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| Are you a martial artist? | ||
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The era of the absurd
Modern culture/media/movies present people with the illusion that
great skill can be gained overnight.
New starters are guaranteed a black belt within a year or two of starting
their training. Kids are given a black belt before they can drive a car or
leave school.
Self defence courses show a limited range of techniques designed to provide
the illusion of genuine martial competence against a real life assailant...
Quitting
It is common for beginners to train a
martial art for a number of months or
even a year or two and then quit.
Some may even last until black belt, only to leave then (as though
black belt marked the end of their training).
In the scheme of things, a few years of practice really amounts to nothing.
The long haul
A student is thinking in terms of
decades.
They are aiming to train for a lifetime...
They train patiently every day.
Their expectations are realistic.
Neither lazy nor complacent, the student works
through the many challenges and obstacles, becoming
stronger, calmer and more
adept.
The difference between
experienced fighters and beginners is the speed of muscle relaxation, which
is 8 times faster in champion fighters. For an inexperienced fighter, the
speed of muscle relaxation is too slow for the leg or the fist to gain
enough speed when striking a blow. Keeping the antagonistic muscles
contracted automatically slows down the movement.
(Frederic Delavier)
A martial athlete?
Combat is not easy and there is a risk of injury if the student is unfit.
This is true of any martial art. To reach a high level of skill, the student
needs to take a lesson from sport.
They must become a lot fitter, but not necessarily a martial
athlete.
Martial fitness
All martial arts require the student to be fit
for combat.
Tai chi students train: massage, leg stretches,
qigong, neigong, form, partnered work, martial sets &
drills, combat and weapons.
The training is done carefully, gently - in a
controlled manner - without exertion or
strain.
Tai chi for health
Faced with a major health crisis in the 1950's, the People's
Republic of China turned to the old/classical Yang style tai chi for a solution.
They wanted a form of exercise that could be
performed by students of all ages.
The simplest way to achieve this was to remove
the more demanding fitness component
and the combat.
Most modern tai chi classes are
teaching an art that an old person could cope
with... By definition this cannot
conceivably be a
martial art.
Effort
Skill is the outcome of time, of practice, of study, of
experience.
Tai chi does not use brute force, contracted
muscles or aggression.
Its skills are accomplished quietly, and
without fanfare.
To gain these skills you must work hard.
Attending is not practicing
Tai chi lessons are about offering the
student material for practice.
Whether or not the student goes away and practices the tai chi is their
concern, not the instructor's.
Attending is attending, and nothing more.
Practice is what you do between lessons.
Without long practice one cannot suddenly
understand tai chi.
(Wang Tsung-yueh)
Commitment
The earnest student is honest about their degree of
commitment.
They recognise that progress is their own
responsibility.
You get out of tai chi what you put into it.
Realistic ambitions
If you only plan to attend once a week and never train
at home, progress will be slow. It is wise to be modest with your ambitions. Aim to gain skill within a limited sphere of
understanding.
Rather than spread your time thinly, focus on the preliminaries and become
adept with those few concerns.
Curiosity
The keen student - burning with curiosity - needs no prompting to
train, needs no incentives or encouragement.
The unknown beckons and they approach the
mystery eagerly.
Self-reliance and self-discipline may seem necessary, but they are not.
When you are alive with interest and passionate to
know, you have no need of self-discipline.
People always make time for the things they
want to do.
Your life
How do you spend your life?
Working?
Watching TV?
Are you a spectator or a participant?
More?
How many people suffer from a mid-life crisis?
And what exactly is a mid-life crisis? Surely it is the realisation that there is more to life
than earning money.
Life is fascinating, mysterious, exciting.
Yet, sitting at your desk or on the sofa... this seems
somewhat dull.
The journey
Instead of fading slowly within the confines of their own life, the
rare individual undertakes a
journey of intimidating difficulty.
They do not withdraw in fear from the uncertainty
ahead.
Nor do they question the need for a quest.
Learning tai chi is an intensely
personal adventure.
There will be startling insights,
unexpected joy and occasional moments of considerable
fear.
Anticipate change
It is a mistake to think that we are just fighting/engaged in combat training or doing
some sort of Chinese health exercise.
We are undertaking something far more significant and
meaningful.
To understand our training you must gain a more profound
understanding of
existence.
Tai chi students are required by their art to
see a different world.
A major cognitive shift is necessary. Everything changes.
Consider this:
Most people live lives that are
not particularly physically challenging. They sit
at a desk, or if they move around, it's not a lot. They aren't performing
manoeuvres that require tremendous
balance and
coordination. Thus they settle into a low level of physical
capabilities - enough for day-to-day activities or
maybe even hiking or biking or
playing golf or tennis on the weekends, but far from the level of
physical capabilities that a highly
trained athlete possesses.
The reason that most people don't possess
extraordinary physical capabilities isn't because they don't have the
capacity for them, but rather because they're satisfied to live in the
comfortable rut of homeostasis and never do the work
that is required to get out of it.
The same thing is true for all the
mental activities we engage in. We learn enough
to get by but once we reach that point we seldom push to go beyond.
(Anders Ericsson)
A spiritual life
There is something simple and wholesome
about a life spent cultivating grace,
awareness and
calm.
It is an almost monastic existence.
You practice,
study, contemplate,
meditate, experience insights, and reflect.
What's the point?
Training tai chi is an endeavour that will
enrich your life.
You will experience:
These qualities will affect
your everyday life and enable you to live more fully and consciously.
Additionally, combat skills will help to
provide a sense of ease and
harmony in a culture filled with
conflict and adversity.
More...
Page created
1 August 1998
Last updated
16 June 2023