Is Little Nine Mountain legit??

**guest** · Posted On: 11/22/2002 2:00am

What`s the verdict?
Anyone with FIRST HAND experience of this place or Mr. James McNeil who runs it?

Michael · Posted On: 11/22/2002 3:07am

I've met a few of his students, wasn't impressed but back in 92 I was going to try to do one of his retreats. That's all I got.

**guest** · Posted On: 11/22/2002 6:30am

okay,
one vote for "not impressed",
anyone else?

**Rico** · Posted On: 11/25/2002 3:20am

I live very near Mr. McNeil's school in Rainbow, CA and I have spent some time with his students and even chatted with the man himself. I decided not to enroll in any of his classes, partly because of scheduling but mostly because I was not interested after seeing what he had to offer.

If you already know what he's doing and you know that's what you want, he's OK. The live-in students train under his assistants with him overseeing, and I've heard he's impressive himself. He does give input in the classes and was present alot. I was impressed with some of the things he said, but he seems to have the standard kung fu poor grasp of history. He's really into herbs, massage and Chinese healing, to the point that I witnessed him trying to solve a relatively simple health problem with some arcane ancient method when a MD could have fixed him right up.

I have a problem with the way he teaches Chen T'ai Chi. He cuts himself off from the Chen T'ai Chi community by claiming his T'ai Chi is "the original". That's clearly not the case, and if you want to communicate with other practitioners, you won't know what you're doing. Maybe he just got that from his master. Also, the training time for T'ai Chi was awfully inflated. His assistant instructor two years ago was still in what seemed to be the beginning stages of T'ai Chi training after five years of practice. Jim's kung fu brother Paul Chou freely offers his first form online at
http://www.chentaichi.com/ and openly demonstrates his T'ai Chi.

I've heard that his higher level "Splashing Hands" guys are awesome, but how much time can you spend on retreat? I didn't see much of his Xingyi or Bagua so I can't say anything. Most of his students were cool.

To sum up, I don't like the way he seems to slowly dole out information that should be freely available to his students. They don't know what they are going to get at higher levels and are expected to commit years to get this knowledge. I know this is a traditional attitude, but this is America and you are paying for it.

Let me know if you have any questions.

**Notabullshitter** · Posted On: 5/24/2006 12:14pm

I have been a student of James W. McNeil’s for ten years, he is not only an amazing teacher, but also a good fighter, and able to do things in martial arts I have never seen anyone else able to replicate. For example, I have seen him drill a hole in a brick with his finger, as well as cause his hands to swell with blood (chi and energy those inclined) with just a small amount of hand meditation, as well as other things from the Iron Hand system he instructs. (proof is on his videos if you don’t believe me) I have seen him lead work outs and he is lightning fast especially for his age 64, and is a very capable fighter. He can walk the walk as well as talk the talk. His teachers were great martial artists and he has a lot of knowledge that was passed down to him alone in some cases. Making him seem secretive to many people, because he is not willing to part with some parts of his knowledge accept to students that demonstrate that they will train as hard as he did. He rewards dedicated students with more knowledge which seems fair to me. There is little point in teaching more advanced techniques or showing ‘’secrets’’, or indoor technique to students that don’t train in the basics, which is the core of any system of kung fu. He teaches in the old style, like his teachers taught him. Dedicated meaning that train extremely hard, not just the students that pay. I personally have heard other ‘’masters’’ of martial arts say to him they learned more in one summer training with him than in all the years of training in their other arts. So if this is a review I would tell you Little Nine Heaven is a amazing school. He has quite a few talented students all over the world. Students who are seeking to learn traditional Kung Fu, and how to use it for combat and to improve their health it is the type of school you would enjoy training at.

**BoardHitBack** · Posted On: 5/24/2006 12:17pm

Your name inspires both confidence and trust.:new_sleep

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 5/24/2006 12:18pm

Okay here you go.

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=32449

Summary:

Strong ties to a Kempo technique turned into a style.
No classes but seminars only according to website.
Splashing Hand characters can't be found in chinese.
A person with Chinese contacts finds no evidence of splashing hands.

It is Little Nine Heaven=L9H.

Oh and bringing this thread back to life 4 years later with a testimonial will probably get you banned.

***DerAuslander*** · Posted On: 5/24/2006 12:26pm

Again?

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 5/24/2006 1:20pm

Originally Posted by It is Fake??

Okay here you go.

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=32449

Summary:

Strong ties to a Kempo technique turned into a style.
No classes but seminars only according to website.
Splashing Hand characters can't be found in chinese.
A person with Chinese contacts finds no evidence of splashing hands.

It is Little Nine Heaven=L9H.

Oh and bringing this thread back to life 4 years later with a testimonial will probably get you banned.

Actually the characters were finally provided by someone with ties to L9H. We discovered that the characters were used to represent training of SanShou hand techniques, i.e. SanDa. Read the forum linked above for more information.

***Plasma*** · Posted On: 5/24/2006 1:22pm

Originally Posted by Notabullshitter

I have been a student of James W. McNeil’s for ten years, he is not only an amazing teacher, but also a good fighter, and able to do things in martial arts I have never seen anyone else able to replicate. For example, I have seen him drill a hole in a brick with his finger, as well as cause his hands to swell with blood (chi and energy those inclined) with just a small amount of hand meditation, as well as other things from the Iron Hand system he instructs. (proof is on his videos if you don’t believe me) I have seen him lead work outs and he is lightning fast especially for his age 64, and is a very capable fighter. He can walk the walk as well as talk the talk. His teachers were great martial artists and he has a lot of knowledge that was passed down to him alone in some cases. Making him seem secretive to many people, because he is not willing to part with some parts of his knowledge accept to students that demonstrate that they will train as hard as he did. He rewards dedicated students with more knowledge which seems fair to me. There is little point in teaching more advanced techniques or showing ‘’secrets’’, or indoor technique to students that don’t train in the basics, which is the core of any system of kung fu. He teaches in the old style, like his teachers taught him. Dedicated meaning that train extremely hard, not just the students that pay. I personally have heard other ‘’masters’’ of martial arts say to him they learned more in one summer training with him than in all the years of training in their other arts. So if this is a review I would tell you Little Nine Heaven is a amazing school. He has quite a few talented students all over the world. Students who are seeking to learn traditional Kung Fu, and how to use it for combat and to improve their health it is the type of school you would enjoy training at.

You suck, go kill yourself. :seppuku:

PS. I didn't even read your post.