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Pointless struggles
Tai chi students are always encouraged to perform their movements in a soft,
relaxed manner.
This applies to every exercise in the curriculum.
When a person lifts a glass of water, the action is smooth, comfortable, natural
and easy.
When a person lifts a heavy bar-bell, they tense their muscles and
struggle with the weight of it.
The former method is the tai chi way.
The latter is not.
Exertion
Tai chi is not weight-lifting.
No exertion should take place. No straining. No
forcing.
If you are using force, you are doing something wrong.
The training is intended to improve health and
wellbeing through frequent, regular
practice using low effort.
Natural
Why move in a natural, gentle, soft way when
exercising?
Natural movement is by definition easy.
It enables the muscles to move smoothly and the joints to open and close without
impediment.
No restrictions exist.
Nobody struggles to pick up a glass of water.
Beyond class
Tai chi cultivates whole-body movement and good body
use.
Grace, balance, natural range, comfort...
The qigong exercises, form and partner work all train positive body habits.
Perform your tai chi in a comfortable, natural way.
The aim is to continue this way of moving in your everyday
life.
Tai chi for health
It is important to consider your motive for practicing tai chi.
Students with health problems need to train in a manner that avoids putting the
body under duress.
The stances need to be compact and comfortable, upright and easy.
There is no point in squatting low or adopting extended stances if your
shoulders have arthritis or your knees are weak.
Listen to your body. Are you experiencing any form of discomfort?
Wealth consists not in having
great possessions, but in having few wants.
(Epictetus)
Tai chi is not easy
People who desire to learn tai chi the martial
art have to take this into account when training. Combat needs to be direct,
simple, practical and realistic.
It needs to cost you nothing and cost the attacker everything. There is no time
for flamboyant, stylised movements. Your training needs to be honed-down,
stripped of all superfluity.
Reaching this level of skill will not be easy. It may indeed be the most
challenging thing you have ever done.
Difficulty
Tai chi involves considerable difficulty. Standing
qigong is hard for most new starters. It may take many years for body and
mind to let-go. The exercise is physically tough if your body is tense.
The rest of the syllabus is physically challenging: getting in condition,
learning coordination, subtlety and depth will tax the concentration. Students
find themselves compelled to expand their perceptions.
Awareness must be cultivated.
Skills come from struggle
In Ian Leslie's book Curious the author explains that adults cease
striving once they think they have learned enough. This attitude is the fast
track to mental decay.
Psychologists have discovered that moderate hardship encourages deeper, richer,
more meaningful learning.
Embrace hardship
Tai chi requires 'hard work'... A student of tai chi is not looking for an easy
ride or a quick fix. Making time to train is inconvenient, the exercises will be
tough to learn and hard to remember.
This is the whole point.
Deliberate practice
Hard work alone is not enough, though. Simply working hard will not necessarily
lead to progress.
It needs to be deliberate, focused improvement designed to improve your practice
by developing key skills outlined by your instructor.
The student must implement corrections, study the recommended books, undertake
assignments and challenge their comfort zone.
Quotes
Difficulty quotes:
Too early in the morning?
Get up and train. Cold and wet outside? Go train. Weary of the whole journey and
longing for a moment to stop and rest? Train.
Continue on in the spirit of perseverance.
(Dave Lowry)
To bear that which you think you
cannot bear is really to bear.
(Nitobe)
I do not promise you ease.
I do not promise you comfort.
But I do promise you these hardships: weariness and suffering.
And with them, I promise you victory.
(Giuseppe Garibaldi)
I don't stop when I'm tired.
I only stop when I'm done.
(Marilyn Monroe)
Olives taste bitter at first,
sweet later.
So the matter of practice:
Hard work discovering the true way.
(Loy Ching Yuen)
That which does not kill you makes you stronger.
(Nietzsche)
Page created 2 March 1995
Last updated
16 June 2023
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