Tai
Chi Chuan – I am not good at….
Like
my teacher, Maggie Newman, I often use small walking steps to introduce a new
posture or to find greater relaxation in an old posture. These steps are a bit intricate and many
students find it difficult to replicate them.
Perhaps they think, “I am not good at choreography….”
This
statement has several problems. Here
they are in order of importance:
I.
Am.
Not.
Good.
Choreography.
If
we were to spend a year ONLY on intricate footwork that changed each class,
those who are not “good” at choreography would get better at choreography.
I
recall some statement from Prof. Cheng Man-ch’ing saying that if you don’t have
a natural talent for tai chi, you simply have to put in more work. Voila!
So
in tai chi, “I’m not good at choreography” needs to be reengineered into “I
need to attend more diligently to the choreography.”
Even
better: “Working with choreography is a challenge I’m enjoying.”
If
you focus on some idea of ultimate success, this is a dead end.
If
you compare yourselves to others, this is a dead end.
If
you focus on process, and what’s taking place “now”, this is great fun! There is no goal when you work that way. When there is no goal, there is no goalie,
trying to stop you from your own experience.
In
this case, more is better. Whatever it
is that you are not good at, but wish to gain greater ease, then this tells you
to pay more attention and don’t toss it aside as something that does not apply
to you OR as some sort of stumbling block that you cannot get beyond.
Remember
when you began to walk? No, I didn’t
think so. But this much is clear:
Infants don’t say, “I’m not good at walking.”
They most likely don’t “say” anything to themselves. They just try and try and try again. Maybe what they think is “Let’s do this
again.” Or perhaps, “This looks like
fun.” Or, “I bet I can do that!” They never give up. They don’t own that experience when they give
it a first try. Their muscles and mind
grow into the experience.
Zen
adage: Fall down seven times, get up
eight.
That’s
life, right?
It’s
also good tai chi.
