Glasses on Foreheads

 Are you fooling yourself?

Master Hwa is right,"…not everyone wants to be a proficient practitioner…." However, I meet many people who" talk a good game." about learning Classical Tai Chi. Years ago, I visited a hard-style Kung Fu master. He was very friendly and said he admired Tai Chi, although he did not do it. He was famous on the cover of" Inside Kung Fu" Magazine. He had perfected the art of drilling his index finger into a brick. I don't remember his exact words but his words were something like this as he did not specifically talk about how to" drill." "Do you want to learn "iron finger"? Go home for one hundred days and practice punching a bag with the finger for two hours each morning and night." How many people are willing to do that and that is quite a point he made.  I question the value of using all that energy to perfect such an overly specialized art/skill. I would say that the so-called" secret" is sheer persistence.

I would say that type of "sheer persistence "is somewhat cliche. But, for the sake of argument, let's say you do that. You have what one might call" self-realization" from your persistence. But after 100 days, how have you changed? From my point of view, I have not "changed" over 40 years, particularly the last 20 with Master Hwa.

On the contrary, I have become a "changing" person. I have met many students over the years, and there seems to be what one might call a "hunger" for Tai Chi as "exercise." Down deep, what they don't say is "self-improvement." What many don't see is they are initially fooling themselves. 

As a long-time proficient practitioner said recently, many do not see the difficulty facing themselves in starting Classical Tai Chi. Like the guy who stormed out of the Tai Chi, muttering," I already know how to walk." To paraphrase what the "…know how to walk…" student said in his estimation, he is personally knowledgeable of how his body works. So how should" walking" come from" inside" of himself? As the proficient practitioner wrote to me recently. I love their analogy regarding "inner experience." "We can end up looking for our glasses when we already have them on." Yes, not everyone who starts wants to be a proficient practitioner. Many fail to realize whether they wish to continue or not is still there. One could go around for a lifetime with "glasses on the forehead," blaming Tai Chi. It will always remain for the "long haul" as a sustainable way of life, as a long haul discipline.

In other words, I don't know how people feel that Classical Tai Chi merely supplies a sophisticated justification for personal and social inertia. What makes them think it dispenses happily with organized activity and serious effort? 

Taking a walk? It is “ordinary force”!

Taking a walk is “ordinary” force

It occurs to me that "Ordinary Force" is also built into our everyday leg movement, all 7 billion of us. A familiar "Ordinary Force" example to explain Newton's third law of motion is the walking of a person on the ground. I say “explain” because Newton’s Laws are not intuitive and if they were, then excuse my wishful thinking, but so many more people might well have “internal discipline”.   When a person walks on the ground, then the person exerts a force in the backward direction. However, as you see in the video by Master Stephen Hwa, there is a "backward" direction from an ordinary force arm push. This force applied is known as action. 

In walking, kicking, etc., as a result of this force applied, an equal and opposite force is used by the ground to the other foot, and this force helps to move, kick, etc., in the forward direction. This force is called the reaction force. When you walk and are not using internal discipline, it is an ordinary force. When you do a Karate kick above the waist, your Wing Chun kick to the shin, etc., it is a force. 

I did Tae Kwon do for years, and take my word for it seemed like 99% kicking. A typical incident was seeing novices kick a heavy bag with an above-the-waist kick and then are knocked backward. Of course, students in any art get better, but it is nowhere near the martial, internal skill, and "core" dexterity of a proficient student of Classical Tai Chi.

 

Get a kick out of Tai Chi walk

 I will paraphrase Master Hwa from his book "Uncovering the Treasure" p. 110. "Many of the movements in the Form are designed this way. In other words, one limb practices a move for one purpose,  while the others practice for some other purposes." He uses the example, "The hand movements  in the pictures practice the Cai (Tsai sometimes spelled, pull, yank, etc.) move while the foot  movements practice the kicking routine

Here's what I'm after and from the book. Hwa talks about "purposes," so in the case of the "walk" shown here, I'll take a little poetic and martial art license and delve into multipurpose. The "walk" is a Kick in disguise. "The forward foot with its heel firmly planted on the ground serves many purposes. It is useful for the balance and stability of the body. It is ready to kick the opponent, pull the body forward, or take a step back."

Now, besides the potential for "sweeps," the heel can stomp the opponent's foot, the toe can kick straight ahead to the shin, the heel can step back and stamp, and the foot can turn and kick with the edge of the foot or heel. I can take any kick I learned in 4 years Tae Kwon Do except the "skyscraper high ."My point is moving the foot not only with "walk" intent, but thinking Martial Intent when you practice walking or even in Form. Imagine an opponent in front, back, side, and angle and this step as your "kicking" all-purpose and foot itself as a "swiss army knife" capability tool.