't think you'd be wasting your time there.

What I found is the basic exercises all the way up to the circle walk made it very hard not to practice some of the basic body skills that are useful in IS. You can't mechanically do the exercises without practicing such things as moving the dantien independently of the hips, coiling, bowing (bowing as in bow-and-arrow, not as in rei), and moving the parts of the body individually but connected. Also some good breathing work in there.

It made me very impatient with most of the exercises I've encountered in Aikido. If you aren't going to teach me internals along with the exercises, at least teach exercises that will force me to do something useful rather than let me putz along wasting my time.