Eclectic
It was sometimes
best, when you came to the mystery that was art, to come as a child.
The child saw things that were too evident, too obvious to the trained eye.
(William Gibson)
Mish-mash?
When somebody uses the adjective 'eclectic', they refer to the borrowing of
ideas from a variety of sources.
Bruce Lee's jeet kune do
is a ready example of this.
Eclecticism in tai chi is not a problem providing you are only considering
approaches within the framework of the style you practice.
Whilst each style may offer ideas, you should never adapt or change your style
to accommodate ideas from other styles.
Each tai chi style is different for a reason, hence it is a
'style' - a way, a method.
Should you want to try another style, then try that style but keep each tai chi
style distinct and intact - unless you plan to invent your own.
Eclectic can also mean mish-mash and mish-mash sounds far less appealing...
Looking externally
The desperate internal arts student seeks ideas from the external arts.
Given the fundamentally different nature of internal and external arts, this has
always seemed a strange course of action.
External students are always borrowing qigong, slowness and softness ideas from
tai chi but what do their arts offer tai chi in return?
Tai chi is a complete system in its own right.
Everything that you could possibly need can be found in the philosophy and
movements of the art.
You do not need to look elsewhere.
If you are unhappy with your experience of tai chi, look again - look closer,
look deeper.
The answers to your martial conundrums may be found in Chuang Tzu or Tao Te
Ching, not just the tai chi classics or the form.
External explorers
Some hard style external martial artists look to tai chi for something missing
from their own art.
They tend to be open-minded people with the courage to admit that their system
lacks something.
Although tai chi cannot reasonably be spliced to an external martial art, it
should offer a different perspective and develop a more connected, looser
framework.
If you are a hard-style martial artist looking for the internal, make sure that
the tai chi tutor can actually offer you what you are looking for, because many
teachers cannot.
Page created 25 August 1999