First lesson: It's hard work to "get it" that less is more

 Doing push hands with Master Hwa and he is teaching at

classical-tai-chi.teachable.com.

UPDATED on this morning of Inauguration Day, 2021: First lesson: It's hard work to "get it" that "less is more", so do not expect anything from Classical Tai Chi. You will "get" only what you uncover when you engage in "Uncovering the Treasure".

This is meant as a friendly but personal (for me and you) synopsis: What’s the hardest thing about Tai Chi, you ask? Since you are asking me, the hardest part for me has been in gaining a visceral understanding that less is more. That getting small gains in proficiency and understanding is actually "more"...and the best way to learn.  It is not a simple thing but in the process which stretches back some 40 plus years I have gradually included Tai Chi into my life.

This has not stopped me however from also gradually learning to understand the struggles of the majority of students I have encountered. Although I studied in Canada with the Wu Family all of my students have been in America. . For the most part, they seem to rebel against following any instruction that is not accompanied by some sort of personally agreeable reasoning as to why they should do it. Fortunately, there have been a  number of students who did not react in this manner. Some have gone on to be teachers of the art as well.  For the most part, some few get on the path without complaining incessantly about “why?”. I think of Master Hwa's statement when he said "those that wish to be proficient practitioners". I am quite convinced that those with that "wish" put their egos on the back burner because it acts as a stumbling block to being a "...proficient practitioner..."  I have to wonder about the folks that balk and fight the instruction however.  Has their intuition ever told them anything (like it has told me)? Has intuition said something inspiring...perhaps:   "Don’t expect anything, you can only be pleasantly surprised at what you perceive as the worst… and experience as best".

I used to think I needed to have a modicum of structure in order to start my day. I am retired now and that has not been the case for some time. I do still manage to understand however how people need this structure. Tai Chi can provide the structure but even when I was working the “9 to 5” it was not in a manner that gets us flying out of bed in the morning. In doing so, I discovered it is possible to gradually see a palpable tempo to Tai Chi. Will you get a gold star or a series of belts for your efforts? No, and there are no yardsticks to measure how well you are doing.

Look at it this way. Why do you think, Stephen Hwa called his fine book “Uncovering the Treasure” instead of “There is a treasure in Tai Chi” or “Tai Chi is laden with treasure”? It is because Tai Chi shows you the treasure as you “uncover” it, not because you “expect” it. In the demands to get through college, we all had to engage in competitive testing to prove our competence and that testing was measured and evaluated by the powers that be. On the other hand, one only has to take a drive in the country to find places where there are no road signs for where we are, no one to tell us our driving is in the wrong direction. I am reminded of the motorist who stops by a farmhouse and asks the person on the porch: “do you know where bug tussle hollow is?” To which the farmer replies “Yep” with no accompanying explanation.  The conspicuous absence of “road signs” such as “now entering bug tussle” puts us in a position where we have to drive slowly. Driving slowly, not expecting any signs of progress in Tai Chi allows us to gain awareness of things in mind and body that we would never have paid attention to.

While there will always be those who wait endlessly for inspiration, energy, etc. There are those few of us who stick with the Tai Chi and begin to see the value of the little changes that are made rather than the earth-shaking ones. There are those of us who come to gradually appreciate, even acknowledge the “discovered treasure” in the little things. 

Feeling healthy, small gains in internal strength, acknowledging there is an “other” strength than external. Seeing the gradual fruition of an awareness of our bodies. While I will always agree with Master Hwa on how reasoning abilities are not ubiquitous, I’m quite sure he also urges us to put doing something because we agree with it  on the back burner when it comes to enjoying the art and appreciating it simply because it is a good thing.