John’s Tai-BlogTai Chi and anything I can relate to Tai Chi … like life

Why People Who Aren’t Competitive Should Compete

Whenever there’s an opportunity to attend a nearby competition, my teacher and the owner of Mei Zhong always works hard to get students to join.  When I first started taking tai chi I wasn’t a very serious and I think I’d only been studying for about 6 months and I really wasn’t interested.  Miriam still managed to talk me into it.

I practiced the one short form I could comfortably finish and headed off to North Carolina with the School.  When my time came to get out on the floor I was pretty nervous.  So nervous in fact that I used the wrong opening move and then, I felt, barely managed to get through the rest of the form. I didn’t do very well but I still had a good time.  One of the judges told me I was too good to be using such a simple form, so that helped me feel a lot better about my performance.

I’m not extremely competitive although it is fun to win.  What I really got out of that experience, and what other students get out of competing, is a considerable improvement in our abilities.  Knowing you’re going to be competing gets you looking at things very differently.  You start noticing things you want to change.  Things your teacher has been telling you for a while, for some reason suddenly make sense and you find you’re doing better than you were just a short time ago. It heightens your senses and now before I compete I focus almost exclusively on one or two form sets and work them over and over.

The weekend before last our school attended the US Open International Martial Arts Championship in Atlanta, GA. The 48 form saber set takes up more than 30′ of space so I modified it somewhat to fit within 15 to 20 feet.  The changes were simply stepping back at times rather than stepping forward and the look of the form didn’t change much at all. This year it paid off and I won a gold metal with that form.

I didn’t do quite as well with my open hand form. There I took second place to another Yang Style Player, John Lutz from New Orleans.  He did a great job, I enjoyed meeting him, and I’m looking forward to visiting his school in the future.  The rest of my school made a very good showing.

Mei Zhong had 7 competitors there that day and we left with 13 metals.  Everyone managed to leave with a metal in their respective categories.  We had people in beginner, intermediate and advanced levels as well as executive (senior) and adult categories and we all had fun.

The thing I noticed most about the Mei Zhong Students was they each had a marked jump in skill from only a month or two ago.  It really is amazing how much competitions make us better and better tai chi players. So my advice is to look for a competition somewhere nearby and enter an event.  Win or loose, it will change the way you approach your practice and that’s makes winners.

Bye for now,

John

P.S. Thanks to Martha’s husband Doug for taking these photos. The group shot from left to right Carl Hierholzer, Jan Peterson, Alan Mason, Michael Holland (our support), John Crewdson, Martha Morrison, and Lyman Hurd.

Are You The Destroyer?

In this quote is the essence of tai chi.  If you have to think too much about it you don’t yet understand tai chi.

Those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them - and then you destroy yourself.

Richard Nixon

Bye for now,

John

“And The Problem Is”… Push Hands

Push hands, or pushing hands, is an exercise where tai chi players learn to “listen” to their partner’s energy.  The exercise starts out very simply with two people facing each other in the same bow stance: either left or right. Each person then extends the same arm as the forward foot and touches the back of their wrist to the back of their partner’s wrist.

The next step is to begin “stirring the soup”. Each partner keeps their arm extended, soft but with structure, in a large curved shape, and moves forward and backward while turning their waist and keeping their hand in front of their chest. The goal here is to “feel” your partner’s movement and then feel the energy in their body so you can maintain contact at all times.

As you gain skill in this simple exercise you can begin to vary the force you use and respond to your partner’s change in force.  The new goal is to take your partner off balance.   This is not a competition of muscle against muscle though.  If you are to really learn to use your own, and your partner’s, internal energy you need to flow with the energy rather than to just grab your partner and throw them off. Sometimes it’s better to add force and other times it is better to lessen your force.

From this beginning exercise, there are many variations and more advanced training exercises.  Learning this skill is not easy and takes a lot of practice.  Form work, jiben gong (moving repetitions), standing exercises, pole work, etc. all contribute to your skill level and can be done on your own.  However, I don’t know of a way to practice push hands without a partner.  Maybe one of you could develop a robot that could help here; I’m just not sure what it would be like to feel a robot’s energy.

I remember reading somewhere where a tai chi teacher was railing against push hands saying that it promoted being artificially soft and was not really useful.  Considering that push hands was developed by people who used tai chi to defend themselves and their families in real life threatening situations, as well as being used by every generation since, it seems odd that it would suddenly loose it’s effectiveness as a training tool.

Now I don’t remember who said that push hands was not a valuable exercise, and they may have developed a very good form of exercise that they do in place of pushing hands.  If so they may have also developed a new style of martial art, or at least a new branch of tai chi.  I don’t believe anything is written in stone; anything can be improved upon. The problem is most “improvements” turn out to be less than satisfactory.

It remains to be seen if push hands really is dead as an exercise.  In the mean time I think I keep practicing, just in case.

Bye for now,

John

P.S. This picture was taken by my senior training brother Michael Holland in Zhongsan Park, Bejing, China. Far left is my teacher Miram Holland; Center My Master, Master Cui Zhongsan; Next to right my senior training borther Rinjun; Far right my senior training sister Joann

If War is Not The Answer. “The Answer Is…”

War is a terrible thing.  The one who is called “looser” not only looses their life or their freedom, but also the opportunity to tell their side of the story in the history books.  The so called “winner” gains that privilege.  The innocent who were in the way, suffer worst from the inevitable destruction of the war machines.  If they’re lucky the “winner” helps them get back on their feet again.

Too often we see people warring against wars.  Sometimes they rightfully march in a peaceful manner while voicing their opinions loudly so everyone can hear. When people protest against war while remaining peaceful in their intent they have the ability to affect at least some change.

Other times people will resort to violence, thereby using some of the very tactics they are rallying against. They don’t seem to realize that fighting accomplishes exactly the opposite result.  Whenever someone is attacked they will defend themselves, whether right or wrong. This is human nature.

If we are to defeat war we have to stop fighting it.  What is wanted is peace and that’s where the focus needs to be, no matter how bleak the outlook.  If you feel the need to defend yourself you are at war. Although possible, peace within war is a paradox.

The mindset of tai chi is one of always maintaining peace within.  If you must defend yourself from an attack you need options to be effective.  Sifu Waller on his blog Dynamic Balancing Tai Chi put this very well in his post simply called Peace?.  “In terms of the martial arts, peace resides in your desire to avoid conflict, to yield, to incapacitate with restraint and consideration, rather than be sadistic or brutal.”

Bye for now,

John

P.S. Visit Sifu Waller’s blog at http://dynamicbalancingtaichi.blogspot.com/2008/11/peace.html

How To Use Cooperation To Get What You Want

Cooperation is the heart of tai chi, especially for martial application.  You have to cooperate with your opponent to both defend yourself and to attack.  At times you have to blend with your opponent and at others you have to attack openings that are “offered” to you.

If you want to get the most out of studying tai chi you need to internalize the lessons and not just learn the moves. When you begin to live the lessons in your daily life your journey of world and self discovery rises to a new level. How can you use the lessons of tai chi learned in the classroom in your daily life?

The simplest way is to just begin using only as much muscle, or energy, as you need at any given time.  Are your shoulders relaxed while typing or are they up around your ears? When you pick up the water pitcher is your focus on raising your hand or your whole arm? When you’re standing in line is your body in alignment and as relaxed as possible.  Be careful with this one; if you’re slumping you’re not in alignment.

Approaching how you move throughout your day puts you in a state of cooperation with your own body. You’re using it the way it was designed to be used, and you cease causing the damage that over stressing your body can bring about.  Tai chi is such an effective healer because it teaches you to “get out of the way” so your body can do its own thing. Your body knows how to heal; you just have to allow it.

People often talk of attacking a market, a foe, etc.  If you are in a position where you need to “mount an attack” you still need to work in cooperation with your enemy. If you attack where they are strong your chances of success are greatly reduced. It’s almost always better to attack their weaknesses.

When practicing I’ve found I get better results when I cooperate with myself and focus mostly on my own strengths. I think it’s better to focus on your strengths while disguising or protecting your weaknesses.  It’s a good idea to spend some time strengthening your weaknesses, but the payoff is usually bigger when you focus on your strengths.

Think about this yourself.  What are ways you can, or already do, apply the practice of tai chi in your daily life?

Bye for now,

John

P.S. I found this image on Oak eBooks website.  It’s a martial arts eZine site.  Check it out here: http://www.oakebooks.com/ezines/index.php?ezineId=1

“Yang Chengfu Says”… and We Should All Listen

On the blog Dynamic Balancing Tai Chi Alex Yeo talked about Yang Chengfu’s belief that we should keep in mind the martial applications of tai chi.  I agree with the idea completely.  In the very beginning, while roughing out the forms, it can be difficult to keep too many things in mind.  However, it is important for people to have at least a rudimentary understand of applications so they know where they are directing their energy.

Even when someone has no intention of advancing to the level of using tai chi as a martial art, knowing where to direct your energy gives considerably more physical benefit than just “going through the motions”.  It also makes learning tai chi much more interesting.  As I begin to develop on-line classes for Camp Tai Chi this is one of the topics that will be addressed.  Although it’s unlikely someone will develop martial skills from following any video, the health benefits of mentally directing one’s energy are important and so will be included.

Here’s an outtake from Alex Yeo’s posting.  “One should note that right from its creation, Yang tai chi chuan has always been combat-oriented. Yang Cheng Fu always emphasised that the set should be practiced with its martial applications in mind. These applications may be taught through the fast set, individual posture explanations, tui shou (push hands), san shou (fixed-step sparring) and san da (free sparring).”

Bye for now,

John

P.S. If you’d like to read Alex Yeo’s post on Yang Chengfu, go here: http://dynamicbalancingtaichi.blogspot.com/2008/11/yang-cheng-fu.html