Z-Health Master Trainer Jen Waak is a self-described “recovering management consultant”. These days, she helps other “Keyboard Athletes” improve and maintain their bodies and stay healthy even when they’re stuck behind a desk all day. What surprised me about reading Jen’s advice on “what you should do at your desk”, was that it sounded a lot like what she did last year to get ready for a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro.
As you’re sitting here reading this, I want you to try something. I want you to push yourself back away from your desk, let your arms hang by your sides, close your eyes and see how many fingers you can feel. Go ahead, try it. Now do the same thing again, but stand up and count your toes instead. Could you feel more fingers or toes? Chances are you have much greater feeling access to your fingers.
We are about to start the Early Fall session at Brookline Tai Chi and I’ve been thinking a lot about how to teach the introductory class. The challenge, when you learn tai chi for the first time, is all about mindset. I want to see if I can teach them “how to learn tai chi” as much as actually teaching tai chi. This might sound like a beginner-only problem, but I have a challenge for more experienced readers at the end of this post and I’m wondering if you can keep up with my beginners on this one.
Check out this advice from Jack White on why you should limit yourself with formal constraints if you want to be creative. The lesson here for anyone who does tai chi, qigong, or meditation is “stick to your form”. Inside the limits of the form, you’ll find vastly more inner space to explore than you ever would in free-form movement.
So, I know I’m writing this on vacation where the most pressing decision we make each day is whether to hike, kayak, or swim, but I’m going to go ahead anyway and recommend that you practice twice a day. Here’s why…
What I Learned from a Month-Long Tai Chi Intensive After a month in England, practicing 10 hours a day at the Short Form Instructor Training this summer, I have a renewed appreciation for daily practice rhythm.
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.
Have you ever tried to meditate? You sit down, close your eyes, and try to drop into a deep state of focus and relaxation….but you start thinking about a million different things, from what you have to do later today, to a fight you just had, to that itch on your leg that gets louder and louder….Given the way we are constantly bombarded by images and electronic messages, it’s not really surprising that you can’t quiet your “
This post is the first in a series of student practice questions that I’d like to answer on the blog. The question is, “given that I know and practice several different qigong sets and the tai chi form, how do I organize them into a coherent practice?” For my answer, check out this video, where I will either explain how learning which sets to practice, in what order, is like learning to taste wine, or I will actually drink the bottle of wine.
