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Old 03-30-2007, 07:05 PM   #49
Haowen Chan
Location: Pittsburgh
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 91
United_States
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Re: Ki-Aikido or Taiji - effectiveness in developing Qi?

Quote:
Mike Sigman wrote: View Post
Ki-Aikido has now become something slightly different than O-Sensei's Aikido, but *some* of the practitioners are definitely performing what I would call acceptable ki skills (but they can do better!!! ).
My opinion.
That's awesome, exactly the info I'm looking for! Thanks so much for your help here and in the emails.

Quote:
Mike Haft wrote:
IMO, based on limited exposure to Tai Chi (compared with my aikido that is), the teaching methods for Ki aikido are specifically designed for passing this stuff on, whereas as Mike said, it can be a bit more haphazard in Tai Chi and hugely depends on your teacher
Thank you Mike Haft for your help and comments!

Yes, that's exactly the feeling I got from having studied with two taiji instructors... in all arts you're at the mercy of the instructor, but in taiji it's more extreme, like if they're not strongly motivated to get you somewhere, you're definitely not going anywhere no matter how much you practice (unless you're some kind of natural body-genius, which I'm not). Whereas Ki-aikido is systemized and has its own teaching quality control and a uniform, standardized way to referring to exercises, applications and concepts, a way for students to get feedback on their own progress, and most importantly, to my mind, a organization-wide ethic of genuinely wanting to spread this knowledge around to benefit its students (this is common to all aikido). Taiji doesn't necessarily always have all of these and everything heavily depends on the instructor you happen to find in your local area.
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