John’s Tai-Blog @ Camp Tai ChiTai Chi and anything I can relate to Tai Chi … like life

The Parable of The Swordsman

Along time ago, in a land on the other side of the world, there were two promising warriors.  The first was a young man of strong ideals and an even stronger work ethic.  The second was an even younger man with the ability for cunning and stealth, as well as a strong work ethic.  Each of these young warriors was very skilled for one so young and each dreamed of being the best swordsman in the land.

The first warrior was given the nickname of Lion by his friends because he was a large, strong and quick fighter who backed down from no one.  The friends of the second warrior called him Rat because he was quick minded and nimble, and his cunning made him impossible to strike.  Both warriors spent hours each day practicing their arts, each waiting until they felt they could claim the coveted title.

Lion rose early every morning to practice his swordplay and, using his wooden sword, spared with friends and challengers from around the area.  His practices were the talk of the village and many would stop by to watch him practice.  Despite not having lost a competition for several years, he still did not feel he was ready to challenge the one call the best in a fight to the death. He also though it strange the one called Rat never challenged him, or accepted any of his challenges.

Rat too arose early every morning yet would disappear until mid-afternoon, when he would take on the challenges of friends.  Unlike Lion however, he never allowed anyone other than his closest friends to witness his practice or competitions.  While sworn to secrecy, Rat’s friends did say that none of them were ever able to best him.

That fateful day came when Lion awoke and rather than practice, he packed a few things, took his sword, and left the village.  Everyone expect him to return victorious.  When Lion reached the village of the best swordsman he was surprised to see so many challengers there ahead of him.  As tradition dictated, the challengers would fight one another until only one was left.  If a winner was injured, he would be allowed to heal before his next fight.

Two months passed before Lion faced the champion.  His level of skill has risen even more during his trials.  His battle to be named the best lasted for many hours until the current champion made the smallest of errors and Lion quickly ended his life.  Within a week Lion returned home and word had began to spread that he was the new champion.

Two days after returning home, Rat called upon Lion to challenge him.  Lion was stunned that Rat would dare to challenge him now and immediately accepted.  The next day the entire village turned out to watch the fight.  It quickly became obvious who was the better swordsman.  Lion was unable even to touch Rat, and yet Rat seemed able to almost strike at will.  As Lion lay dying he asked Rat how he gained such skill.  Rat responded, “I watched you practice everyday and I know how you fight.  Rather than to have to take on many challengers, I just waited for you to win and then I challenged you.”

Within a short time the son of the warrior bested by Lion came to challenge Rat.  By this time there were a number of other challengers in the village.  Within the short span of a week, the son had beaten all other challengers and was completely unharmed.   Four days later he would face Rat.

By the day of Rat’s challenge the young man’s unique fighting style was the talk of the surrounding area.  Rat found it impossible to injure his challenger, and despite his high level of skill, was beaten within an hour.  As he lay dying he asked how we could have been beaten so easily.  The newest champion simply responded, “While you studied and practiced hard, you spent too much time studying the weakness of one man.  I watched all of my father’s battles and studied the weakness of many men.”

There are a number of lessons in this parable.  What do you glean from it?

John

Got Purposeful Posture?

We call it being loose with structure.  For beginners this can be challenging.  Students are often just told to relax.  I have a bit of a problem with this word, although I find myself saying it occasionally.  With most of us it conjures an image of lying back in a hammock holding a brightly colored drink sporting a little bamboo umbrella.

Even though most students seem to have trouble with this concept at first, it’s really not all that difficult to do.  Once you can accomplish this, you can begin to manage it and break that old habit of holding unnecessary tension.

Let’s use holding up your arm as an example.  The idea is to hold your arm out as you would in one of your tai chi postures.  Now pay attention to how it looks.  Does it appear to be held in place with purpose, or does it resemble a limp noodle that’s ready to fall at any moment?  In case you’re wondering, it should appear purposeful and solid.  Use only as much muscle as you need to keep it from looking like that limp noodle.

Once you can do this on command have a friend or training partner take hold of your arm and move it around slowly.  If you’re doing it correctly your partner will find little resistance, yet your arm will continue to have the same appearance, and as soon as they let go it will maintain that solid appearance wherever it is left.  When you can do this with ease, you’ll have learned a vital skill for the advancement of your tai chi forms that will translate into later push hands practice.  Think of it as “being there, but not really being there.”

Your next step is then to transfer this feeling into the rest of your body.  Don’t try to do it all at once.  Take your time.  Apply the feeling to your feet, your calves, your lower back, etc.  Whenever you notice tension in your body focus on that point and let go of whatever tension you don’t need.  You may find you need to adjust your posture before you can release tension.  This is one of the ways tai chi teaches you to listen to your own body.

It’s been said over and over that tai chi gives you energy.  That’s true, and one of the ways is by freeing up energy you were wasting in the first place.  Think of it like an energy audit for the body.

If you haven’t done this already, give it a try and leave a comment about your experience.  If this is old hat for you, please share your insights.  Everyone has different experiences and we can all benefit from the lessons of others.

John

Life… At The Speed of Tai Chi

Some things, so it seems, can be learned quickly.  It doesn’t mean we’ll be all that good at them though.  You can learn how to make reasonably good coffee in one lesson, as long as you have coffee machine and some properly grown and roasted coffee beans.  Starting from scratch is another story however.

I’ve seen people take nice digital cameras and take good photos right from the start, as long as they have a natural ability for good composition.  The thing is, without the camera providing the settings the pictures end up being sort of hit or miss.  We live in such a time of instant gratification that we often forget a lot of what we can do well is actually done for us.  This is not the case with tai chi.

When I hear someone say something like “I took tai chi for about 6 months and got pretty good at it”, I know one of two things happened.  They either set the bar pretty low for themselves, or they had a severe case of SPD (Self-Perception Disorder).  This is the case with most things in life.

We’ve all heard of the Old-World Craftsmen who did beautiful work after practicing as apprentices for many years.  It takes years to attain true mastery.  The right tools make a big difference, but they don’t completely take the place of patience and experience.  Most of the “craftsmanship” today can’t hold a candle to the work of a really skilled artisan, and few of us are willing to consider paying for top quality anyway.

Years ago my wife and I bought a new 4-poster bed frame from a national chain.  The salesman told us, “This is heirloom quality furniture that you can pass on to your children.”  We didn’t want to pay for heirloom quality, weren’t expecting it, and didn’t think we were getting it.  The price was what we were willing to pay and piece looked nice, but it certainly wasn’t top quality; in fact it didn’t even look like top quality in the showroom setting.

I’m not sure if this was just a poor attempt and salesmanship, or if the young man really believed what he was saying.  If he believed it, we many have reinforced his belief by buying from him.  To me this talks directly to our desire for instant gratification and our disposable society.  I don’t have a real problem, per se, with our disposable society; I just don’t particularly like seeing people delude themselves.  When we realize we’ve bought into something fake the let down can be painful.

I approach my tai chi practice with the understanding that I get from it what I put in to it.  I know more about tai chi, and my own body, than the average bear.  I’ve even been referred to as a master, because I’ve been doing it for a number of years.  I have to laugh when this happens because I know I’m still a long way from mastery of the art.

My plan is simply to stick with it and improve over time.  I’ve got a long way to go, and hopefully a long time to get there.  There will always be more to learn and maybe, just maybe, someday I’ll even consider myself in league with the “Old World Craftsmen” of the Tai Chi World.

Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  I found this picture on Flicker.com:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/10534046@N02/2071574226

Holding Together Body and Soul

Since I’m just coming off one of those inexplicable Summer Colds I thought I’d quote one of my new favorite spiritual leaders on the subject of a weak body and soul.  When the body is strong and vital, it seems the presence of the soul can be more easily felt.  When the body is weakened, it feels as if the soul is out to lunch.

Over the years I’ve found, and witnessed through others, that tai chi practice gives us more energy than it takes.  When tired at the beginning of practice, I find I have quite a bit more energy at the end of class.  Other forms of exercise can do this as well; it seems though that the effects of tai chi are more far reaching, health wise.

There’s a fair amount of information around my tai-blog and my main site, CampTaiChi.com, if you’d like to take a look around.  If you have an anecdote of your own you’d like to share, please leave a comment at the end of this post.  If you have a question regarding the heath benefits you can leave it as a comment or use the Contact Me Form by clicking on these words.  Your input is what makes this site more interesting.

In the meantime I’ll leave you with today’s quote from my favorite new spiritual leader.

“When the body ails, the soul is weakened. When the soul is weak, you get disco.” 

Bob Tzu

John

P.S.  I found this (probably retouched) photo of the Disco God here:  http://www.castrotheatre.com/nov.htm

Summer Cold?

It’s pretty rare for me to get a cold.  If I do I’m usually sick for a day or two and that’s it.  Well, you guessed it.  This one of those times… and a Summer Cold no less!

This cold hasn’t really knocked me out but it has hung on for about 4 days and has somewhat drained my energy.  If I’m feeling tired and I do some tai chi I find myself more energized and last night really clinched it for me, again.  I was teaching class and was feeling particularly tired just before hand.  By the end of class I was full of energy despite being at the tail end of this cold.

Last fall I wrote a post, Cold And Flu Season, The Natural Flu Shot, where I talked about the positive impact of tai chi on the immune system (click on the title here if you’d like to read it).  This morning I woke up feeling a bit better yet still a little drained, so I did a few minutes grasp birds tail stationary drills and immediately felt better.  Now I know this because I’ve experienced it many times over the years.  The thing is it still amazes me.  It’s one of the benefits that really got me hooked on tai chi.

When I started taking tai chi I was also studying an external art and had no intention of going very deeply into it.  As time passed however, I met Master Cui, took some of his classes, and the enthusiasm of my teacher, Laoshi Holland, infected me as well.  Now I can’t imagine life without tai chi.

If you’re looking for a boost, either physical or mental, try tai chi.  If you’re wondering about sticking with it, try it when you’re down and then try it when you’re up.  If you’re really paying attention I’ll bet you’ll decide to stick with it.

Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  I found this Summer Cold pic here:  http://justbecause-res.blogspot.com/2008/12/sniffle-sneeze-achoo.html

“Just A Little Punch”

Wujimon, a fellow tai chi player who logs his adventures on his own blog, shared this a couple of days ago.  I thought it was definitely worth passing on.  Go to his blog to read about his own experience with “just a little punch”.

Click here to read “Inside Jarring Attack”

Here’s the YouTube Video Wujimon posted.  I’ll let you take it from here.

What do you think?

John