There is No Such Thing as Easy Tai Chi

physical skills are so foreign that most students run screaming back to the schools that make you feel like you’ve really achieved by accomplishing far less.

And when you’re in one of the many thousands of tai chi classes in America that help you “cultivate chi” or the classes for “health and meditation,” it’s even more surprising to learn the difficulty of real tai chi.

When I was faced with this, I realized that as long as I could take baby steps forward and see even a little progress every few months, I would be learning something of real value, something of a higher quality than I had ever learned. The choice was very easy. It was either tackle something very difficult and learn quality or continue to live in a bubble.

Even now, in my late Fifties, I still work very hard to develop my skills in tai chi, hsing-i and bagua. I know the principles and I know what I’m trying to achieve. As I pass these principles on, students sometimes think I’m too picky. It’s true that I don’t congratulate them when their body mechanics are bad. If I wanted to run a McDojo everyone would be promoted and everyone’s ego would be stroked, but that’s not the path to quality. Ask any football or basketball coach and they’ll back me up on that one. Good tai chi is no different from any other sport that requires skill.

I hope you’ll make a vow to yourself to pursue quality no matter how long it takes. It may feel good to strap on a black belt that took you only two years to earn, and you might fool a lot of friends and family into thinking that you’re a deadly weapon. It might feel good to be in an “easy” tai chi class and think that you’re developing supernatural chi powers, but when you look in the mirror, don’t fool yourself. The art of Tai

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5