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Finding a teacher
Sometimes people can't make it to our classes, whether through geographical distance or other factors, and we are asked 'how can one find a good Tai Chi teacher?'. The answer is not really easy. Rather than point to specific practitioners, we hope the following external article may help you identify a good teacher when you find them.
This article reproduced from the website of Carl Hendel, M.D., who practices Integrative Medicine in Santa Rosa, California (see link below).
I was recently asked how to find a Tai Chi teacher. This is a very important question, and there is not a simple answer. I will share some of my thoughts and some things that I have learned about the subject from my teacher.
Not all "Tai Chi" is the same. There is hard style (external) Tai Chi, and soft, (internal) practice. It is the soft internal practice that I believe have the most benefits for peace of mind and health.
Also, many people have the attitude that they can become qualified to teach this art with a few lessons of their own. Also, there are many people who are teaching who, although they may have studied for years , may not have studied correctly. The classics (old Chinese teachings of Tai Chi) say "missing by a little can lead miles astray." So how can you find a real teacher?
First, it can only be Tai Chi if it is that which has been described in the Tai Chi classical writings. Tai Chi is not a just a choreographed series of movements. These movements are guided by principles, such as upright body, relax, rootedness, differentiation, and more, and these are basis of the teaching.
If you ask a teacher to tell you about the "principles" that guide the movements, and he doesn't know what you mean (just explains more choreography), find another teacher. Also, Tai Chi is an oral teaching. It cannot be learned from a video or a book.
I choose to regard the idea of oral teaching as personal teaching, with questions and answers and corrections. Your body will require corrections, and that means a knowledgeable teacher to correct your postures (and I do mean knowledgeable, since incorrect teaching not only will lead to wasted time, it can injure you).
If the teacher doesn't allow you to touch him/her (to feel what they are like), I'd wonder why. I believe that it is important to feel the quality of the teacher's body, what relaxed, sinking the chest, receiving, being rooted, feel like.
Learning tai Chi is experiential, and personal. Find a teacher with whom you feel comfortable.
- Carl Hendel, M.D
(www.doctorcarl.org)
This article reproduced from the website of Carl Hendel, M.D., who practices Integrative Medicine in Santa Rosa, California (see link below).
I was recently asked how to find a Tai Chi teacher. This is a very important question, and there is not a simple answer. I will share some of my thoughts and some things that I have learned about the subject from my teacher.
Not all "Tai Chi" is the same. There is hard style (external) Tai Chi, and soft, (internal) practice. It is the soft internal practice that I believe have the most benefits for peace of mind and health.
Also, many people have the attitude that they can become qualified to teach this art with a few lessons of their own. Also, there are many people who are teaching who, although they may have studied for years , may not have studied correctly. The classics (old Chinese teachings of Tai Chi) say "missing by a little can lead miles astray." So how can you find a real teacher?
First, it can only be Tai Chi if it is that which has been described in the Tai Chi classical writings. Tai Chi is not a just a choreographed series of movements. These movements are guided by principles, such as upright body, relax, rootedness, differentiation, and more, and these are basis of the teaching.
If you ask a teacher to tell you about the "principles" that guide the movements, and he doesn't know what you mean (just explains more choreography), find another teacher. Also, Tai Chi is an oral teaching. It cannot be learned from a video or a book.
I choose to regard the idea of oral teaching as personal teaching, with questions and answers and corrections. Your body will require corrections, and that means a knowledgeable teacher to correct your postures (and I do mean knowledgeable, since incorrect teaching not only will lead to wasted time, it can injure you).
If the teacher doesn't allow you to touch him/her (to feel what they are like), I'd wonder why. I believe that it is important to feel the quality of the teacher's body, what relaxed, sinking the chest, receiving, being rooted, feel like.
Learning tai Chi is experiential, and personal. Find a teacher with whom you feel comfortable.
- Carl Hendel, M.D
(www.doctorcarl.org)
Tao Teh Ching Chapter 16 - Author comparisons
Interesting to cross reference each of my favorite author's Professor Cheng Man Ching and Bill Porters (aka Red Pine). In Chapter 16 below it points out a number of themes that are threaded together to remind us that if you want a long life with less troubles, this is a way to cultivate yourself.
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Translation By Professor Cheng Man Ching.
Attain utmost emptiness. Maintain profound tranquillity. All things are stirring about. I watch their cycle. Things flourish, and each returns to it root. Returning to the root is called tranquillity; Returning to one’s basic nature is called constancy. To understand constancy is called enlightening. Not to understand constancy is blindly to do unfortunate things. Understanding constancy, one gains capacity for forbearance. If forbearing, one can be just. If just, one can administer the affairs of state morally. If one can administer the affairs of state morally, Then he can communicate with Heaven. To communicate with Heaven is to be accord with the Tao. In accord with the Tao, one is everlasting, And even though the body ceases to be, he/she is not destroyed. |
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Translation By Bill Porter.
Keeping emptiness [i] as their limit and stillness as their centre [ii] Ten thousand things rise We watch them return Creatures without number return to their roots Returning to their roots they are still Being still they revive Reviving they endure Knowing how to endure is wisdom Not knowing is to suffer in vain Knowing how to endure is to yield To yield is to be impartial [iii] To be impartial is to be the ruler The ruler is Heaven Heaven is the Way And the Way is long life A life without trouble. |
My interpretations below from the superscript numbers
[i] Relates to the fundamental practise of focusing the mind on the tan tien and gently breathing. Chapter 3 – Empty the Mind and Fill the abdomen.
[ii] In movement observe stillness and in stillness observe movement – Tai Chi Chuan Classics
[iii] Chapter 5 “Heaven and Earth are not humane, treating the myriad things as straw dogs. The Sage is not humane treating the people as straw dogs”. Meaning that being impartial, non-bias is part of the Tao.
Being impartial is without desire. Chapter 1: “Thus, if always without desire, one can observe indescribable marvels. If always desirous, one sees the merest traces.” Being impartial can also link to Buddhism in that being desirous causes suffering.
[i] Relates to the fundamental practise of focusing the mind on the tan tien and gently breathing. Chapter 3 – Empty the Mind and Fill the abdomen.
[ii] In movement observe stillness and in stillness observe movement – Tai Chi Chuan Classics
[iii] Chapter 5 “Heaven and Earth are not humane, treating the myriad things as straw dogs. The Sage is not humane treating the people as straw dogs”. Meaning that being impartial, non-bias is part of the Tao.
Being impartial is without desire. Chapter 1: “Thus, if always without desire, one can observe indescribable marvels. If always desirous, one sees the merest traces.” Being impartial can also link to Buddhism in that being desirous causes suffering.
Li Chi Hsiang and Tai Chi Chuan
Professor Douglas Wile has given Darren Cox permission to display this section of his book “T’ai-chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Transmissions” , which is translation of a section in Yang Cheng Fu's book Complete Principles and Applications of Tai Chi Chuan.
T'ai‑chi ch'uan is based on the I-ch ing's Great Ultimate and eight trigrams. It develops out of the three concepts: principle (li), ch'i and form (hsiang). How can that which Confucius referred to as, ‑embracing all the changes in Heaven and earth without excess," be other than principle, ch'i and form? Principle, ch'i and form are the origin of Tai‑chi chu'an. When these three are all developed, then principle and application are complete. As for form, it is modeled on the Great Ultimate and the eight trigrams. Ch'i is nothing but yin and yang, hard and soft. Principle controls that which is changeless in change and is the root of transformation. Students should first seek the proper form, in order to cultivate their ch'i. After some time, they will naturally grasp the principles.
The essence of Tai‑chi ch'uan lies in the regulation of movement and stillness. Thus in practicing, we must observe the proper measure in the height of our stance, the lightness or heaviness of our movement, the extension and retraction of our advance or retreat, the expansiveness or fineness of our breath, the direction of our gaze and the position of the waist, head, back and belly. It is an error to be suddenly high and suddenly low, suddenly fast and suddenly slow, suddenly light and suddenly heavy, to suddenly thrust and suddenly retract, to be suddenly large and suddenly fine, or to go suddenly left, right, up, down, facing upward or downward without evenness. Only when the height of our stance and the speed of our hands is guided by the proper measure can we be free of the necessity for fixed rules of height and speed.
Altogether there are thirteen important points for the practice of T'ai‑chi ch'uan These are:
1) Sink the shoulders and drop the elbows,
2) Depress the chest and raise the back,
3) Let the ch'i sink to the tan‑t'ien,
4) The energy at the top of the head should be light and sensitive,
5) Relax the waist and hips,
6) Distinguish full and empty,
7) Coordinate the upper and lower body,
8) Use the mind and not force,
9) Harmonize the internal and external,
10) Connect the mind and chi
11) Seek stillness in movement,
12) Unify movement and stillness,
13) Each posture should be even and uniform.
These are the thirteen points. We must pay attention to every movement. Every posture must be precise. Not one of these thirteen concepts can be overlooked. I hope that students will maintain a careful and critical attitude.
The self‑defense applications in this book are intended for those who are already thoroughly trained in T'ai‑chi ch'uan and would like to make further progress. Thus they need not be restricted as to which direction to face and can experiment with the four sides and four corners of the square. Those who are not familiar with the form should not advance to the applications, for without a solid foundation there will be few results. I hope that beginners will carefully study the postures shown in the illustrations. When one has become adept at the form, it will not be difficult to master the applications.
Sourced From
“T’ai-chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Transmissions”
Complied and Translated by Professor Douglas Wile
Hsiang Etymology
Hsiang = form, that follows the Tai Chi Chuan principles (Xiang) of body alignments and structure
The character itself is simply the image of an elephant, rotated in 90 degrees to economize on space. From the inscriptions of ancient bronzes, oracle bones and stamps this is how we can reconstruct its etymology
The character itself is simply the image of an elephant, rotated in 90 degrees to economize on space. From the inscriptions of ancient bronzes, oracle bones and stamps this is how we can reconstruct its etymology
Tai Chi Chuan Tasmania Li Chi Hsiang Inner Health
Marist Regional College Paraka St
Burnie, Tasmania 7320
Mobile Number: 0421634695
Marist Regional College Paraka St
Burnie, Tasmania 7320
Mobile Number: 0421634695