Hello everyone I am an avid practitioners of martial arts. Started with Judo and Jiu Jitsu. Then my health and phisical condition degraded due to external causes. I switched to Aikido for three years and now Tai chi chuan, which I am now strongly committing to.
Aside from obvious positive effects (balance and agility) I wonder what you all think about inner martial arts.
I tend to ingest as little taoist folklore as I can, not because I think it's not interesting, but I want to avoid the exotic sounding mysticism tailored to impress westerners as a kind of new age marketing strategy. Fortunately, my teacher is a medical doctor working in the field of work related injuries.
I know I love Tai Chi Chuan and I truly mean to get better at it, but I can't ignore all the... weird stuff connected to it (no, Mr. Grand Master, I refuse to think that you single handedly pushed 10 people by the power of chi mastery). At the same time, I've been impressed by how, sometimes, finding adequate balance can make you able to sustain a strong push without even making active use of muscular strength.
So Il just wondering how you feel about this (or the other) inner martial art.
For me, it's a demanding and rewarding practice, full of great health and self discipline benefits and a few truly impressive perks, but with a..weird decorum I can't begin to understand.
IDK, but I tried Muay Thai and can attest that it has the mystical power of hitting and kicking people really fucking hard. I could throw a large man, but it was by shoving him with my foot (called a teep, they're great). I tried a little Tai Chi when I was younger and it does seem like it would be awesome for balance and maybe some core strength type stuff but I have to imagine its efficacy in an actual fight is not on par with something more practical like Muay Thai, Jui JItsu, Boxing, etc.
I think knowing it could still help if you get attacked, but the real danger that will probably get most of us is being too inactive and Tai Chi seems pretty great in defending against that.
Yes. It could help somehow, in the ways you described, but I wouldn't recommend it (at least how it's taught in the West) at all for someone who wants to learn how to actual fight, or needs some explosive action from martial practice.