More about Taiji (and maybe Bagua. We’ll see). In yesterday’s post, I highlighted some of the differences between Taiji and Bagua. Today, I want to talk about my love for Taiji because I can. And because it’s deep. And it’s one thing I love that actually loves me back. I’m not talking about people–there are people I love who love me backI’m talking about hobbies/things. And I mean love in a looser sense, not actual, sentient love.
For example, I love FromSoft games (and have made that very clear), but they do not love me back. Ian has said that he thinks I’m the perfect recipient for the games (the average player who tries really hard), but I disagree. The games are brutal, despite the current retconning by From lovers to deny this. The recent meta in soulslikes is to make parry king, which is so not my jam at all. It’s also ironic because FromSoft themselves have moved away from the parry. In Elden Ring, they added a guarded counter that works the same as a parry (allows you to do a riposte), and is oodles easier than a parry.
I have known for some time that the FromSoft games would outpace me at some point, and I fear that we are at that point. The last boss of the last DLC of Dark Souls III pushed me to my limit. and I don’t want to even talk about Sekiro. Yes, I beat the final boss of that game, but I knew that it was at the very top of my skill ability, if not past it. I cheesed that boss by running around in circles and waiting for one particular move by the boss.
You have to know that this boss has *spoilers* four phases. The first phase is Genichiro, whom you fight earlier. Twice. Once in the very beginning when he slices off your arm (or not. You can avoid it if you’re really good. I don’t think I got a single hit on him the first time I fought him), and then once about a fourth of the way in (or later depending on what you do), there’s an epic battle on top of Ashina Castle. It’s supposed to be a hard skills check, and boy, was it ever.
In this fight, the Genechiro phase is fairly easy (in comparison to what comes next), but I realized after several attempts that if I had to use a…ah, gourd during this phase, it was better to let him kill me and try again. I had to make it to Isshin, the Sword Saint, with all my gourds to have any chance of beating him.
As I said, I had no hope of actually beating him with my skills, so I raced around in circles in the arena, baiting out one attack. When he did that attack, I would hit him twice, and then resume running around. For three phases. Whilst having to dodge ever-increasingly difficult attacks by Isshin. If you can deflect properly, the fight can take a minute or two. Because I could not deflect, it took me fifteen minutes to beat him. And if I went back to do it again, I would lose to him another hundred times, I’m sure.
With that fight, it was transcendental when I finally beat him, but I also knew that my time with From games was short. The timer was ticking, and I felt it keenly in my soul. That’s why I was relieved when they went back to a soulslike game (Elden Ring) instead of going farther down the parry/block/deflect road. Which they returned to for Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon, which is one of the reasons I didn’t get very far in that game. People tried to convince me that I just had to give it time and practice (‘git gud’, in other words), but I knew that it wasn’t any of that. I had shitty reflexes and depth perception before my medical crisis–they were absolutely abysmal after (and this game released after Elden Ring).
One thing I love about Taiji is that it’s ageless.You can do it as you age, no matter how old you are. Master Liang liked to say that life started at seventy, and he lived for over thirty years more. I feel physically better at fifty-three than I did at twenty-three, and it’s all thanks to Taiji. It’s gentle on the bodywhile being very beneficial for said body.
I have included my teacher’s teacher doing the kick section in the second section of the Solo (Long) Form above beacuse it’s my favorite section of the Solo (Long) Form. I am excited to have found this video because I’m in a refining phase, and my kick section can certainly use some refining.
What I love about this section is that it’s hard. Well, at least hard for Taiji. You have to think about it, and your balance has to be good. Fortunately for me, the latter is something I don’t have an issue with. Not sure why, but it’s probably in part because I took dance classes for ten years. Tap, jazz, and ballet. For whatever reason, I clicked with the kick section and wished that my teacher’s teacher had kept in the more difficult kicks.
I think it’s also because that section focuses my brain when I do it. It’s intricate enough that I have to pay attention to it while I do it, even now. If I’m the slightest bit off, well, then my balance is off. There are times when I’m wobbling all over the place, and I despair of ever regaining my balance. Most of the time, though, I’m dialed in and can do the kicks with ease.
This is the end of the second section, and it’s meant to be challenging before you go into the third section. The third section has a lot of repeat and variations of movements we’ve done in the previous two sections. It also has some of the most difficult movements in the form.
That’s all I want to write tonight, so I will pick it up again tomorrow.