If you want to build a ship,
don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and
work,
but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
Scatterbrained?
There is a common myth that tai chi people are scatterbrained
hippies.
This may be the case in some instances and sounds quite
taoist, but it is not very
kung fu.
Feng shui encourages you to balance the
natural flow of things with the practicalities involved.
If your study of
tai chi is to be
productive and thorough, it may be necessary to organise your training into
some sort of schedule.
Volume
What you train and how much time you commit to training is entirely up to
you.
Tai chi does not advocate pressure.
Your routine should stem from the need to maintain the standard without
overtraining.
Less is more.
Little and often.
Training fewer items gives you more time to address the detail.
Stagger your exercises across the week but aim
to train the main ones every day.
Partner work
Commit as much time as possible to partner work.
Training with a variety of different people is vital - everyone brings something
new to the practice, whether it is something constructive or simply an
impediment for you to work around.
Only through regular ongoing partner work can tai chi ever reasonably be
employed as
self defence.
Time
We live in a world of fast-food, conveniences and high-speed transport yet
people claim that they have too little
time.
This is an amusing statement and seems to suggest that they have been denied
their allotment of time.
We all have as much time as one another - it is all a matter of what you choose
to do with it.
Beyond tai chi
Your
priorities determine how much time you set aside for things.
If something is of great value to you, you make time for it. You organise your
life accordingly.
Consider a life in which you can take your time?
Where you can plod at your own pace?
A situation where no external pressure exists?
To some degree the realisation of this is in your hands.
Get up earlier. Take things
slowly. Watch less television. Sleep regular hours. Switch off your
mobile phone.
If you want more time, do less. Have fewer commitments. Prioritise. Manage your
time more effectively. Be prepared to discard less important concerns. Make time
for people and things you enjoy.
Avoid energy-sapping associates.
Spend your time in
healthy, fruitful
activity. Consider it an investment, not a
chore.
Self-discipline
An
internal martial artist needs self-discipline.
They must be internally motivated and
responsible for what they are doing and how
they do it.
Outside pressure is not required.
If you are responsible for your life, then your internal and external realities
need to be aligned.
A scattered, confused,
jumbled mind usually results in a untidy living
environment and a lack of organisational skills.
A
relaxed, balanced mind has pared things down and knows where things
are.
Such a person does not become easily
confused or
flustered.
This is not about control. It is about
awareness.
When your thoughts settle and you
see
more, your internal serenity will become manifest externally.
You take time over things and do not
rush.
You are thorough and methodical. You are
patient.
Teachers
A
teacher needs to be exceptionally well
organised if they are to keep track of every students progress and
differentiate appropriately.
Your syllabus needs to be comprehensive, with plenty of latitude for improvement
and change.
Page created 11 June 2000