Communication Channels in Tai Chi Training...

There are many ways we communicate in Tai Chi. Body to Mind, Mind to Body, Mind to Heart, Heart to Mind, Heart to Body and Body to Heart. The goal for each of these paths is to make them as open and clear as possible giving your Body Mind and Heart the most effective training you can. Lets look at these in a little more detail.

Mind to Body - Body to Mind...
I love to use the example of standing on one leg for this one. Especially in new Tai Chi students, the exercise of standing on one leg (Like Cloud Step) can be quite challenging. Typically, they feel very unstable, shaky and weak. It can be very frustrating for them. I believe that when your trying to stand on one leg (in good posture) and are shaky, you have gone past your current level of strength. The shakiness comes from creating an environment of confusion in the muscles responsible for the movement. If you clarify the request by bringing your leg down to a level where you feel stable and the shakiness goes away you are effectively opening clear lines of communications with the muscles necessary for the movement. Once they get stronger, you will be able to lift your leg higher. If you push to the point of instability, you muscles will continue to be confused, fighting for control of the movement and not developing their strength in any effective manner.


Mind to Heart - Heart to Mind...
As I mentioned above, Tai Chi training can be very frustrating at every level. In my mind this is what makes Tai Chi such a complete form of training. You are not just pushing your body you are also challenging your concentration, your patience and your ability to grow from your mistakes. This makes the opening of the Heart - Mind Communication Channel all the more important to your continued training. If you allow your "less than perfect" Tai Chi movements to frustrate you, it is very likely that you will progress at a slower pace and are more likely to quit training altogether. Give yourself the opportunity to smile at your weaknesses and embrace the challenge of turning them into strengths. I always tell students that their Tai Chi does not have to look like mine; it just has to be the best they can do at that moment in time. If they accept that possibility then their practice time is much more enjoyable and they are able more readily recognize and embrace their own progress.

Heart to Body - Body to Heart...
As we learn something new, especially in physical training, we tend to hold our breath, tense up and lose whatever coordination we thought we had. This can be even more prevalent in Tai Chi, which moves as such a slow pace compared to how we are used to moving. If we fail to recognize these tendencies in ourselves we can become tired, frustrated and unmotivated to continue training. In our classes we talk about "Smiling from the Heart". This is not a "cutsie" way to help people enjoy the class. We are seriously trying to help people understand the POWER of letting a smile infiltrate their training environment. I have seen this allow people to continue a challenging physical drill when they thought they could not, release a chronically tense muscle set and open a tense, shallow breath to be full and free. Smile, you may like it!

Tai Chi is like learning a new language...
Fayne and I have often tried to find an analogy to describe to prospective students what it is like to learn Tai Chi. This week, while exploring communication, I think we found one we can really relate to. Imagine how a newborn baby learns language skills. Through constant exposure, being around its parents the child will slowly pick up words (awkwardly at first) like "baba" for bottle, "dada" for Daddy and so on... Then after enough exposure, the child will begin to clarify its speech and begin to put thought together like "I want Juice" or that every popular one word question - "cookie?" followed by that sweet, crippling smile. "OK baby, here is your cookie." YUMMIE! The child grows further and the language skills become more developed, into school age, then High School, Collage, Adulthood and so on. We never stop learning new words and phrases. As we grow in experiences, maybe moving from place to place we continue top develop our language skills.

Imagine with me your Tai Chi is like that newborn baby and Tai Chi is the language it wants to learn. So many students come to class expecting to speak three languages after their first few weeks of training. There are no short cuts to quality training. Especially when it comes to Tai Chi. Step by step your understanding will grow and you will find more depth in your training. Personally this is what keeps my interest in Tai Chi and I struggle to understand how this fact can be equally discouraging to prospective students. How can a mundane exercise class be more rewarding than a lifetime path of learning about yourself. So, when I am asked "how long will this take?" I smile at the puzzled looks I get when I reply - A lifetime.