The road to the precious capital is not for the inattentive.
(Loy Ching-Yuen)
Welcome
Welcome to our tai chi school. If you have attended lessons, we hope you
enjoyed the class.
We would like to begin by
orienting you. At
present you are considered to be a 'new
starter'.
We
are usually at the hall by 6:30 and encourage you to arrive early and practice
standing qigong for the first half hour.
Starting out
You are new to our school - we do not know you and you do not know us.
We are new to one another.
Most new starters have a variety of preconceptions and misconceptions,
opinions and bad
habits of body use.
They expect to be learning
self defence from the onset
and are surprised when they are not.
The material is incremental. You must build foundation skills first. Without a
firm foundation, the tai chi will simply not work.
Perseverance
Knowledge and skill is gained by attendance, commitment and practice. We cannot
simply
give it to you.
You cultivate skill through your understanding, experience and practice.
It takes time. It takes practice. It takes receptivity and openness to new
ideas.
Let-go and have
fun...
Only the
sincere and
light-hearted student has the
patience and the dedication to complete part 1.
Go easy with yourself. Give it time.
A beginner only learns a small portion of our syllabus.
The class is simply an introduction to tai chi.
Chat?
Please do not expect to have an in-depth tai chi discussion with the teacher
during the evening.
If you could understand
tai chi by
talking about it, you would not need lessons.
This is a
kung fu school and you are expected to
practice.
Understanding comes
with
experience not
speculation.
Be nice
If you are half-hearted, you will
quit after a couple of
lessons.
If you are rude or
aggressive, you will be ignored or asked to
leave.
We like students to be relaxed with themselves and friendly to others.
Past experience?
We accept that many new starters have past experience in the martial arts
or tai chi.
This does not entitle you to any concessions, short-cuts or a 'fast-track'
through the syllabus.
In all likelihood you will have a lot of
physiological and
psychological
habits that will need to be
dropped if you want
tai chi to work.
Any attempt to
understand our material in terms of something
else is a bit naive.
Judging
the whole from the part
There is an Indian folk tale about six blind men inspecting an elephant:
The first man encounters the side of the animal and believes it to be a wall.
The second man imagines the tusk to be a spear.
The third man thinks that the trunk is a snake.
The fourth man considers the leg to be a tree.
The fifth man feels an ear and believes it to be a fan.
The sixth man finds the tail and is certain it is a rope.
They each interpret the
whole on the basis of the small portion they have encountered.
Let go
A beginner does not understand the
syllabus. They are the blind man and the
syllabus is the elephant. They see what they want to see. What they are capable
of seeing.
Can you understand Mike in terms of Joe?
Cast aside your preconceptions and deal with the material as it comes.
Understand the tai chi in terms of
tai chi.
Do not look around for a comfortable comparison to alleviate your
uncertainties.
Accept that you do
not know. Be ok with it.
Understand requires experience and you do not have any yet.
Self defence?
Nobody learns any actual 'self
defence' in part 1. Your body needs to be
strengthened and conditioned first. Bad habits must be lost.
You are only learning the basics of our system:
How to connect the limbs to the torso
How to yield
How to create space
How to be soft
How to work without tensing-up
How to be composed
How to move your whole body
How to be soft and heavy
How to go with the flow
How to respond without thinking
Unless your body has been trained to
move in a
soft,
sensitive,
yielding,
whole-body manner, you could not physically
perform the self defence material offered in beginners syllabus
part 2.
Part 1 is laying the foundation for
self defence.
Even self defence-style drills such as escaping from locks and holds are
not really self defence.
They serve to encourage body movement, awareness and the release of unwanted
tension.
Page created 5 April 1998