Tai Chi Sword Form and Dueling interview, January 2020

An interview on T'ai Chi Ch’uan sword form and dueling with Tom Daly, a senior student of Maggie Newman, herself a senior student of Cheng Man-Ch’ing, published in Tai Chi Union of Great Britain Magazine, Tai Chi Chuan and Oriental Arts, January 2020.

R. Why did you think of starting to learn Tai Chi?

T. It wasn’t a thought on my part. I had an acting teacher. I wanted to act, and she said Tai Chi is the best exercise for an actor because it teaches them how to let go of resistance. She thought all actors should do it, because it teaches you about resistance, your own and other people’s, which it does.

R. How long was it till you began studying the sword form?

T. It was about three years after I joined her regular beginning form class. Which is kind of young. Another major teacher whom I respect, said ‘you’re doing sword form?!’ And now I know why he would say that. At three or four years into learning I didn’t have the root, which you really need. So seriously you’re not ready after three, four years of studying Tai Chi. The best you can do is learn the choreography, which is a good start.

R. Could you reiterate some of Maggie’s main points of practice?

T. Maggie would emphasize that all of the swords in the group should be at exactly the same angle. That always felt like a revelation. A lot of times people don’t even match their bodies to each other in the regular form, and now you’re matching your body and the angle of the sword, so that one sword isn’t too high or too low, they’re all in sync – like the Rockettes.

R. But not like a marching band? I remember her saying it’s not like a rigid formation.

T. That’s correct, it’s not rigid, but you’re glued together doing this thing. The whole group is working as one, and internally you’re working as one. And then your sword must match what their swords are doing. So all rules of the regular form apply.

R. What were other key phrases of practice, like 'the cutting edge’?

T. She was very specific about when it’s cutting and when it’s not. ‘Accommodating the sword’ was a big one. She would say it, but she wouldn’t elaborate on it. And it’s a little hard to understand. There’s 'folding and unfolding', which is also form-like. But when she says ‘accommodate the sword’, I like to rephrase that as ‘the sword does you’. And you’re just there to help it go where it needs to go.

I was reminded of that when I had surgery on my legs and I couldn’t do the sword form down in my legs. But I could accommodate the sword. That’s what I practiced for several months and ONLY that. I would walk it. I would move the sword through its exact pathway, but I wasn’t doing any formal stance. The sword is in the air and you’re not even there. But no formal leg stance. Because of the operation it wasn’t possible for me to do that. I did this walking form for about two and a half months.

I had to conceptualize the form so that I could do it that way, from the perspective of the sword itself, and not from the body. Now it was the sword itself that was guiding me. And the sum result is the form seemed to almost zoom by. Not that I was going any faster, because I wasn’t. I think what happened is that because you’re paying so much attention to this little part and that little part, to get it exactly where it’s supposed to be, my focus became really united with the sword. It sounds so hockey to say ‘I and the sword are one’, but you had to be right on top of it, much like push hands.

R. Can you describe the quality of fencing with Maggie?

T. I probably should discuss what fencing entailed in Maggie’s style. Most people I’ve encountered do not fence the way she taught, but it is highly principled! There are a few basic rules:

NEVER leave the partners sword.

Keep sticking and following.

NEVER attack.

NEVER change the pace of your movement or rush your partner.

NO clanking swords (the swords never leave each other even for a millisecond.)

Maggie would do two modes. One was that she was just pleasantly agreeable with you. I remember her one day, she was just going back and forth with somebody. It was very gentle. And in retrospect I know that she was really focusing on being with the person. And she would often say ‘I could stick and follow all day’. That was pleasurable, sticking and following. Which it is. Most of us think that getting a strike is pleasurable. But she was very much about sticking and following. She could be happy with just that. Sticking and following in reality is a big deal.

Now when she decided that we were really going to play, for want of a better word, an aggressive game, she had an ability to turn her sword back in towards you in a microsecond. Using the connection of the two swords, she knew how to pivot around that connection, but you didn’t feel it. The place of contact didn’t change, but her sword tip comes right at you and then she’s just going to walk forward. But she’s still following the point of contact. Not jabbing, not forcing you. No pressure on the sword. You just saw the sword pointing at you and her walking forward. 

She never said to do that, she never told us how to do that. She was always trying to make us work on sticking and following. And then if that went on too long, she would say, ‘that’s too sing-songy.’

You don’t have to be aggressive. But you do want to make a point. So you don’t want to just swish the water between the two of you. That’s good for beginners and we did that for a long time. But then you have to learn how to not attack and still get a point.

That being said, she was very honest in her play. Mostly she got me, once in a while I got her. I don’t think that mattered all that much to her. One time she struck me and I asked, “was that an attack?” Bemused, she answered, “Yes”.

R. So how would you say a point is scored using principle?

T. The swords pivot around the point of contact. You can’t violate the point of contact. You’re not stopping and you’re not leaving the point of contact, or accelerating to lunge at your partner. 

Rule number one is that you have to stick at that point. It’s circular by the nature of our bodies, and the nature of walking. So when you yield you’re turning the whole orientation of the body while you’re still following them. They’re not forcing you, because if they did, then that creates a strike against them. There are some people, and she had trouble with them, whose technique is about keeping you out. They weren’t strong, they weren’t forceful, but they always positioned themselves so that you couldn’t come in. That was completely the opposite of what she wanted. I do have some exercises where the goal is to keep your partner backing off because you keep pointing your tip right at them. It is a skill you also want to have. The key is when and how you use it.

But what you really want is to invite them in, because that’s the most seductive scam. They think it’s ok to come in, I welcome you in. Let them come in too close and then you have something. They may get you. This is a game of vulnerability, not a defensive game. When she wanted to come at you, she could pivot around and you just had to retreat. THEN you were usually preoccupied with getting away. Game Over! As soon as she had you running you’re finished. You don’t want to be ahead of them or behind them. And that feels very vulnerable.

Ken Van Sickle had a very interesting comment about the Professor, ‘he was in real time’. Which meant Professor was right now. He didn’t care about the attack or running away, he’s just right now. She was very good at being right now. And then as soon as there’s the slightest possibility of her pivoting around, which you didn’t see, because you’re on bad automatic pilot, and she’s not. Bad automatic pilot is either you’re in the past or you project into the future.  

To begin, you need to feel comfortable. In a more aggressive game you need to be “present”, in the moment. The only way to learn that is to do a lot of repetitive practice and then begin to weave into a game where getting a point begins to matter. 

Essentially I conceptualize getting a point without attacking - that’s the conundrum - is not by focussing on getting a point, but by attempting to always move forward. Just keep walking forward. This is not possible if they are walking forward. If they walk forward, you yield, let them go by and you go back to walking forward. 

And what happens that makes this so effective? If they haven’t learned quality yielding, they get nervous. Then they start to try to get away. Now they are running away and they are effectively changing the pace of the walking. You just stick and follow and keep moving forward right with them. The strike presents itself. And while this description dumbs it down a great deal, essentially this is what happens.

R. Which Tai Chi principles do you see as of particular importance in the sword form?

T. Maggie said early on that the form is your relationship to the universe, push hands is about your relationship to a person, and the sword is about your relationship to an object. How do you communicate between you and the object? And then through this object to another person. This is unique to the sword form. 

R. How are the sword and fencing related to non-doing?

T. “Non-doing” is very hard to articulate because of the nature of words indicating “doing”. And non-doing takes place when all the small parts are no longer the object of your attention. It has to be a bigger vision of the game, the two of you. 

Initially lots of work goes into small tiny places that we tend to give far too little attention to because we don’t think we need that. So this is in effect, doing. Then onto the next small moment, more doing. But then you let go of the first three, and focus on the fourth. After a while, you don’t focus on any of them. Just be with the intent of the two partners, the balance of the two partners, the connection of the two partners. The less you need to be aware of, because you are now simply in it, the less you do.

Some hints that indicate doing: Tension in the arm. Insisting on the path of the movement. Being behind the curve of the timing, or in front of the curve. 

Putting that aside, you can play a round where you work the technical points carefully. Mostly that is skill building and “doing”. 

But then I like to say, ok now you’re going to do it for real, now that control and specificity goes out the window, and now it’s the whole body and whole intent to be with them EXACTLY. This can be fast or slow. You’re not adding excess force, but you can assume you are holding a weapon. You can’t think about every little placement of this and that.

  

When you play a more energetic game, it’s keeping all the gears well connected, all the principles are in motion, your body-mind is well oiled. Your intention to get a point is heightened, but not at the expense of being connected together.  Even the word intent is a little strong.Your connection to them has to get even finer, because now the game may be faster and more aggressive. It becomes rather thrilling. But the thrill is in the connected changes, not the points.

And in this kind of game, points appear. They come to you.

R. You developed a few exercises about the quality of contact with the swords.

T. Rule number 33, no clanking swords. That’s harder if I’m beginning the round and I come sweeping in and you pick me up, that’s usually a clanking moment, 95% of the time. So do it until you don’t clank!

Another is dueling two inches apart.  But here the swords don’t touch. For some reason it feels like your following and sticking is better than if you actually touch the sword, because you have to pay so much attention to the distance and the point of contact. It’s not going to be perfect either. You’ll slide around a little bit, but you go back to trying to make that perfect thing and I don’t know why that helps, but I feel it. It feels like it really should. Aaaaah, this is how it should feel like! Probably because your intent to get them has dissipated, leaving your intent to really be with them without violating them with any pressure.

R. Maggie was very invested in non-doing transitions. Can you discuss this in relation to the sword form in particular?

T. Maggie didn’t really use the word non-doing. Her work in transitions was about ALL OF YOU participating in that transition. This amounts to the same result, however. 

Ultimately, after some training of the choreography, you have to find that movement of the sword through non-doing. Most people don’t do that, they don’t understand that, may not even want that. Unfolding is sort of a non-doing thing. I’m not opening my arm in a muscular way, I’m letting it go where it’s going, based on momentum, turning, sinking, extension through the sword, air support, all of these things help you unfold.

In dueling, the tendency to ‘do’ with the tip is usually the first mistake people are going to make. Formal western fencing has the tip going straight towards the partner. To pull you away from that, Maggie used Block and Sweep, and Falling Petals as the main move in sword dueling, which amounts to leading with the hilt!

My question is often: how do you do ‘non-doing”? It’s a koan of sorts. I think you have to enter into it in an indirect or oblique way, you sort of have to trick yourself by approaching the exercise with a different purpose or technique. You can’t DO non-doing. So we practise the form embodying other words, less precise words, words that could send you down the wrong path, even. So I like to use words like allow, or release, or polish the stone, or expand in all directions. Be a rag doll. Be an old man. Be anything but a good student when attempting new ground. Let go of the fear that you may be wrong. Trying to be right all the time or correct can KILL your form. It killed mine for 20 years!

R. How would you rate your level of sword form?

T. I’ve joked with you that it sucks! The question is a little unfair - I don’t get around as much as I should. I’m more of a hermit. After recently teaching everybody in these workshops, I’m thinking that the fullness of the chi needs to drive it more than the technical knowledge. Even “relax” is almost technical. I tend to practice the sword form in a way that is about correcting and perfecting. That gets in the way.

The other thing is the sword dueling. There’s just not a lot of people who are doing this kind of sword dueling. In a way, good dueling is like juggling balls. All the balls are in play at the same time and you need to attend to each one in its turn at the right time. I think I do that well. That’s where experience helps. If I fumble, I discover a new ball that needs to be incorporated into the act of juggling. I think I’m good at identifying WHAT needs to be addressed and then finding a way to address it. Some of the most simple exercises, the least “exciting” are the most important to build skills that really matter. Most of the exercises I’ve created are my own exercises, but they all come from an observation of what I experienced with Maggie. They are designed to increase skills that are required, not “moves” that one robotically replicates.

When I duel I just attend to the process at hand and I’m not really judging my skill or yours. That’s an after-thought.

But basically my skill is sufficient and I can see the fine points well. I would say I need to learn more about letting chi drive the interaction. I don’t say that with some agenda of appearing humble. And as you can tell, that doesn’t stop me from having a lot to say about it!

Tom Daly trained under Maggie Newman from 1982-2014.  Maggie Newman was a senior student of Professor Cheng Man-Ch’ing, and Tom was Ms. Newman’s assistant from 1985-2014. Tom began teaching his own classes in 1985 and currently teaches at the YMCA as well as private group classes in Chelsea, NY. Tom has also studied with many Cheng Man-Ch’ing lineage students including Ben Lo, Lenzie Williams, Mr. Liu, Steve Rose, and Wei-Ming Yuan.

Tom taught sword and push hands workshops in London and Rotterdam in November 2018 and will be returning to Europe to teach workshops in Summer 2020.

Tom was interviewed by Redmond Entwistle who was also a student of Maggie Newman’s and now teaches Tai Chi in London.

Tai Chi Chuan - Behind, With, Ahead of the Curve

Tai Chi Chuan - behind, with, ahead of the curve

Process. For me, as I watch students work a new exercise, there are three ways to “be” with that exercise.

First, you are learning. So in essence, you are behind the curve. You look, see, feel, attempt to understand. Correct, self correct, adjust, revise, look again.

Then you are experiencing. You are inside of the exercise. Deeper deeper deeper if you can. With the curve.

Lastly, you are looking at where this might take you, the future, the value, the benefit, how it will add to your grab-bag of skills. Ahead of the curve.

For me, the most important one is #2, experiencing the exercise. Out of this moment, other ideas, feelings, sensations, strategies and so forth will emerge. NOT thinking of what this will get you in the end, not comparing this to that other exercise, that other teacher’s opinion/experience, not being anywhere but where you are is the most valuable place to be.

If this is the 100th time I have approached this exercise, I put aside all the other 99 to get to what is happening TODAY and NOW.

How many times have we entered an exercise from a place of I know this, I don’t need this, I’m ready to move on…? (OK, not all exercises will have the same value for you as time moves on.)

Alas, we all want to think we can climb K2 and just go forth and be there. Ahead of schedule, you know where this is leading and you want to be in that future fantasy place.

I’m not saying that future fantasy has no value. It does. It may stimulate an aspiration, a goal.

But it doesn’t teach you as much as the place that you are fully experiencing NOW.

It seems so simple to me, but I say this because I see MOST students jumping to the third place, ahead of the curve.

I see my own tendency to assume expertise that I don’t really have, flatter myself to think I don’t need this moment, and jump to where I think this will take me.

Sound familiar?

A silly example, I was tracking a pathway on Google Maps and it would show me exactly where I was on the map, and where I should be on the map. I was so confused thinking I was following the directions carefully and then observing my body indicator going elsewhere. It was difficult to stay the course and be where I needed to be so that the next moment was accurate in completing the journey.

I like to make things dumb and dumber. Dumb and dumber until you are in it. Then you can move in a better direction.

Try that on for size!

Tai Chi Chuan - Goalposts and خبر

Tai Chi Chuan - Goalposts and خبر

There are (at least) two kinds of growth experiences in tai chi.

One is the خبر, another is the goalpost.

OK, خبر is basically “khabar” (Arabic) and it means a piece of news. It is specific, like a news item.

I’ll call it khabar from now on!

In any given class, you are given a khabar. Some detail that needs to be corrected. Usually you need to be fairly comfortable at this point so that you have mind left to absorb it. Often this is very rewarding. You’ve gotten something new, it helps, you are better for it. Usually it doesn’t take all of you in order to get it. Often it may be a detail that has to be given to you because otherwise your habit or lack of understanding prevents you from seeing it. In this way, it can be an eye opener.

You want as many of these as you can possibly get. To get more, listen to the corrections that other students get. You may or may not need that correction, but you can again zero in on the detail and take note. You can also check in on the teacher as you do the form with he/she. I myself often looked at Maggie, even after many years. I note few of my students take a look at me. Sob. They use class time forms to just do the form.

But they are missing an opportunity to grab a khabar.

How many khabars do you need to improve your form? To say this is a slow method is stating the obvious unless you take private classes. And even then, overload may stop you from actually getting what is being given. Comfort and even a kind of confidence is needed with the khabar.

The goalpost is much more difficult and gives you much much more growth. However, often it involves lots of time, repetition, and some sort of pain/strain. It may be physical pain, as in holding postures for a long time, or mental strain as in paying attention to something over and over and over and over again, much like following the breath in meditation. Either way, you are expanding your capacity and the effect is far deeper than the khabar. You are going past a limit, a boundary. This is rarely fun. And it is often priceless.

Actually, one way to make it more fun is to do this with a group. I have not a clue as to why that is so, but this has been my experience. Perhaps it's simply we are all in this together, suffering for the greater good, for the benefit of each other and ourselves. The oneness here can be powerful.

Both styles of growth are necessary. Many students love the khabar, but resist the goalpost.

A few love the goalpost. A few. Masochists.

A word to the wise!

Tai Chi Chuan - Judge/Compare; Explore/Experience

Tai Chi Chuan - Judge/Compare; Explore/Experience

I have two themes that relate to each other.

I run into a curious resistance in teaching a tai chi exercise.

Some students like to Judge and Compare. That is, they have an instant judgement about the exercise. This is backed up with comparisons to other teachers or exercises, thoughts or readings, another class, another time. Perhaps it validates this current exercise, or gives the student permission to avoid it because they determine it violates some other rule they hold high.

For me, it is never Judge and Compare, it is always Explore and Experience. Whatever that other idea, exercise, teacher was, did, etc. is not here now. And even if you have experienced the same material in a different dress, this time it may be different. So any sense of judgment and comparison to that past experience rarely helps. Actually, this is often the hard part because the need to validate, eliminate,
categorize, recall the past, is so strong that being with this moment, this experience is rarely achieved. And so this specific tai chi experience is never under your belt.

JUST DO THIS.

I recall working on an exercise with a group of students. The exercise directly addressed something I didn’t see in their form. Immediately after, one student tells me of another teacher where something was similar to what I was doing and he had drawn a connection. Another told me that they had already done a lot of work on this in various ways and that the exercise was not so helpful. Nice to know, but I hadn’t seen what it was that I was teaching, and this exercise literally forces you to move in the right direction. He didn’t even see that he had completely missed it. Probably missed it before and definitely missed it NOW.

Maggie used to get around this by having us do a movement again and again and again past all that chatter and judgement. Eventually, you simply did the work and felt the effect. You got past the boredom, the judgement. You just got into the pool with all the other fish.

Another way of NOT DOING THIS is to think of OTHER elements that you might practice while doing THIS exercise. Stacking the deck with all the other tools in your tool kit actually detracts from the exercise.

These tools may be 100% right, but that’s not the point. This, just this. Not this and this and that and that and that and the other that and the one after that, and the really good that, and… .

THIS, JUST THIS is hard to do. Clutter is what we are used to. In our minds, more is better.

An exercise in the sense that I am talking about is an act of “doing”. The focus is small and specific so that you can enlarge that part of the tai chi experience. It is limiting for the sake of growth.

Putting it all together is a different experience, one of “non-doing”.

Hopefully an exercise pulled and stretched out some aspect. But the form is really the act of non-doing.

So you don’t DO this aspect or any other aspect. You allow it all, as best it can, as best as you have it in your DNA. But you don’t DO it.

Certainly you can do a form with something specific in mind, holding it tight to seal the deal and insure that this element gets incorporated into the form. But this is still somewhat limiting. It may be necessary as well. I’m not calling this BAD. A great deal of my own practice has been looking after this or that as I do the form.

So drop Judge and Compare, and work with Explore and Experience.

Incidentally, if any given exercise is not satisfying or leaves you with doubt, by all means look at it, judge it and compare. Here is where J&C can be helpful. Slice and dice, alter, remove, enlarge, minimize, see what someone else has to say if possible, or just let it pass you by. We all have different needs at different times.

But try to have the experience that the exercise is trying to give you. It’s just a tiny piece, but it may create big changes.

Once you have it, you don’t need to attend to it. It will take care of you.

Tai Chi Chuan: 2 goals, 3 choices.

Tai Chi Chuan: 2 goals, 3 choices.

I am often inspired by two goals in tai chi: letting go of resistance + change (= growth) .  

Letting go of resistance: Once you get involved in push hands – the issue of resistance is as clear as a bell because stopping your partner in any way creates resistance. The one resisting loses the game and gets pushed.

Change: Change is a bit harder to perceive because it can happen so slowly. Over time, we hope the body gets more integrated, relaxed, interconnected, healthier. More functional. Changes here can be dramatic, but mostly they are very very slow. The longer you practice, the slower the incremental changes occur. “We measure our progress in decades.”

In tai chi, as in life, letting go of resistance and being open to change are critical. It is what you are studying when you study tai chi.

Where do we learn these? Both are challenging. Both create better lives.

Many peeps never learn either. War is a big industry.

So my big concern is finding ways to create a condition for change and to learn how to let go of resistances. This leads me to how can we engage in tai chi, as in “best practices”.

My own experience and observation lead me to a simple conclusion. Simple, that is, in concept, but difficult to embody.

There are three basic choices in working on a new exercise.

The first choice is resistance: “I don’t want to do this, this is too hard, this never helps, I’ve done this a million times before, I can’t do this, I’m not good at this.”

Here one creates a wall. It’s one big NO = TENSION.

The second one is resignation: “OK, if you insist, I’ll do this exercise. I’ll go along to get along, but I know this one won’t help, sure, I’ll do it to please you but it won’t really please me.”

This one bears a grudge and partly you might feel compromised.  Stoic, at best, but not enthusiastic. This is a YES, BUT NOT REALLY = COLLAPSE.

We say in tai chi “relax, don’t collapse”. But we also emphasize structure without getting stiff. We look for the middle way, exactly between stiff and collapse, and that is essentially relax. Because of this, it’s actually difficult to say what relax really is because in one sense, it is not this and it is not that. You can’t do a “not”. “Relax not collapse” is the absence of tension and it is “letting go” but maintaining a structure.

The final way - which works 100% of the time, money back guaranteed - is to FULLY PARTICIPATE. Here you are on mission to discover something new. Even when the exercise is old and you feel that you have already discovered all there is to discover, the “new” here is the deepening of the experience through repetition. That, of and in itself, can open doors. FULLY PARTICIPATE = EMBRACE.

This brings to mind The 18 Therapies. Maggie Newman, my teacher, introduced them to us after many years of tai chi. In one regard they were disappointing. Too easy, too simple, boring, no challenge, nothing dazzling to show your friends. Whoa! Resistance and resignation reared their ugly heads! We were soooo  superior to these exercises.

For me, the challenge with The 18 Therapies was in the EMBRACE. It was one HUGE exercise in embracing! Here the resistance was that they seemed too easy, too simple and worse, they would not further the “I want to be the best in tai chi” agenda. But if you can, these exercises too are pleasurable, rewarding, beneficial.

So the next time you have the urge to resist or just grudgingly go along, CHANGE your attitude, let go of RESISTANCE and begin to EMBRACE the experience.

What does it have to offer you today? What can you learn from it? How can you incorporate this into your form, your life? What will happen next if I get in the experience? How can I master this? What do I need to do?

Tai chi/Life is more challenging that way, more rewarding, and much much more fun!

To go one step further, how can you embrace ALL experience, not just the ones you like? What does it mean to embrace a negative situation, and have no resistance or resignation? There are no simple answers here…

Tai Chi Chuan - Not My Job!

Tai Chi Chuan – Not My Job!

Tai chi was recommended to me by an acting teacher who said that tai chi was the best exercise for actors because it teaches you how to give up resistance.

I began in 1982.

In looking at push hands, I can honestly say that I have NEVER said to myself or to any of my teachers, that I can’t do this, or this is too hard, or this doesn’t help me. NEVER.

My job – when given an exercise to work on - is to participate as fully as I possibly can, not judge it, or determine the value, or disregard it (as in – I already know this!)

Of the many things I have done poorly, THIS is not one of them. My worst offence was disregard in that I felt I knew what this exercise had to offer and then not give it my all. But I changed that resistance and got back to work. And learned more.

You can always learn more, even if this is the umpteenth time you have worked on an exercise. This is because every push hand interaction has many layers. Perhaps infinite.

You can learn EVEN MORE if this exercise is difficult or confusing or “not my skill set”.

Resistance is a many headed monster.

Step one: recognize it.

Step two: If you have it, let it go….

Tai Chi Chuan – Let’s Do It Wrong!

Tai Chi Chuan – Let’s Do It Wrong!

I like to experiment. And in my laboratory, often I’ll take a small aspect of tai chi, and make it the ONLY thing you do in tai chi. That way, I get a fuller experience of that small aspect.

It is often very hard to get students to join me. They want what is familiar, what feels “normal” or “correct”. They want the end of the road, not the journey, not the beginning. But aren’t journeys and beginnings exciting? Doesn’t this tap your creativity?

So resistance is what I often meet when encouraging a new look at something small and then making it BIG. Students do all they can to normalize my exaggeration. It stops the process.

Myself, I don’t get it. You have to knead the dough, pull it, pound it, and stretch it, let it rise, before you can begin to bake it. It’s OK to distort, because you can always return to normal. Some experiments work, others fail. This kind of fundamental work is particularly difficult with more advanced students, the ones who “know”.

Perfection is not the goal. I think perfection is a fortunate accident that stumbles upon a few in a precarious way. To keep your goal as perfection cuts off all exploration.

So when I want students to “do it wrong to get it right”, we are not in the land of the perfect. We are in the land of the explorer trying to find some gold.  In a way, I think that is more like tai chi than some fantasy of being a star or master. If you become a master, great! But there are no guarantees. Some students have great talent, some have little talent. Regardless, we can all be explorers in tai chi.

I have to say, the long time students who do not like to explore, who just like to do the form over and over and over again, as if THAT will create some perfection, they are often the WORST tai chi practitioners.

Your tai chi form is your best habit to date. Nothing wrong with that, but perfecting an imperfect habit will go nowhere.

In the meantime, try being open to NEW as the new goal.

You might even enjoy it!