Well I'm both confused and chagrined to see all this: The Shoreline Dude is Chris Marshall who I met and trained with privately for a few sessions.
When I first moved to Port Townsend with forty plus years yang experience, I tried to study with another ascended master, Michael Gilman of early Tai Chi Journal fame. Here's a sample (you won't want or need to watch much).
Needless to say that did not go well: bad when I pushed his prize student; worse when I pushed with him! I was told that what I did wasn't really doing Tai Chi and publicly humiliated verbally and asked by him to leave the group. I don't tell people in town now that I do Tai Chi or ever practice in the park 'cause if it comes up, people always tell me, "Oh, you need to meet Michael Gilman!"
So then I contacted Chris Marshall a ferry ride away. Yes, his Tai Chi IS what's demonstrated in the video, but it was 1) way more effective than anything Gilman could offer; 2) he was a hell of a nice guy; and, 3) he appreciated my quest for martial development and it seemed he'd help me progress . Then the pandemic hit, so I wasn't taking any more ferry rides; Q introduced me to Marin and you all and I realized in a single hit that I could learn more here even just through Zoom and video than Chris--or any other local purveyors--had to offer. Never met his other students and that might have told me a lot. When I came here, what I first noticed was that some students were actually showing some inklings of developing actual gong fu . . . . . Haven't looked back since . . . .
I'm confused because nothing in his writing squares at all with the demeanor, temperament, or mental or social health of the guy I trained and had coffee with a few times. I can't actually imagine him saying, much less thinking these things! But that is him in the videos . . . . . could there be a hoax here?
I'm chagrined because I have actually spoken well of him to some Yang friends looking for more serious engagement (no, they're not serious enough to want to check out our scene).
Anyhow, traveling to Boston or Fort Collins now, I think about all the money I'm saving on ferry rides. . . . .
Cheers,
Kozmo