On the weekend workshop, Master Chen told me to be patient. Tai Ji ability can not be gained overnight. It involves whole body connection, and this need time to be felt and be strong.
When pushing hands, it is better to take a loss then to use a muscle move that does not conform to Tai Ji principle. Using muscle to push opponents will give you bad habits which are hard to correct later.
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One of the most difficult things in learning for modern people is “learning stages”. Many people work hard but on things at wrong times. Taiji learning is like growing a plant. One has to follow the natural sequence of growth. Trying to hurry the growth is like “pulling up the plant to make it grow faster” (Ancient Chinese idiom). This is one of the things that is lost in our taiji transmission.
In reply to Master Chen, this is why it is important to attend workshop. Master Chen will point out my mistake, and what I should be working on. So my training is only focused on that, until he tell me to work on other parts.
It is a mistake to think of Taiji as some mystical power that will emerge magically on day. Taiji should be looked at as a progression of abilities. High level skill comes out of solid foundation abilities.
It is certainly difficult when you are results oriented and you know about stages in Taiji or results in Hunyuan Qigong. Love the journey. BTW, the book “Mastery” by Aikido practitioner George Leonard, puts great focus on this.
It takes a while to “grind the iron pestle into a needle.”
It takes a lot of grinding period. One has to be prepared for small infrequent steps forward. I think we all look for shortcuts, but find out there aren’t any and end up losing time by going down these blind alleys in search of that magic pill that will allow us instant success. I know that is the case with some of my younger students.
It takes too long! π it’s hard to be so patient.
“Patience” is another attribute that is put into practice from studying Taiji.
Things happen very quickly in our day-to-day lives. It takes “patience” for a webpage to load up. Needless to say for a lot of people, years of training and perseverance are difficult to execute.
The last 2 years I started making training goals…and focused on one things at a time…which led to progress in those areas…I just practiced, practiced, practiced. I switched my training goals based upon corrections Shifu gave me last September. I video taped my form and obtained objective feedback….I made some progress, yet showed additional flaws that was related to my structural deficiencies that I am working on…I think mindset is crucial…I think it takes hard intentional work, tenacity, persistence, willingness to accept hard truths (whole hearted acceptance of corrections), patients and grit. Now I have assessed my progress or lack of progress, I refocus on my training goal and get back to practice…it is a long accumulative process…