After a month-long instructor training this summer, I'm itching to get something off my chest. Let's talk about real tai chi and fake tai chi. I want to get clear on what tai chi is and what it's not. To see the difference, you have to look at where the instructor is coming from and how they structure the stages of learning for their students. Let's start with the fake, low-quality stuff, because that's what most people are familiar with.

Fake Tai Chi

Low-grade tai chi is only choreography. People see the slow-motion movements of the tai chi form and assume that if they learn the right sequence of hand gestures and footwork, they will be doing tai chi. That's like buying the body of a car and assuming you can drive it down the street, with no engine!

People who teach tai chi as "low-impact exercise" assume tai chi is nothing more than aerobics done in slow motion. Maybe they tack on a weekend tai chi certification to their list of Zumba and personal training. It takes time to understand how tai chi develops the body. The molding and changing of tissue, posture, and alignment happens slowly over several years. So far, I haven't met anyone who understands this process who hasn't gone through it themselves. Or to put it another way, whatever the instructor has in their body is the most you could possibly learn from them.

Real Tai Chi

I understand why people mistake the outer shell for the real inner art, but the real thing has so much more to offer than the hollow outer form.

Yes, tai chi makes your joints looser, your body more supple and your balance better, so a lot of people can benefit from it. But the reason it does all these things is not simply because you slow down. The way tai chi trains the body is by training the mind in a completely different kind of soft, focused awareness that most people are not used to. Meditators, for example, are much more familiar with this kind of awareness that someone who exercises all the time by going to the gym to walk on a treadmill while reading a magazine, watching TV and listening to music all at once.

You mind changes slowly over time as you explore the different physical principles. Here's an example:

Stages of Learning Tai Chi

Real Tai Chi has several distinct stages of learning that gradually train your mind as well as your body. Here are a few of the stages that you will go through in the first 3-5 years of tai chi practice, if you find a genuine instructor:

• 0 - 6 Months: Focus on learning the movements of the form as you relax your muscles and your mind.
• 6 Months - 1 Year: As you refine the shapes of the moves, you learn to take out any gross body contractions and exaggerated movements. Here's where having an instructor who knows and can show you all the detailed biomechanics of the form is critical. At this stage, you should also start to develop better flow in the form, using the natural cadence of the movements to stretch the body deeper and deeper.
• Years 2 - 5: As you develop more circularity in your form, you should also begin to get a sense of some of the deeper mechanics that drive the form, including techniques like soft tissue lengthening and twisting and the opening and closings of the joints and cavities in the body.

The transition from the basic body mechanics of the first year, to the deeper "drivers" in the form is really what prepares you for meditation or further work with the energies of tai chi. The shift from basic mechanics (where are my hands, where are my feet, how do I step, push, turn, etc.) to the deeper drivers requires a completely different practice mindset. Whereas the beginning stages is about letting your mind get quiet enough to actually feel the body, the next stage is about letting the body open up from the inside out and having a patient enough mind to observe this process without interfering. When you cross this line, you are much more prepared to deal with the energetics of the form.

Find a Good Instructor

Use the stages of learning above to evaluate how far a potential instructor can take you. Maybe they don't articulate these stages quite the same way, but you can start to get a feel for whether they know how to take you through this process. Look at their senior students. How smooth and connected do they look? Look at their curriculum and classes. Can you see clearly structured learning levels that point to long-term development?

I know it's hard to find someone and judge them in a subject that you might not know a lot about. I understand the geography, time, and money also factor in to the decision of picking a teacher. It's also true that in the beginning, you need to get some of the movements together anyway, so worst case you do just go ahead and learn choreography from someone. I've worked with many students in this situation. Some of them get frustrated when they realize they were missing a lot of key information, but for others, learning better alignments that help them feel more internally connected opens a brand new world inside their practice. That moment, when they discover new layers, is extremely rewarding for both of us!