Canadian Tai Chi Academy Classes

 

Adjunct: "There is no Wrong Tai Chi":
Looking for good instruction in Tai Chi? Wrong and Right are concepts in themselves. Although people will need to do specific things to progress in their tai chi practice, right and wrong are less productive than practicing to produce a physical or even emotional feeling or effect: further explanation within.

Instructors understand how their own bodies responded to the instruction they received in the past and should know at what stage a student is at by how they move in tai chi. Instructors themselves always try something that is being shown. However, we need to know what is good for ourselves. We should also know when our bodies might not be ready or not ready to accept the new instruction. Students are no different in this. The only way to find out if an instruction is working is to do more practice. The instruction we receive today may not bear fruit for months or even years, but none of it, not one moment, is wasted. Every member should have a Tai Chi Toolbox of things to use and try, especially if you are an instructor. Tendon changing takes time, so not much is right or wrong except if you are hurting yourself or causing imbalance in yourself; that only undoes the good tai chi provides.

The signs of rigidity in instruction might be "This is MY class" or any version of "My way or the highway". Each instructor performs their own understanding of what Master Moy taught us. We are there to absorb the pieces of knowledge, many different from each other, Master Moy left all over the world with his students. He left different understandings with different people all over the world, as tai chi is not about One Way, but many ways to serve for our better health, the main objective. We were meant to share what was left for us to glean from his whole knowledge.
Taoist philosophy – wrong only exists when there is right

Tai Chi is an art and is designed to produce physical and even emotional feelings; balance is a big part of this. Being able to distinguish between the different feelings produced, contrast, in our lessons gives us the tools to compare between the eventual subtle feelings of internal tai chi, our main goal. There are plenty of ways and words to describe the changes in our tai chi for health. But, without practice to strengthen and change the tendons, no words will make sense of the tai chi you wish to improve on. The best way to taste something is to put it in your mouth and the best way to 'get something' in tai chi is to practice practice practice; feel the changes.

Some signs to look for in a productive class is the instructor saying things like "This is your practice.” “This is your tai chi.” “I know a few things that will help you with YOUR practice to contribute to your overall health.” “I can share with you what the subject/practice in this lesson means to me.” “Try this.” “What do you feel?"

Words can be a trap. When sharing what we know, a single word can have different meaning to each and every 'body' that hears it. Instructors should try utilizing words to convey an image. Images create feelings. A feeling is so individual and much more productive. 'A picture is worth a thousand words'.

From the late and great Dr. Bruce McFarlane, International Level Instructor, Medical Advisor to Master Moy and The Taoist Tai Chi Society of Canada.

“Whether you are seeing perfect tai chi or not, the thing you do not want to destroy with your correction, is the harmony, softness, quiet and pure enjoyment, which is where the health benefit is.”

We do not own tai chi. We do not know enough about tai chi to teach, only instruct. We are custodians as volunteer instructors and administrators. We facilitate the learning of tai chi with providing lots of practice and some guidance to offer increased circulation for our fellow members. We are always looking to welcome more people and offer more practice of tai chi.

THERE IS NO 'WRONG' TAI CHI

What if the miracle of Tai Chi was just allowing the body to move normally without causing it a lot of pain, without using a lot of energy nor overdoing any movements?

Letting the body move naturally allows it to efficiently accomplish normal functions it was designed to do from birth. Just about all the medications prescribed attempt to bring our bodies back to the point of homeostasis and allow the body to heal itself. Mediocre function may not be the best for any condition the body may be struggling to cope with. What if our condition deteriorates over time, accumulating and picking up speed in a vicious self destructive cycle as we age. Does this really need to happen? What if we could perform much better with a functionally younger body? Tai Chi calls this the Return to the Golden Body or a path to reverse aging.

Everything we put upon our bodies, physically and mentally, accumulates somewhere inside in a negative way. E.G, whiplash may show up within hours or take even weeks to make an appearance as a physical symptom if not dealt with. Sometimes it is so subtle that a person might not notice right away. Even a sedentary lifestyle is among the list of accumulative collection of 'blockages'. Blockages are a symptom and cause of illness in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Tai Chi is a part of TCM. Stagnant energies created by blockages are stored and if not released stay as your 'little friend' for years or even a lifetime. Moving with balance and strong circulation, tai chi, can move these energies, clear these blockages and assist the body in restoring balance.

Normal functions of our bodies actually differ in one part of the world from another. The quality of these functionalities sometimes differs immensely. In North America we have lots of chairs. In other parts on the globe there are a lot less chairs. Chairs do not allow the spine to stretch to the extent it was designed to do for optimum functionality. The stretchiest material in the whole body is in and around the spine, and with good reason. When a person sits directly on the ground from a standing position, the spine stretches to its limits and we arrive to the ground softly sit. If the spine cannot stretch the knees will move forward until balance is lost or hit the ground first . We just sit down as far as we can and fall backwards the rest of the way to the ground without the suppleness of the spine. This happens a lot in Western cultures with lots of chairs.

The spine stretching is normal. We normally lose that function as we age with the exclusive use of chairs. Tai Chi restores the natural stretching of the spine called Dragon, one of the 5 animals in every movement of the tai chi set. The Donyu, actually a Hsing I exercise, serves the function of putting the stretch back into our spines. Donyu is a full body exercise and a key training tool passed down from Our Teacher, Master Moy Lin-shin. Master Moy called our various types of connective tissues One Big Tendon. Muscle is about 30% tendon and bone is even another type of connective tissue. Down to a cellular level all connective tissues are connected. Master Moy was right, and didn't need a microscope to see.

When sitting down to the ground the ball joints on the femur bone are fully rotated, as designed. The connective tissues all around this area hold the ball joint into the socket and guide it smoothly as it rotates. These ligaments and tendons are designed to stretch all the way with a full rotation of the joint. Sitting on the ground and getting up from it allow for full joint movement.

The pelvis is designed to move in 5 different directions and is fully open when sitting on the ground and getting up. Even if one of those directions is compromised it effects how we walk and our overall balance. As we age our movement decreases and so does the range of movement in our pelvis as it slowly solidifies and stops opening up as it should. A restricted pelvis effects how we walk, the same way it effects the walk of someone who has had a catastrophic pelvis fracture; it solidifies. Each and every joint in the body is surrounded by connective tissue that holds it in place and allows for the full movement. We don't all have perfectly formed joints; some from birth and some due to misuse or accidents. This can effect our movement and posture as well. If you were to look at a silhouette of a tall 19 year old athlete walking beside that of a 60 year old person with a sedentary lifestyle, do you think you could spot the difference? The answer is yes. We recognize elderly people because their bodies tell the story of their life, physically and mentally. As instructors, we should be able to distinguish between these details of their journey.

The good news is that connective tissue loves to be stretched, at any age. Connective tissue maintains itself by stretching, keeping it soft yet stronger at the same time. A tai chi set provides full engagement and range of motion of all the joints. Even the bones are made stronger by the tendons and ligaments being stretched. As our tai chi progresses more weight is kept on the bones instead of being diverted through the soft tissues and muscle. When we keep letting go more effectively, we gently find our own personal blockages and, over time, start to reverse these effects of old injuries and stress.

Everyone's tai chi is different. Why? Because we are all unique in how our bodies and minds developed over time. A person's tai chi is their own creation at any one point on their path developed through the understanding they have at that time no matter if it's their first class. Everyone starts somewhere and we develop our own tai chi equipped with the set of life tools we have honed and with the minds we have developed up to that point. Our bodies and minds matured over years and were evolved from our individual family upbringing, environment, life experiences, intellectual and physical training. Physical trauma affecting the normal operation of a body will exhibit differences in a person's tai chi.

If psychiatrists knew tai chi like they know their study of the human mind we would feel a little naked doing tai chi in front of them. Master Moy was famed for knowing, or 'reading' people just by watching their tai chi, how they stood, walked, talked and reacted to different situations. He had a life time of learning in these arts we are endeavouring to pass on. The depth of Tai Chi and Taoist Arts knowledge is held by only a few people. They are also disappearing as Master Moy did in 1998. On a scale of Taoist Priests, 1 to 7, Master Moy was considered about a 4. His teachers, mentors and masters are just about all gone now. Good News is, apparently there is not too much to worry about concerning losing the teachings. The teaching originated from the experience of practice and with practice the arts can be recaptured. Master Moy was chastised for teaching the Gweilo the Taoist Arts, Tai Chi being one of them. The collective phrase 'Westerners' in China was applied to a long list of conquerors and occupiers from the empires of Portugal, United Kingdom, France, USA, Russia, Germany etc, even the Japanese. China did not possess a lot of trust in other countries and cultures due to these wars and occupations. Traditions were held in high regard.

Master Moy saw the collapse and the destruction of the internal arts coming from world modernization. First he escaped to Hong Kong and continued his studies with great masters who had also escaped the purge of the Cultural Revolution by Mao Zedong and the war with Japan. In the purge, monasteries were burned and monks killed because religions were outlawed. Mao's policies were responsible for a vast number of deaths. Estimates ranging from 40 to 80 million victims due to starvation, persecution, prison labour, mass executions, and the government described as totalitarian. Organized religion was seen as a threat to Communism.

Master Moy modified Yang Style Tai Chi and developed his own way of training Westerners who were not familiar with the internal arts and how there were traditionally passed down in China.

With proper instruction and regular practice, our Tai Chi can also be utilized to modify how we move and even feel and perceive the world around us by re-establishing balance. Balance is the key for regaining and maintaining overall physical and mental health.

Think of Tai Chi as a kind of reverse engineering for our bodies and minds back to our original selves, “Return to the Golden Body”. We may present as having some emotional or physical issues, but the design of Tai Chi is to use the body to reverse these effect in ourselves; balance our internals is what Tai Chi was designed to do.

Created centuries ago, a Tai Chi set was developed in collaboration between Taoist Sages and Shaolin Monks. The intent was to reverse the effects of the body being out of balance with the mind and spirit due to too much meditation or sedentary life style. Too much of anything is imbalance. Each of the parts of us, Mind Body and Spirit, effect each other when even only one is out of balance.

Some of the wonderful benefits from tai chi are reduction pain from the discomfort from lack of physical/mental balance. The Yin and Yang symbol represents balance. When our own instructors relay their knowledge and their experiences to us through instruction and demonstration, we learn more about the art of Tai Chi and the improved circulation it creates. Circulation is a vital piece of Traditional Chines Medicine (TCM). Tai Chi is, with regular practice, an integral part of TCM. A major piece of TCM is balance, in other words, we become our own physicians doing our tai chi.

Master Moy gifted this system to us. It is a system that starts producing benefits from our very first lesson in tai chi; follow, quiet, soft, relax and smile.

We become good at what we practice the most, and that means anything. But tai chi practiced even just 2 to 3 times a week when we have not yet honed the skill to an advanced level, has a profound effect on our overall human condition. Just eliminating activities that produce negative physical and mental effects helps. If a person is continually abased for their behaviour when they are children it may force them to lie to avoid constant degradation or discipline. They are now trained to become good liars. If a child is constantly fed positive reinforcement, kept away from experiencing failure, made to feel special and unique without any consequences for negative behaviour towards others, we have trained someone to be a privileged loner without any social skills in the real world. Both are extremes and beg for the balance in parenting. Balance is the key for circulation and good practice delivers it.

In our classes we need balance. Not everyone is there for just instruction but sometimes there for their personal time. People are busy with family, work and the things that makes life rewarding for them. Just the practice of the art of tai chi helps brings balance to them and they can feel that after class. We have a responsibility to provide that exercise, the quiet practice and balance it brings for every member. Without practice, people cannot grow an understanding of tai chi and the changing of tendons to understand it. Instruction is not practice. Ergo, instructors must provide quiet practice time along with a bit of instruction in every class for there to be balance in class.

The suggested practice time on the floor of an hour and a half class is about 75% or about 68 minutes out of 90 or 45 minutes in an hour long class. A 10 minute tea break provides the opportunity for social interaction. In the Beginner Tai Course, repetition is much more important. The tendons must be prepared over the approximate 4 month course for the challenges in Intermediate class . Repetition is the best way to learn the set. Also, it is impossible to explain tai chi to anyone. We can only provide guidance and then practice time for our members/students; we cannot explain or do the tai chi for them.

Again, as instructors we convey instruction from our own knowledge and experience base. Our understanding of tai chi is the only tai chi we can share. The people in our class are no different than us. Audio learners are at a great disadvantage in learning tai chi because audio learning involves less practice than Kinetic or Visual. Audio is just the mind running or doing tai chi. Instructors must be careful with the words they use as the interpretations of what the instructor is saying has as many interpretations as there are people in the class.

Master Moy gave us the 333 method of instructing tai chi not for just one reason but as many reasons as Master Moy had teachers in his lineage. Moy grew up learning Tai Chi / Lok Hup etal passed down from the sages, teachers and monks from the age of 14. You would think that over hundreds of years they would have learned a few things about instruction. The point is, the 333 works. Why reinvent the wheel; use the best system. There is plenty of room for individualism and adaptations.

To find the genius of Master Moy's 333 system the answer is sticking to it and continue to work on your delivery of it. From Master Moy himself: “Tai Chi is do.” It is easy to deduct that Tai Chi is “not talk”. Let's all be guided by this wisdom from Master Moy's lineage. Examine our choices with instruction and look at our students. In them is a reflection of our choices and our understanding of tai chi. Let Master Moy and his tai chi help guide their future.

Keeping our tai chi close to Master Moy's is not something that should be taken lightly. By attempting to replicate Master Moy's wonderful healing art, whether passed to us directly or indirectly, we are learning balance and circulation.

For most of us now, learning tai chi is from an indirect path of transmission. We cannot deny the benefits of our own limited understanding of tai chi. But please consider that the only thing that is wrong in our tai chi is when we are not receiving any health benefits from it or enhancing our own bad habits through repetition. Master Moy's lessons shared over time with us are now closest in the lessons shared from those who were closest to him.

The story of Master Moy asking a group “Who has the best Tai Chi here?”. The one receiving the most health benefits from their practice. This applies to everyone even though we all have different tai chi.

There are many paths we can take in our tai chi. The variables are our state of mind as well as our physical condition at the time; complex to say the least. Our own evolution in tai chi is determined by what steps we take to hone our skill. In this, we are all alike; most of us are reasonably well functioning bipedal human beings; save for the reptilian overlords in our group – har har. We look to apply the best next steps, in coordination with and under the guidance of our own instructors, to receive more out our tai chi. We need to 'hone' our tai chi skills in order receive better health. Our status in tai chi is recognized as our current point on the path. That point can be modified/effected by applying different “next steps” in expanding our 'circulation', the result of practicing better balance. When we strive to improve our own tai chi we pass it on to others.

Circulation is the main goal on our own path to improving or maintaining health. Better balance ergo better circulation ergo better health. We should be able to look at a person practicing their tai chi and be able to recognize something different between their tai chi, the person beside them and ourselves. As instructors, we study general and subtle movements of bodies and determine what is good circulation because we have been through it ourselves. If we are willing to learn, there are methods we can apply that do help others on their path. It's our calling and why we volunteered.

Without good tai chi being offered in class, we have nothing to offer and the efforts we have put into sharing Master Moy's art to the public will miserably fail. All that we do is offer people a place to practice, give them guidance and an opportunity to feel what we feel when we do tai chi. Without “follow, quiet, soft, relax and smile”, there is no Academy. Offering tea is as important as any one thing we do to help others as it is part of what we offer, inclusion and caring. We must recognize and respect everyone in front of us as we were when we first started. There is no wrong tai chi.

Back to basics:

Practically, there is no difference between giving a general tai chi offering to the whole class and assisting an individual with their own tai chi if it brings better health to all. Both offerings are of great value. Determining if an individual will accept the offering or feel singled out in front of the class is a whole other issue. Our experience and skill is key to choosing the proper method and there are ways to increase the size of our tool box containing those skills. We cannot pass this tool box on without the person experiencing how these tools got added there in the first place. Only tendon changing will get them close to the same level of understanding as ours. We can only rely on them to learn from their own practice, experiences, attitudes and willingness to take instruction. Tai Chi is 'do', not listen. Talking will not convey much about the art of tai chi you experienced. So, if they are not able to feel what the tai chi can do to change their tendons to produce better circulation and balance, they will not progress. Everything we do in class is focused on their progress, not ours.

Consistency: Our next step on the path is complicated enough without having a constantly moving point on our own path. By continually adding things to our tai chi, without internalizing them, the path is so inconsistent that it wobbles and weaves left and right and forward and back so much that no one could be able to appreciate or recognize what that next step actually is.

When we hear that someone has regular practice, it is a joy to hear. Whether they are getting the most out of their practice is another thing. With many of the people in the class, consistency is directly tied to how they perceive tai chi. If they are there for a social gathering and a little exercise, their path wobbles because their focus is different than ours; they are welcome to do so and we should accommodate them. If they are there for more study and practice, we should also accommodate them as well. If they are there to try out tai chi and see if it is for them, we should accommodate. Everyone is welcome.

Our next step used to be termed, and maybe for some instructors still, 'corrections'. As instructors, I personally would prefer the method of just adding something to someone's tai chi. The person may or may not accept it but will take it as an offering for their own experimentation. We should respect each individuals perspective and not assume what it may be.

Correction may imply that we were doing something wrong. Offering a perceived 'next step' implies that we really believe the persons tai chi might expand and bring them better health. As instructors, this is at the core of 'helping each other'. We were accepted by the Academy as instructors based upon several requirements, the first of which is a “Good Heart”. We fit this primary requirement and it should serve to govern all of our actions in class, as Master Moy intended it would naturally do. Sometimes we need help, or need to improve our instruction in a way that is better for members growth and understanding of tai chi. An example of this would be, “We are here for the right reasons”, but, for the best interests of the members, we need to learn how to benefit them in a more appropriate, effective or pragmatic way. Nearly all decisions are based upon this first requirement of an Academy instructor. We all need to be looking for improvements or growth to our skills. We owe it to everyone involved.

A thought: tai chi and the skills it enhances in us is a microcosm of our lives?

Consistency in everyone's tai chi is paramount to making any progress. It's not that our tai chi has to be 'right', but that tai chi needs to be consistent enough for someone to be able to assist when attempting to broaden their understanding and practice. If we do not practice we cannot progress. The more we practice and establish consistency, the clearer the next step is revealed. The same is true of people in our classes. No one can do our tai chi for us and we cannot do tai chi for the members in our class. If there is no consistency, learning without internalizing or perhaps integrating into our own tai chi, we are shifting between points on a very flexible path.

Think of a pin ball machine. Gravity and the stored energy in the spring of the plunger striking the ball determines, or rules, the path of the ball through the game board full of pins. If we could release the plunger with the exact same force each time, the ball would have the exact same path and hit the exact same pins on its way down the canted table top. If we think of the pins as either a blockage or a good pin to strike for our better health the trip starts to make sense as the rules reveal themselves. Gravity and position, speed, angle, direction, timing and balance. We all want to hit the good pins because we want better health and we want to share this with others.

By consistently releasing the ball with the same amount of force each time, the ball will likely strike the same first pin each time whether it is a good or bad pin. However, if we adjust our release with the same consistency, we can 'aim' more accurately and intend to hit the good pins on a regular basis. Let's say the first pin is a 'Blockage' in our circulation and we adjust the 'release' to have it hit a good pin on the way out, full points!

When we begin our tai chi our release is based upon the outer form. As our tai chi becomes more internal, we start hitting more good pins than bad ones on the way down because our aim is better, more consistent. Thusly, we are avoiding the undesirable pins or blockages. Our path becomes less and less complicated and is aligned to hit all the good pins! Bingo, better circulation and better health outcomes.

There is sitting and standing tai chi. Nearly everyone can do some form of tai chi. A good instructor makes the study and practice of the art enjoyable and interesting to all in our class, no matter how each of us perceives our tai chi to be. The art is a tool to regain or improve one's health. Everyone is welcome.

It is the instructors job to help everyone's tai chi get bigger and better in understanding and practice. Just as we would buy a bigger or better tool for our toolboxes. Bigger or better tai chi is more effective in regaining or improving our health.

Important thing to remember in tai chi? Practice and enjoyment! If a person does not like the exercise they are performing, it is clinically proven that there is potential for harming oneself in some way; this includes tai chi. Another thing of importance to remember when doing tai chi: we must be patient and kind with ourselves and realize, that it takes time for the body to change. But change it will, with regular, consistent practice.

Wherever or whatever we practice, choose a person to help you get more out of our own tai chi be it a guide, a mentor, a good instructor. Don't let negativity squirm it's way into our practice.

Happy Tai Chi'ing! Cliff Yerex