tai chi in dublin south

headtheball

Looking for a good tai chi teacher somewhere in dublin south.Anyone got any recommendations?

Thanks

HTB

meanpeoplesuck

YMAA do a course in Newpark Sports Centre I think. And Tai Chi Ireland have a couple of courses, on Harrington St and Rathmines or Rathgar or somewhere like that...

I've made a thread looking for places near Bray so if anyone has any info please stop by and let me know!

columok

Niall Byrne who posts here has a good rep as being a no BS taichi and san da coach.

Niall Keane

http://www.freewebs.com/sanshou

HTB,
Welcome to come down anytime and check it out, I'm away this
Saturday, next classes - next Tuesday 8th August St. Mary’s Rathmines 8-10pm, Wed 9th UCD 7-9pm.
I practice "Practical Tai Chi Chuan" under the Cheng Tin-Hung - Dan Docherty Lineage - Hong Kong journalists gave us the name. My emphasis is on the martial (original) side of Tai Chi Chuan, how to use softness and hardness together in balance to enhance pugilistic ability. Many in the West find this approach controversial, but in the East there is an expression for those who only train only the Yin / Soft elements - "Tu Fu Chuan", or Bean Curd Boxing. At the moment I have a good variety of students, from beginners only a few weeks in, to those training for san shou competitions.
Regards,
Niall

more info and contact details are on the site.

Mola.mola

HI Niall,

Can you summise what happens in a typical class? Is there a routine or pattern in the classes? I'm just wondering how much technique work, sparring, pad work etc. you do on a typical Tuesday night. I'd be interestested in coming down and trying out what you do but wouldn't really have an interest in the weapons/soft part.

Niall Keane

Typical Class:

10-15 minutes: warm up / footwork skill / tui shou
30-45 mins: Pad Drills
30-40 mins: kicking / boxing / throwing technique training
rest of 2-3 hour class - sparring

I spar with every one first for a round 3mins , because I'm able to take it to their levels, and able to guide them, i.e. for example for a beginner I might leave my kick dwangling for a bit, give them some abuse if they don't see it, so they can aquire the ability to throw, whereas for a fighter i might keep attacking a weakness they present so they get to work on it. Basically I don't want people brawling with no technique, heart isn't enough for internationals, there you meet serious people who want to win.
After that lightish - for them, (I'm pulling the strikes and being a guinea pig for the throws, (yeah, amn't I a marther?, well I guess I get to practice falling safely.), anyway after that people are paired off into weight catagories, and heavy sparring is practiced, for my heavy weights that means sparring people like myself, as I say to them, what point is there in competing in sanshou internationally if you can't beat everyone here in Ireland?

Finally, after the session for those who want to we go through the long form outside to wind down, I find it helps the healing process, and calms the mind.
Regards,
Niall

Mola.mola

Niall sounds like the type of class I'd be interesting in trying, I'll get in touch when I've freed up sometime if that oks.

Black Swan

Interesting thread. Most of the Tai Chi I have encountered in the States has been of the very soft type, slow moving, and would not be considered MA, but rather an exercise for health and becoming one with nature, typically practiced by middle age and older persons.

smacl

Blue_Lagoon wrote:

Interesting thread. Most of the Tai Chi I have encountered in the States has been of the very soft type, slow moving, and would not be considered MA, but rather an exercise for health and becoming one with nature, typically practiced by middle age and older persons.

This is a widely held misconception, held not only by outsiders, but also unfortunately by many who practice tai chi. The full syllabus, in Practical Tai Chi Chuan at any rate, includes the following; slow hand forms that everyone thinks of as Tai Chi, faster weapon forms and techniques, push hands (tui shou) which is the basis for tai chi wrestling and free sparring, open hand self defence applications, full contact sparring (san shou) and internal strength conditioning (nei gong). Practical Tai Chi Chuan has a history of generating fighters who compete successfully against a wide variety of other martial arts, in a variety of formats. Given the large syllabus contained within the art, different classes often tend to focus on the preferred aspect of the teacher. For competitive full contact sparring including boxing, kicking, grappling and a lot of throwing, Niall’s classes are hard to beat. Being one of those 'middle age or older ' people that you refer to, i tend to concentrate more on wrestling, open hand self defence, and weapons, than full contact, although I do get caught :rolleyes: for a round or two with Niall and the lads every once in a while. I gotta say, the idea of doing tai chi without any realistic full on combat, while possibly good for the health, would bore the living bejaysus out of me, regardless of age.

Just my 2c,

Shane