The budo, practiced correctly as they were meant to be, will never have an enormous following. They require a commitment and a willingness to endure boredom, repetition, and a constant criticism that are not in tune with modern life.

(Dave Lowry)

Feeling

Imbuing your tai chi with feeling is called 'shen'. This is not to be confused with anger or aggression.

Shen is easy to understand - just do the tai chi as though you mean it.
Do not simply 'go through the motions'.

Tai chi should be performed with feeling.

Composure

Composure means emotional calm.
You avoid the extremes.

Students are not training themselves to become blank, emotionless zombies.
They are learning to find the middle ground.


Loose cannon

You need emotional balance and propriety when training self defence with other people.

Martial arts are dangerous.
People need to trust you. They need to feel safe training with you.
If you are a 'loose cannon', no one will want to work with you.


Negative emotions

Anger and aggression are obvious examples of 'negative emotions'. These qualities are unsuitable for a safe training environment.

The danger with negative emotions is that they cause people to lose their sense of perspective.
Judgement is impaired.

The student acts foolishly.


Not so harmless

Some emotions seem harmless, but are actually quite destructive:

1. annoyance

2. boredom

3. disappointment

4. excitability

5. frustration

6. greed

7. impatience

8. irritability

9. jealousy

10. restlessness

If you think about these emotions, many are related in some way to anger.
None of them have any place in a tai chi class.


Humility

Negative emotions often arise because a student lacks humility.

They seek to be the centre of attention, or they become exasperated with their own lack of progress.
Instead of having patience and perspective, the person becomes annoyed.
They look for someone to blame.

This is not emotional balance.


Learning

Not everyone is used to learning.
Being a student can be hard for some people. They push and argue and struggle.
But who are they fighting with?

Your teacher cannot give you the art. It is not a commodity.
You must learn it by working calmly and patiently through the material.

Some students will learn things more quickly than you do.
Others will struggle.
This is the way of things. Each person is different.


Rash

Losing your emotional balance is dangerous.
You may say or do things that you might later regret.

Impulsive, rash action can result in adverse consequences.
You act in 'the heat of the moment'.
Yet you may find yourself paying for that impulse for the rest of your life.


Taking responsibility

Meditation, zen and learning a martial art all compel the individual to take responsibility for their own conduct.
This is not so easy.

When interacting with other people we must be mindful of their feelings.
We must be considerate.

How you behave with your friends and associates may not be appropriate in a martial arts class.
It may be necessary to change.

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Page created 4 July 1999