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An exceptional student...
There are 4 types of student:
Attender
Student
Indoor student of tai chi
Lineage student
Most people in our
class at any given time are 'attenders'.
An attender is anyone who has committed to joining a school and attends
weekly lessons.
It is quite rare for somebody to become an indoor student of tai chi and rarer still a
lineage student.
Fast-track
The 'inner school' offers serious depth and is not for the half-hearted
student. Indoor tuition is aimed at people who want fast-track
progress through the tai chi syllabus.
Indoor students are people who train
very closely with the
instructor.
They have a chance to really
feel the art.
Indoor student
What makes a person an 'indoor student' is
the duration, intensity and quality of the relationship.
The student is privy to the innermost thoughts of the instructor; the
preferences, considerations, choices, questions and
options.
It is a relationship that
deepens over decades, and is uncommon in modern
tai chi.
Prove yourself
sincere
To be considered a suitable candidate for indoor tuition you must
prove yourself.
Start by gaining competence in
all of the preliminary skills
ASAP.
Quite literally: put your money where your mouth is. If your ambition is not grounded in the
fact of your training, you are
merely a talker.
Caution
Western students struggle to understand what
indoor tuition involves.
Invariably their own ego,
arrogance and
laziness intrude.
Most would-be indoor students falter before the journey has even begun.
A beginner forever?
It is necessary for the instructor to
ensure
that an indoor student is actually 'stealing
the art'.
If they are not, then they are not acting like an indoor student.
We are defined by what we do.
Good intentions are worthless. A
lazy student is not an indoor student.
To quote the proverb: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't
make it drink.
Indoor tuition isn't aimed at people who are contented to
remain a beginner, to stay in limbo...
Behaviour
To be an indoor student, you must
behave as
an
indoor student.
Expected behaviour:
•
Seek to attend all possible training opportunities (workshops, boot camps,
indoor sessions)
•
Regular (ideally monthly) indoor sessions
•
Handing in assignments regularly
•
Fast progress through the grades (ideally every 6 months)
An indoor doesn't do this out of obligation. But rather, from enthusiasm.
From ferocity, drive and ambition.
Poor
commitment
Please note that by definition an indoor student seeks more tuition than
your average students, so this means attending ALL available
training/learning opportunities.
If this is not a viable expectation, then don't seek to do indoor.
Poor behaviour
If the student isn't committing to indoor sessions... or a notable period of stagnancy
is
apparent... or worse - deterioration
- the
student simply ceases to be an indoor student.
There's no
shame in this. It wasn't for them. Since an indoor
student directly reflects the teacher, poor attitude/behaviour is not sustainable.
Focus
An indoor student is not required to learn every single thing that the instructor
knows.
They may only focus on a given subject such as
qigong, form, pushing
hands or
weaponry.
By contrast, a lineage
student is
committed to learning absolutely everything; every facet of
chin na,
shuai jiao,
neigong,
weaponry,
Taoism,
Zen...
Enhanced practice
Once an indoor student begins to make steady progress, they will revise the
basics.
The enhanced level of practice will increase the effectiveness of
everything encountered to date in the syllabus, and really work the body.
The goal here is a greater degree of physical integration.
Page created 2 March 1995
Last updated
1 June 2012
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