Tai Chi Chuan in Kerry.

Carol Anne 53

Hi,
Want to find a regular Tai Chi Chuan class in the Tralee area, can any one help please?

Thanks, Carol Anne

luckat

Found this with a quick google:

http://www.taichifinder.co.uk/byschool.php/436/?osCsid=bd7c97c0dae92ffae1c468c7a24013f9

Creative Health Center,Rock St,Tralee
Classes (Evenings and Mornings), Tai Chi Chuan, Qiqong, Zhan Zhaung, Meditation Yang style

sifu: Eamonn Campbell tel. 353-087 -2375829
Kerry, Tralee
sifu: Eamonn Campbell tel. 353-087 -2375829
NB. This information is, in the majority of instances, supplied by the organisations themselves and is provided as a guide only. You should check for yourself instructor qualifications and insurance. If you have any questions or spot any errors please do contact us.

Carol Anne 53

Many thanks for that information, I'll certainly check it out.

Regards, Carol Anne

Peter37

Well Carol Anne , ( in an attempt to side - stepping the landmines of using "yard sticks" to assess instructors , you can study martial arts with instructors like Don Dalton , David O'Sullivan and Mike Allen ( all Excellent in fairness to them ) , but Eamon Cambell is simply the standard by which instructors' excellence should be measured ... a class apart

he has 20+yrs of experience in several martial art disciplines and now mainly teaches Tai Chi / Tai Chi Chuan....what you learn in class#4 , you will not fully appreciate until maybe class #11....it's his style of teaching, but it does crystallise in defining moments throughout your time spent with him... your search stops here ...look no further

it is with grrreat regret that i had to discontinue my lessons with him some years ago,as i had to go abroad to India/China for work , and even abroad i NEVER found ( with exhaustive searches ) a sifu ( Mandarin Chinese for teacher ) on a par with this guy ...not even close

be it for self defence , meditation , breathing and balance tecniques , and SO much more , this is your guy ....yes there are other "sudo" Tai Chi teachers around with "flashy" martial arts suits and "sudo" affiliations with teachers abroad etc but they simply don't compare ... trust me

Just tell him WHY it is you want to study with him and he will "tailor" his class to benefit you ....Eamon is more a life coach now than a Tai Chi instructor /martial Arts instructor i believe ( that's how his career has evolved )and while he is a shy and super humble fella, he is a fountain of knowledge ,but doesn't sell himself as such .....

"seek the seeker , but don't seek what the seeker seeks" ...maybe sounds a little OTT Carol Anne and perhaps mellow dramatic , but he will show you the path , but you gotta walk it ... and he will be your guide ( none of us want to waste time finding a teacher....that's why sites and threads like these are of great use to us all ) If you were climbing Mount Everest you would want a sherpa that knew the way wouldn't you ..

When i was a teenager, i was persecuted with acne and treated my skin condition with LASHINGS of TCP and sudocrem to fight the spots ,but an owner of a health store told me that i was trying to solve the problem from the outside in and his advice was to treat the condition from the inside out , by drinking ALOT of water and maybe some Aloe Vera and keeping away from junk food etc...he was right of course and it worked ....While this analogy doesn't do him justice , Sifu Cambell will teach you from the inside out and with prolific results ...be it for Tai Chi / ( Chuan ) , relaxation , weight loss , recovery during/after serious illness , meditation , stress management , this is your guy ......but just like going to your GP , you gotta tell him WHY you want to study with with him ... he's a straight shooter and once he UNDERSTANDS why you want to attend his classes, he will help you MORE than i can put into words here ...

Eamon Cambell is simply the standard by which instructors' excellence should be measured ...

hope this finds you and finds you well and was of some help

Peter

Doug Cartel

Interesting stuff Peter, but Carol Anne hasn't posted here in three years. I'm not sure she's going to see it.

Peter37

hey Doug ...yea , didn't spot that she hadn't been on the site in so long ...maybe she will receive an email notification ??? regardless, the next person in search of a Tai Chi instructor / life coach might see the thread right ? maybe my posting will be of help to them in expediting their search .... hope so anyway:) Thanks for the reply anyway Doug

rgds

Pete

Niall Keane

Tai Chi instructor / life coach

??? :rolleyes:


I don't know this guy, but if a student called me a "life coach" I wouldn't be too impressed. Your description conjures the impression of new-age cultish hippie types desperately seeking a saviour, anathema to the spirit of a fighter and so devoid of "chuan" is that how it is?

Peter37

Hey Niall,

Thanks for your post...allow me to reply ( I'm a Kerryman so just like in our football i want to be thorough ... ouch :)lol

Eamon is not a "new-age cultish hippie type" ( even tho i have met such "types" and they too can have ALOT to offer in terms of advice if one is open enough to listen and not rush to judgment and pigeon hole / label people)

Tai Chi afterall is not a martial art in the sense of going to said classes with the hope of learning self defense right?NOT GENERALLY ANYWAY. Tai Chi is meditation in movement ....a kin to yoga you "could" say ....one practices same to quieten the mind, become more aware of one's surroundings and help with how we interact with the world around us ...our heart rate , breathing yada yada

How do i best explain myself here ...hmmm...ok , i will give it a go ...when we all attended Maths class in school and we were taught for example Calculus , we were taught a "method" of solving Calculus problems...a systematic approach in solving the various problems facing us ...we applied a "systematic" (CONDITIONED) approach and hey presto we arrive at an answer.For the most part i ( and most of my peers ) never REALLY knew if the answer we arrived at was correct or not.This was largely due to the fact that we didn't REALLY understand the question being posed to us ....Then landed an American student mid year who joined our Maths class and he found it bewildering how we approached such Maths problems, as he was taught in a completely different way. Bear with me ...this will make sense

He understood Calculus at a deeper level where we were simply shown the methodology of arriving at the correct answer. This is not how Maths is taught largely here in Ireland and that's just the way it is. But the American teacher's approach was clearly better and his student ( no genius like the rest of us ) did leave us for dead as regards his understanding of the question/problem being posed. So what's this gotta do with Tai Chi / Martial Arts i hear you screaming

"Most" martial arts instructors ( that i and my friends have encountered )have a CONVENTIONAL approach to teaching their respective arts ....inside to outside blocks , outside to inside bocks ...yada yada ..no problem there really ....."if an attacker grabs you at your shoulder here, your response will be …” whatever the instructor thinks is best , but taught in a systematic way. Perfect(ish) for the TWD competition on blue mats maybe. This systematic way when confronted with a problem that you have NOT "learned" ( perhaps the attacker grabs you 6 or 8 inches North , South, East or West of that point on your shoulder) leaves you in "no man's land" so to speak ... What I'm saying is that when confronted with a problem to which we have not been taught the CONVENTIONAL response, a student may find himself "at sea" . Now this can apply to an attacker attacking you in a way to which you are not used to , but also it can apply to one's response to how best manage your heart rate when all of a sudden in a pub setting for example your girlfriend is being manhandled by some psycho lookin dude with a swastika tattooed on his forehead and holding a knife ."****" you think to yourself ! "How am I gonna handle this situation?!"...Your heartbeat goes ape **** , breathing erratic to the nth degree and FEAR kicks in.( and then for MOST people it's "brain shut down" and all your conventional classes are of little or no use ! Factorama !) Basically ,I contend that the martial artist taught in the CONVENTIONAL manner will not handle this situation well at all. However if the fundamentals of Tai Chi is present within you( techniques of breathing/balance/awareness/control over your FEAR) you are already at a distinct advantage to the other fella that's been taught the conventional approach. You may still not emerge from the situation favorably , but even in the recovery from the situation , your Tai Chi will help enormously )

The word CHI refers to energy right ? Jeet kun Do / Judo and Aikido ( to mention but a few ) is the manipulation of your opponents CHI and conversely his/hers manipulation then of your CHI....Ying Yang ( the cornerstone of most martial arts )
Tai Chi is , very simply put ,the practice of looking at one's own movement ( Kata to ya'll into Karate,TWD,Kendo,Jujisu etc etc) & breathing/balance/awareness while at the SAME time looking at the movement of perhaps an attacker and at the SAME time also being AWARE of one's surroundings ...

Now Tai Chi applies to life in all aspects ( not just some dude attacking ur chick )...how you deal with the stress of the Banks letters chasing you for your mortgage arrears , your 2 yr old nephew just about to maybe fall of a high wall , whatever .....when that FEAR kicks in , how do you best handle it ?! I feel ( sorry, again the Maths analogy ) the American student will perform better than the Irish student ( btw sifu Cambell is Irish ) as he has a better understanding of his/her CHI and how to cope with the sometimes erratic nature of same ,be it within ourselves , others and our surroundings. Sifu Cambell had to "unteach" ( for want of a much better word ) me years of CONVENTIONAL study of martial arts...that was like trying to unravel a ball of barbed wire into a straight line again ...which lands me at the word "CONDITIONING".... Most martial arts are taught ( much like our maths classes) in a conditioned manner and when stress ,pressure,tension and anxiety HITS u up the side of the face ...be it an attacker , or an unwanted law suit against you, or a cheating girlfriend , an illness yada yada , the conditioning you've been taught as the solution to whatever problem you face is nowhere to be found, as it falls outside the parameters of what one has learned at class

Niall you said that you would be not so impressed if a student called his/her teacher a "life coach" ...bit of a knee jerk reaction there Niall...
On the contrary , it is the GREATEST compliment that i could pay the man...but it's not really Eamon that i'm complimenting ,but rather the approach of learning Tai Chi as the base of all martial arts ..the UNDERSTANDING ...rather the FEEL of Chi ...If one can be AWARE of this energy ALL around at all times , then little would phase you .... ( As i said in my earlier thread , learning Tai Chi is like cleansing "from the inside out" and conditioned study of martial arts will leave you with spots all over your face !

I have not spoken or met with Sifu Cambell in many years , but what i learned from him ( RATHER Tai Chi Chuan ) has helped me be a better and happier person...ergo i referred to the man as a “life coach” as his classes taught me life lessons FAR beyond the realm/ arena of martial arts and as such i would urge anyone to study Tai Chi and from my own personal experience , study with Sifu Cambell if possible ....

Niall Keane

Tai Chi afterall is not a martial art in the sense of going to said classes with the hope of learning self defense right?NOT GENERALLY ANYWAY. Tai Chi is meditation in movement ....a kin to yoga you "could" say ....one practices same to quieten the mind, become more aware of one's surroundings and help with how we interact with the world around us ...our heart rate , breathing yada yada

I totally disagree. There are five classical pillars of Tai chi chuan:
Chuan – the hand form
Tui Shou – wrestling drills and free wrestling
Sanshou –self-defense techniques
Nei gung – Martially applicable Chi Gung techniques
Weapons

How do i best explain myself here ...SNIP…I contend that the martial artist taught in the CONVENTIONAL manner will not handle this situation well at all. However if the fundamentals of Tai Chi is present within you( techniques of reathing/balance/awareness/control over your FEAR) you are already at a distinct advantage to the other fella that's been taught the conventional approach. You may still not emerge from the situation favorably , but even in the recovery from the situation , your Tai Chi will help enormously )

The classics state to “practice technique to acquire principle, once we have principle we can abandon technique”. So in fact all orthodox sanshou methods should be trained to accompany orthodox tui shou methods to allow us to internalize the 13 tactics. Every orthodox technique isolates a Jin (power) and expresses it offensively and defensively in 4 ways Die Pu (to strike and knock down, or to knock down and strike), Shaui Jioa (wrestling), Chin Na (seize hold – locks etc.) and Dim Mak (pressure point application), in free fighting I may combine White Crane flaps its wings, Step back and repulse the monkey and Pat the horse high, in a single move to maximize leverage and reduce the escape possibilities of my opponent, but it is important for a beginner to practice the orthodox technique so they understand the principles involved and not simply barge their way through fighting. This is not a mental exercise or something that can be learned through form practice it requires gung fu (time and effort) and resistance to test such.

The word CHI refers to energy right ?

Nowhere in the classics does Chi refer to “energy”, it refers to the combination of the respiratory, cardio-vascular and nervous systems. “Jin” also is not “energy” it is force applied in the correct direction, the character used contains “Li” strength and the character for “silk” as books were once written on silk the correct meaning is educated strength or power applied correctly. These are classic western mistakes regarding Tai Chi Chuan and have made it esoteric to many.

Jeet kun Do / Judo and Aikido ( to mention but a few ) is the manipulation of your opponents CHI and conversely his/hers manipulation then of your CHI....Ying Yang ( the cornerstone of most martial arts )
Tai Chi is , very simply put ,the practice of looking at one's own movement ( Kata to ya'll into Karate,TWD,Kendo,Jujisu etc etc) & breathing/balance/awareness while at the SAME time looking at the movement of perhaps an attacker and at the SAME time also being AWARE of one's surroundings ...

There is some truth to this, I think you over simplify it? but again the skill requires training, Nei Gung is the key here, first breath and movement are harmonized then intent and movement and finally awareness is achieved knowing and understanding potential of our and our enemies movement and of our environments hazards and restrictions. The idea is then to entice with profit and so arrive first. Form alone will not suffice to achieve this level of skill.

Now Tai Chi applies to life in all aspects …. understanding of his/her CHI and how to cope with the sometimes erratic nature of same ,be it within ourselves , others and our surroundings. Sifu Cambell had to "unteach" ( for want of a much better word ) me years of CONVENTIONAL study of martial arts...that was like trying to unravel a ball of barbed wire into a straight line again ...which lands me at the word "CONDITIONING".... Most martial arts are taught ( much like our maths classes) in a conditioned manner and when stress ,pressure,tension and anxiety HITS u up the side of the face ...be it an attacker , or an unwanted law suit against you, or a cheating girlfriend , an illness yada yada , the conditioning you've been taught as the solution to whatever problem you face is nowhere to be found, as it falls outside the parameters of what one has learned at class

I think you are referring to internal versus external here? Again tui shou such as cai laing (gathering the wave) along with sanshou methods such as “gyrating arms”, “five element fist”, and “flying flower palm” will be more effective than form in achieving this aim.

Niall you said that …snip…learning Tai Chi is like cleansing "from the inside out" and conditioned study of martial arts will leave you with spots all over your face !

There are orthodox Tai Chi Chuan conditioning drills such as “rolling thunder palm”, rolls, handstands on fists etc…

I have not spoken or met with Sifu Cambell in many years , but what i learned from him ( RATHER Tai Chi Chuan ) has helped me be a better and happier person...ergo i referred to the man as a “life coach” as his classes taught me life lessons FAR beyond the realm/ arena of martial arts and as such i would urge anyone to study Tai Chi and from my own personal experience , study with Sifu Cambell if possible ....

I don’t know the man, nor you, but Tai Chi chuan should liberate the individual, not make gods, I tell my students what my Sifu said to me on our first encounter, “I will not teach you to be as good as me, I want you to be better, you have your ideas and I will teach you all of mine, so combined you should be greater.”

http://sanshou.webs.com/apps/forums/topics/show/1904413-nei-jia

Dave Joyce

:D:D:D @ Peter37 "explaining" Taiji to Niall Keane

Niall Keane

To add to the irony Dave, I'm only two days back from Wudang. Instant Karma I guess?

Peter37

Well Niall , Dave is certainly a fan / admirer of yours and i'm sure justifiably so ( as am I of Sifu Eamon Cambell in Tralee )

As i'm new to this site ( just joined 3 days ago remember..a virgin you could say :)lol i'm unable to split this dialogue into "Quotes" with blue boxes with the same dexterity as your goodself ...Hell, i just joined to see if i could find a nice motorbike for myself and now find myself "embroiled" in an exchange with all you guys ...which i'm finding very interesting btw

As regards your first "Quote" with blue box ,you didn't see ( or conveniently overlooked ) me saying "NOT GENERALLY ANYWAY" in how Tai Chi classes are marketed....i still feel that I am correct ,but agree fully with you that Tai Chi Chuan IS indeed as you said :
"There are five classical pillars of Tai chi chuan:
Chuan – the hand form
Tui Shou – wrestling drills and free wrestling
Sanshou –self-defense techniques
Nei gung – Martially applicable Chi Gung techniques
Weapons."

100% correct Niall !
As regards your 2nd Quote with blue box ,I again agree with what you said:i.e. "but it is important for a beginner to practice the orthodox technique so they understand the principles involved and not simply barge their way through fighting"... ( Which begs the question, when does the beginner stop being a beginner ? ) but I would totally disagree when you say " This is not a mental exercise" .... Your mind is an ESSENTIAL gift/tool in any aspect of your life and also when performing Tai Chi , your mind has gotta be ever present doesn't it ( rhetorical one there for you Niall ...i too can sound arrogant btw..ouch ...Otherwise you're just going thro the motions right .... i.e. my analogy ( which perhaps you didn't seem to like oh so much ?..fair enuf i guess ) of the Irish Calculus students approach vs The American student's approach ( which you conveniently again decide to SNIP ...)

On the 3rd Quote Niall, ( trying not to laugh my ass off ) and I personally can't speak of the "classics" , but Chi DOES most certainly refer to energy ...at least to the uninitiated of the "classics" ...c'mon now ...let's not get caught up in semantics.

On the 4th quote you graciously say there is "some truth" to what i said ...why thank you good Sir :)lol and yes i do agree that i oversimplified. And for the record , Peter wasn't "explaining" ( as Dave with all his smiley faces ..( Ugh lads ! lol ) anything to anyone ...but merely giving his "snap-shot" overview of MY experiences and didn't realise i was going to be on the receiving end of such a gruelling critique

Niall ,i'm a little surprised ( maybe a little disappointed if that's ok 4me to say ?) that a response from someone clearly with GREAT experience ( in fairness to you far surpassing my own) would be a response made in a what I perceived anyway as a kinda retaliatory/ potificating manner ( perhaps i am too sensitive)
I would have hoped with all your experience , you would have learned a little humility ? Afterall ,as you so correctly said, you don't know me or Sifu Cambell ...I get the distinct impression that perhaps my initial post rubbed your ego up the wrong way ... if that is the case i'm hearily sorry( for us both ! )

AGAIN ( for those in the "nose bleed" seats ,as you are clearly cherry picking from what I've said,you said Niall ..Quote "not make gods" ...If you remember from my earlier post ( falling outside of your "cherry-picking" of what i've posted to date )i said "On the contrary , it is the GREATEST compliment that i could pay the man...but it's NOT really Eamon that i'm complimenting ,but rather the approach of learning Tai Chi "as the base of all martial arts" and a caveat to ALL out there reading this thread ( be it beginning / or a little experienced with Martial Arts for the first time ...the reason why i initially even posted here ) not to have to endure unravelling that ball of barbed wire i.e. The CONDITIONED approach of teaching martial arts which i see oh so prevolant in Ireland

Niall , i don't think or see Sifu Eamon Cambell as Mr.Omnipotent ( or a God and he certainly doesn't see himself as such ..again i REPEAT what i've said already and you again seem to have coveniently overlooked,he's far too humble for that regardless if he was deserving or not of such a "title"...( and certainly not a "God" ..but a teacher from whom MANY including even yourself ( if humility again is a virtue that you have attained from all your life experiences and i gotta be honest,it doesn't come across that way ...but i have always been taught to give the benefit of the doubt and understand that text on a page can OFTEN be misinterpreted ....I'm sure you are a very humble guy indeed and much like Sifu Cambell a fountain of knowledge and experience )

My intention was never to engage in an "fencing" exercise with anyone here on this site...I simply was sharing my insights

I think that maybe yourself goodself and Sifu Eamon at some stage in the future should meet up and I'm supremely confident that it would be a MUTUALLY beneficial experience for you both...

I hope this finds you and finds you well Niall ( Wish me luck in finding my motorbike here ...i just made S**T of mine last week ...you could loose a greyhound in some of the potholes in Kerry:)lol

And as Sifu Cambell said to me in my first class " seek the seeker Peter, but don't seek what the seeker seeks" ......and not all this "so combined you should be greater" stuff .... greater / weaker ...who cares ?! ...that's not what it's all bout...it's all about OBSERVATION and u do your best and whatever you achieve you achieve ...it's not about congratulating yourself or criticising yourself , just simply do your best and observe within yourself and around you and practicising Tai Chi ABOVE all else should make you a happier person

Ciao for now

rgds

Pete

Doug Cartel

This is a bit off topic, but I've got to ask you - why do you keep putting down the way calculus is taught in Ireland? When I did my LC, they fully explained how and why calculus works. If I remember correctly, the syllabus first went through limits, then difference quotients, and only then did they actually introduce the rules of differentiation. Similarly, with integration while I can't remember if they formally taught Reimann sums, I do remember that it wasn't new to me when I ended up studying it in college, so they must have said something about it.

You might not have understood calculus, but that doesn't mean the whole Irish system is broken. Similar this one American student may have understood it, but that doesn't mean you can say anything about the American school system in general.

You've been to one Tai Chi school (as far as I can tell) but you want to tell us about Tai Chi in general. Niall has been involved in Tai Chi for donkeys' years - he runs a school, and he interacts with many others regularly. I don't want to sound like I'm arguing from authority, but but you have to give some weight to his experience.

Peter37

Hey Doug,

i don't mean to have "a cut" off the Calculus approach ( even tho i do think the approach could be improved HUGELY ...term by term , product,quotient,exponential,logarithmic, dada dada ..... formulae of sorts to slove questions ...but if te question posed varies in HOW it's posed MOST of my peers and I were "at sea" ....yea b4 you say it , maybe we were just S**T at Maths ...maybe ...it doesn't matter Doug my man)

My brother is a secondary school Maths teacher as are 2 of my very close friends and they would agree with me ...not that that matters as i'm here just giving MY insights ( you may disagree and hey,you may be right , but regardless you of course r entitled to your opinion) ....I could have used another analogy ,but just chose that one junno....I could have said that the approach of teaching the Irish language stinks ! i think it does ...Hell, after learning Irish All primary and ALL secondary school ( Honours level ) i would be embarressed to go back to the likes of Ballyferriter ( west of Dingle/Daingean ) and "try" engage with the locals in our old vernacular .....I did French for 3 years and for WHATEVER reasons ,i would not find it daunting to visit Paris and engage in French with the locals there .....Why is that ?! And Most if not all my buddies would agree .... The point i was simply TRYING to make is that the CONDITIONED approach of teaching Martial Arts is not the BEST way ...if one can be shown an approach to appreciate the FEEL of your own energy and that of your opponents , one will be a better off ....I CANT repeat that anymore..it's too exhausting ....

And not that it matters greatly but you would be incorrect in saying as you did "You've been to one Tai Chi school (as far as I can tell)"...i did mention a few times that i lived in China and studied Tai Chi there also ( and in India ) and 3 other teachers in Ireland ... but even if i had ONLY studied with Sifu Cambell , this is a forum where one gives his/her opinion/feedback on whatever issues .....you surely don't have to be a Grandmaster of Martail Arts or a Dr of Statistics to do so right ...so there you have it ... ( That Carol Anne chick has landed my ass in the soup...:)lol )

and IF YOU HAVE READ MY posts at ALL at ALL , i have given not just "some weight to his experience" , but conceded that Niall's knowledge "far surpasses that of mine" and from his response i'm supremely confident the guy has a HUGE amount to offer ....but AGAIN I am entitled to MY opinion no ? even if it's contrary to that of others here ...Jeeeez Louise

I've grown tired of this interaction and neither have the time nor the inclination to go any further with it being honest ...

I joined here to search for a motorbike for myself and spotted this "Carol Anne" lady searching for a Tai Chi teacher and simply was giving her MY advice ....simple as

Didn't find my bike , so signing off for good ( here's hoping Donedeal.ie will find me my bike 4me ) ....hope life treats you all well and I wish you all well

warm rgds

Pete

Doug Cartel

It seems I did miss that you had studied tai chi in other places, sorry about that. If you could keep your posts shorter and to the point though, it would help me greatly.

Peter37

Hey Doug , yea you're right. so sorry if my posts are a little (VERY ) "lengthy" ...mea maxima culpa

I'm mature enough Doug my man to simply overlook Dave's " :D:D @ Peter37 "explaining" Taiji to Niall Keane" remark and put that down to loyalty to Niall ( which is admirable as Dave clearly has a very high regard for Niall and justifiably so,but Dave has relatively ZERO insight asto my experience with Tai Chi ,but assumes Niall has all the answers and one (ME in this case ) shouldn't dare “challenge” him. Why has one of Niall’s loyal students so BLINDLY come to his rescue?

It's just that Niall's oh so smug response "To add to the irony Dave, I'm only two days back from Wudang ( Whoooopeedeeedooo)..Instant Karma I guess" remark was so devoid of humility, i found it super difficult to not make a lengthy response in an "effort" to quell this idea that ANY sifu can't be asked WHY

In my first lesson ( luckily for me all my lessons were all private classes) with Sifu Cambell, he pointed at a 4 foot plant in the corner of the dojo and asked me "Peter,what is that?" I was confused by the question and what seemed like an obvious answer and answered "A Plant Eamon" ..Sifu Cambell swiftly moved our lesson along with no further delay or reference again to his earlier question. In the interim of course i was wondering to myself " What more insightful answer could i have given ?"Lesson maybe #7 Sifu Cambell again asked me the same question, pointing again at the potted plant, "Peter,what is that?" Again i found this most perplexing and regrettably could give no more an insightful response as i had before...As our lessons progressed , one more enlightening than the one before, he again asked me the same question. I was still "at sea" as regards what the "correct" answer perhaps "should" be ...Impatience on my part got the better of me anyway at maybe lesson #15, so i asked Sifu Cambell, "what's with your previous questions about the plant Sifu" .... he explained to me that in my CONDITIONING over the years ( from my peers , teachers in school , family & environment ) i was too hasty to pigeon hole/label what i observed around me and ( in Sifu Cambell’s own unique humble way) was saying that this habit ( CONDITIONED habit) was perhaps not such a good thing to be doing ... If i however was to OBSERVE the plant as living,breathing plant,green in coulour and 4ft tall, I would be far better off. Bear with me PLEASE. I wasn't properly OBSERVING ( an art in itself i hasten to add ) what i was looking at. When i lived in China i again ,so many times, met teachers there that echoed what Sifu Cambell had taught me in this regard. What's my point I hear you screamingJ ? Niall's first contribution to MY posting here was "Your description conjures the impression of new-age cultish hippie types desperately seeking a saviour, anathema to the spirit of a fighter and so devoid of "chuan" is that how it is?" That went against ALL that I had been taught and become to understand was right and as such was a little disappointed that someone of Niall’s ‘apparent’ calibre and experience would say such a thing. He jumped to conclusions a little and readily labeled people …

This conditioned act of pigeon holing/labelling of ,for example the swastica tattoed attacker i mentioned in an earlier posting here would result in generating FEAR in me ( as MY conditioning would tell me that this guy is DANGEROUS simply due to his appearance ) as opposed to if the attacker was perhaps a man in a business suit with no knife but could be EQUALLY as dangerous a threat to my girlfriend or me as the tattoed lad

Now Sifu Cambell RARELY got vexed with me in ANY of my lessons, but when i myself didn't accomplish an exercise with the same dexterity to which i accomplished exercises in other sports ,of which i play many , I would react (loudly) and give out to myself "C'mon Peter ,get your act together in fairness" ,he would only then become irked with my behaviour and tell me that i was working AGAINST him by doing so and being counterproductive in giving out to myself. "Observe yourself WITHIN Peter" ..."sometimes your frontkick will not have that "whip" ( from the ball of your rooting foot, coming from your hips ( centred at the “tan-tien” point ) and the max power will not be there and that’s just the way it is " ..."Observe from within yourself what you did and that will lead you to discover if you could have done better ,but for goodness sake Peter, don't criticise yourself ...that will be wholly counterproductive " ….
This was VERY alien to me coz on a GAA pitch (especially in kerry) if you miskicked a ball, you wouldn’t have to give out to yourself, coz the whole side line would look after that 4u J....When i executed a frontkick with which I was happy i would smile knowing that Sifu Cambell "felt that one" and this smile of self congatulation would equally irk him ...Again he would say "Observe what you felt you did right and stop congatulating yourself" ...(And junno EVERY time ( without exception ! ) i applauded myself for a good execution of a block or kick or punch or whatever , the subsequent puch,kick or block would NEVER be as good .....)

So don’t label people or your surroundings and don’t criticize or congratulate yourself, but rather OBSERVE ( within yourself ,your opponent,and your surroundings and TRY do ALL this at the same time …Years later guys,I rarely have flashes of being able to do all three together, but I’m still TRYING MY BEST

So Niall's QUOTE "what my Sifu said to me on our first encounter, “I will not teach you to be as good as me, I want you to be better, you have your ideas and I will teach you all of mine, so combined you should be greater.” really is in stark contrast to what i've learned from Sifu Cambell and many other teachers in China that have echoed Eamon's approach of observation and like I said in an earlier posting , you do your best and whatever you achieve you achieve …

Now ,having the understanding of this observation “technique” ,when I play a game of tennis and miss ,what many would consider, the easiest of drop shots at the net to “cream” one of my friends in a point, who normally all the time destroy me at tennis, I don’t “give it loads” like John McEnroe and criticize myself , but simply observe , NOT what I did wrong , but rather what I did that resulted in me not achieving a successful drop shot. This lesson ( maybe ABOVE ANY OTHER ) has permeated thro SO many aspects of my life I cannot begin to tell you … as such I consider this gift ( from Sifu Cambell ) of being able to observe within myself ,results in the unlocking of my potential, and it’s simply invaluable in the martial arts arena and more importantly, life ! So Sifu Cambell IS in my eyes a “life coach” ….

Btw : If you watch a kids class of martial arts, one will learn an awful lot ! Kids ,as yet anyway, have no EGO and not learned this exercise of “labeling” and criticizing/applauding themselves and when you observe them in a class , it’s a truly refreshing experience !

Sorry doug my man ,I’ve done it again haven’t i….Oooops. I will certainly try keep it short next time. I again am simply trying to share what I have learned with anyone that has the patience to read what I have posted here

Doug Cartel

I'll be honest, I only read the first paragraph of your reply. I didn't realise Dave Joyce was one of Niall's students. I thought he was the Dave Joyce that teaches muay Thai (and I think some kind of FMA maybe?) in Galway. Niall teaches Tai Chi in Dublin, so I didn't make the connection. I'm sure you explain it some place in your post though.

OLDMAN1

well Peter, i ejoyed your post..

Dave Joyce

Didn't find my bike , so signing off for good ( here's hoping Donedeal.ie will find me my bike 4me ) ....hope life treats you all well and I wish you all well

Well Jaysus, THAT didn't last long:rolleyes:

I'm mature enough Doug my man to simply overlook Dave's " @ Peter37 "explaining" Taiji to Niall Keane" remark

Hmm, I made this remark because I've read enough of Niall's comments here (some of which I have not always agreed with) to know what he's talking about and I like the Dan Doherty approach to Taiji i.e. making it a MARTIAL art and not a fecking New Age load of shi'te! I'm fine with people ONLY wanting to do it for the health benefits BUT when the self same people THEN start going on about Taiji and self protection/defence, it gives me a pain in the hole!

but Dave has relatively ZERO insight asto my experience with Tai Chi ,but assumes Niall has all the answers and one (ME in this case ) shouldn't dare “challenge” him.

Well if that is not the pot calling the kettle black!!! You mate know NOTHING about me either! For your information I know Eamann Campbell from a VERY long time back when we both trained together and I have trained in Taiji and like yourself with a number of instuctors including Master Yang, Ywing Ming. Now for someone "new" to come on here and talk as if they are the LEADING expert without so much as feck all of an introduction DESERVES the type of comment I made, simple as!

Why has one of Niall’s loyal students so BLINDLY come to his rescue?

Hopefully by now Grasshopper, you will have figured out, I am NOT one of Niall's students and in fact I'm not sure if I have ever even met Niall but we do know a lot of the same people. If perhaps you had spent a bit of time here first, then MAYBE some of these things would be obvious. I haven't bothered to read the rest of your post so have no wish to comment further!

Niall Keane

Dave Joyce:

Hopefully by now Grasshopper, you will have figured out, I am NOT one of Niall's students and in fact I'm not sure if I have ever even met Niall but we do know a lot of the same people. If perhaps you had spent a bit of time here first, then MAYBE some of these things would be obvious. I haven't bothered to read the rest of your post so have no wish to comment further

!

Guess his

observation “technique”

needs a bit of work?:D

Peter37, there are practical methods of training "awareness", that is what I meant by "it is not a mental excercise", you can think forever about tai chi chuan but unless it is constantly tested you can quickly derail into the hopelessly esoteric, and your body will never learn how to actually do it. Not understanding the principles of enticing the opponent, has lead for example to many believing in "empty force" and such nonsense. passed down a few teachers and we have the farse broadcast on youtube etc. I love the art of Tai Chi Chuan, and I'm aware of it's martial virtue, I dislike seeing an art that holds so much valid martial principle being described as a yogic or chi-energy art, some sort of "spiritual" basis of all fighting technique. This is simply too vague, if a martial art works you should be able to describe how and why in practical terms, I certainly have on this forum many times.
Stating that Tai Chi is special because of "observation" is an insult to fighters like Dave Joyce from other disciplines, it can only imply that he doesn't get observation, most would consider that pretty fundamental to a ring fighter's ability. Believe me any fighter, Muay Thai, Sanshou, MMA etc. worth his salt sees the "whole plant" you refer to, we deal with our limitations and the opponents potential constantly, its refered to in classics, as "the immediacy of combat".

davestar86

U speak very highly of Eamonn and credit where credits due, he is one of the best trainers i ever had. However from reading about how u speak of him you obviously never trained with Eamonn pre 2000. I studied with him from 1990 - 1998 and at the time found him highly tempermental and rash. Only in hindsight do I appreciate his methods, ONLY because of the way I like to be trained, there are many who hated his classes and found it impossible to learn 'cause they were so nervous. He may have calmed down latley but certainly as a kid learning under him was quite difficult and scary. For me he was the best though, and i did attend his Tai Chi classes which I found very interesting.