Tai Chi Foundation & Paradox
Tai chi is literally drowning in paradoxes. Even the way we learn tai chi is a paradox. Most people are taught tai chi upside down. Not literally, walking on your hands but it might as well be. We are unnaturally top-heavy beings. Our big brains are the problem. We think about everything. Even moving a bit differently doesn't seem to come naturally. We over-think it.
We eat too much and exercise too little. Our upper bodies become too heavy for the hip joints and legs. Then our conscience drags us along to a tai chi class and the teacher, who more often than not thinks that he/she is teaching a set of movements instead of a specific type of human physics, supports the paradox by teaching you something that makes you more stressed than you were before.
The most common phrase you will hear from someone who gives up learning tai chi is: " I couldn't remember the moves. " Of course they can't remember the moves. They are not being taught properly.
Tai chi is SO much more than a set of rehearsed movements. Your body is not ready and your mind is being cluttered.
Tai chi is arguably the most complex and highly specific physical art there is. It's like juggling 5 or more balls. It's difficult and the only way you can achieve success is by conditioning the body for proper learning.
Rushing into learning a form without any feel for the concepts is like handing someone a violin for the first time and asking them to repeatedly copy you playing a Mozart Concerto.
If you watch the new breed of Competition Tai Chi players. The best of the best. The ones winning Gold Medals at National and International level. They can juggle 5 balls beautifully. They are superbly flexible and move with grace. Unfortunately, if you throw them a 6th ball to juggle, they will fall apart. They have been trained over and over again to juggle 5 balls. They have followed their teacher through the Mozart Concerto 10,000 times.
These elite Competition individuals deserve a lot of credit for their ability to perform but they can't exercise real internal power through their bodies. If you can't issue and receive force using tai chi principals, then you are not much more than a dancer. Fighting should not be the motivator or even a factor but if you train correctly, the body can adapt the inherent principals so that you can juggle any number of metaphoric balls. You need foundation.
Most of us will never be champions but why learn an art wrongly for years? Why assume that the art of tai chi is just about remembering a form? Do you think driving is just about owning a car? Is learning a musical instrument about learning only one or two pieces of music parrot fashion?
Our big brains demand a certain interest level when absorbing new information and foundation training is not a cerebral thing. Traditional training demands that you repeat a simple exercise or drill many times every day. Energy pathways in the body are developed through these correctly performed repetitions and not by simply trying to remember a tai chi form. Unfortunately such dedication is often perceived as not compatible with modern living and our short attention spans.
While foundation training is real tai chi training it does need to be structured in an interesting, strategic and rewarding way. Progress must be tangible.
Always discuss foundation training with your teacher and inquire as to what drills they can prescribe to help prepare your body best for learning the art of tai chi. Paradoxically the fast track to learning tai chi is by slowing down and practicing less movements more often.
