Master Stephen Hwa urges students to teach others. I am teaching you here, albeit a lengthy article. While I'm at it, let me encourage you to read it all and at least recognize your "rationalizations" for not wanting to read it:
"Teachers are sort of faced with a thankless task because no matter how good they are, unless they find a way to rationalize the rewards of their effort personally, nobody else will do it for them en masse." Julius Erving
You see my photo with Sophie Shih Tzu, and we are trying to get warm. How about this for rationalization, not to practice? No electricity or water, no heat. I am writing this with a Propane generator-charged iPhone, listening to hurricane-force wind. I am coming to you from SoCal, California, "fire country," after evacuating and am now back at the house.
With the streamlined Classical Tai Chi lessons at https://classical-tai-chi.teachable.com, Master Stephen Hwa has made a Gem for learning at the most reasonable cost. There is an adage that only those who pay the most money for Tai Chi lessons will stick around. Another "rationalization! This only works if the money comes from a good student. Above all, the ball is ultimately in the student's court in the relationship between teacher and student. No one can teach you if you're not willing to be a student. And when a student meets a real teacher, the student's world changes. I have been motivated to learn. That happened to me when I met Master Stephen Hwa.
Years ago, when I was teaching Wu's Style large frame at my studio, my Chinese calligraphy teacher told me there was a Tai Chi teacher at the Chinese club who was called the "General" because of his strict teaching and call for dedication. Well, I approached him years before that, in my early 30s, and although he was strict, he was fair. My teacher from "other" Tai Chi came with me to approach him to learn Chen Style; we had both grown disenchanted with the "other" style.
He told me that he would teach me, but he would not teach my "other" teacher. Why? As Master Hwa says, "…teachers not only teach but also evaluate students' attitudes to see if they can learn, have talent, show promise, and, above all, have a good attitude…". I still do much the same; it is ingrained when I teach. I don't tell students I can't teach them, but their "attitude" does the "weeding out" process itself.
Master Hwa says, "...students also complain because they think the teacher holds back.... My experience has also been that students complain about several things; I will leave it at that.
The story from the calligraphy teacher was that the "General" told prospective students the charge for the class was $100, but he would give it back to them if they stayed the course. I like that quite a bit! However, like Master Stephen Hwa, that teacher never charged me one thin dime. I learned a lot, and, above all, I am continuing to learn, and I like that even more!
In a conversation with my teacher, Master Stephen Hwa, he stated that the problem of student perseverance needed to be addressed. My humble attempt to address the problem is mainly based on my experience and insight. Unfortunately, I do not have any easy solutions, but I offer some analysis and insight into what constitutes the problem. I organize the analysis around what I feel is a persistent symptom of the lack of perseverance, which is as follows:
There are rationalizations over training or not training that students engage in on what often seems like a constant basis to this teacher. If students can recognize their urge to rationalize their lack of practice, absence from class, etc., they can at least head off some of the impulses they have to not persevere in the discipline. On the other hand, a rewarding facet of classical tai chi training is that it is subject to rationalizations.
One can learn to deepen their practice, and since Tai Chi is indeed a meditation in motion, a student can learn to recognize them just as they would in any other meditation practice. Rationalizations, emotions, thoughts, fantasies, quasi-logics, and insights will all come to the surface during the consistent and profound practice of Classical Tai Chi, and it is part of the meditation process for the students to recognize them and detach themselves.
Classical Tai chi is a self-discipline of both body and mind. Its practice is not intended only for the days when one feels good, inspired, awake, enthusiastic, or energetic. Classical Tai Chi is meant to be practiced through everything life offers. Consistent daily practice is the only way to progress through Tai Chi's many stages of personal development. Whether financially burdened, responsibility-laden, busy, sick, worried, sad, injured, tired, or even indifferent, discipline calls us into that present moment to face life's constant changes.
The mind will always provide opportunities to rationalize not engaging in practice. In other words, one must persevere to practice despite a lack of motivation. Master Hwa has always stressed the importance of consistency and perseverance. Through his decades of experience, he knows, as do I, that Tai Chi is not only a tool for facing difficulties in life but also a way to create the capacity and potential for growth. In tough times, when it becomes actually easier for one to hone the ability to make rationalizations/excuses, a steady practice can make a huge difference. I advise students to come to class, remove their shoes, begin their practice, and see where this leads. This teaches not only discipline but detachment. Detachment, equanimity, and grace under pressure are rewarding things that can come from perseverance despite adversity.
Self-discipline, like many other qualities, must be cultivated. Progress in learning the Tai Chi forms is accomplished through sustained effort. There are no shortcuts. The most authentic essence of Tai Chi is not in any outward physical manifestations but rather in the deeper, more subtle, and profound physical and mental internal change. These are gained only through meeting the challenges that a daily practice reveals. I have seen students over the years who tell me they rationalize such challenges as mountainous when they become molehills if they can persevere with practice. After all, one of the eventual goals of learning Tai Chi is Using internal movement to direct external motion.
I even have conscientious and devoted students still studying who tell me they cannot wait till they retire from their jobs so they can devote time to learning Tai Chi. On the other hand, people who have come and gone have said: "But I cannot come to class; I have (insert responsibility)." "But, I did not study, I have... so what's the point of coming to class?" "But I came to Tai Chi and expected this and did not get it, so why should I come to class?" "But the teacher is too meticulous, I just want to do it," etc., etc. So then they quit entirely despite their protestations that they "will continue to study on their own."
It is not learned in a vacuum; you need almost constant input from a teacher, preferably in person. Beginning students not only need steady input from a teacher, but they also need nurturing (yes, much like growing anything from plants to children) over the first 3 years and, in some cases, perhaps 5 years. Now, if you are truthfully disciplined and feel you can study independently, there is no reason why you cannot come to class if there is one near you. My weekly trips to Toronto to learn encompassed hundreds of miles per week for study and in the face of adversity and responsibility, some of which I still have.
I understand entirely and empathize; please do not say that I do not. Before I retired, moved to SoCal with my family and now with dozens of dogs, I raised children, cared for a spouse, cared for three dogs and another family, worked for U.S. Customs before and after 9/11, taught Tai Chi at 3, sometimes 4 different locations, traveled to Toronto for lessons, and ran a studio in Buffalo, N Y. I did these in conjunction with each other and had my own practice. As the saying goes, I needed my practice even more, sometimes much more, to "consolidate the input" from all these other stressors.
I understand, which contradicts people who say or imply that I don't. I do not contradict them, however, as to the veracity of their responsibilities.
However, had I waited for as long as I do before I began or continued with Tai Chi, I would have waited for a "but" that would never have come. Some have said: "It is like being a person waiting for the ocean to calm before bathing in it."
Don't get me wrong here. I am not the proverbial man with a stick who "whacks" someone if they do not come to class or study. Nor am I the confessor who will tell you to "go and sin no more" for not attending class or practicing. Ironic that my first teacher was a Clinical Psychologist ! I once had Psychology Professor, in class who, after his initial interest wore off, seemed to have a different excuse (he jokingly called it "rationalizations" ") each week for why he did not do this or do that. Finally, I told him: "I tell everyone this, and that is that the emotion of guilt is no help whatsoever in learning this."
I'm sure most folks who come and go, whether long or short, get to the guilt stage. It has been said that “ one reaches the guilt stage when one runs out of excuses and rationalizations." Or, as the psychologist would say, "rationalizations for not coming or practicing." Some run through the rationalizations faster than others. Here's a "confession": I stuck with it sometimes because I got tired of feeling guilty. I told myself, "if you feel that bad for not doing it, you must really need it." Believe me, I understand, but I won't feel guilty with you. I learned to recognize my rationalizations and detach myself from them, but that only comes with continuing the Tai Chi.
It gives you a "look inside" of yourself. I have a suspicion over these many years of seeing a "revolving door" of students that people do not like what they see sometimes, don't want to see anything more profound, and find it easier to rationalize and feel guilty.
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