Juggling and Taiji

by Aaron Bartholomew on 2012/12/07

To start off I thank Master Chen for inviting me to write this an article comparing juggling and Taiji.

I am both a juggler and a taijiquan practitioner.  This doesn’t mean that I am good at either of these activities, rather that I persist in doing them.  I have noticed several common points between juggling and taiji, though even in they differ even in these commonalities.

Form
As in Taiji, there are many ways for a beginning juggler to go wrong, and only one way that will work well.   Learning that basic pattern (called a cascade) involves a lot of time practicing exactly the same throw first with one hand, and then with the other.  All variances need to be removed until the beginning juggler can toss the ball consistently with either hand.

Why all the practice?  When the transition is made to more than one ball, and suddenly the beginning juggler has to pay attention to both hands and the ball at the same time, all sorts of weird things start to happen.  The hands will go to the wrong spot, the throws will be off, and timing will be non-existant.  This is normal, but needs to be corrected.  All unnecessary movements need to be removed from the act of throwing the ball correctly.  Juggling cannot occur until the juggler can consistently throw each ball accurately, yet without paying attention to  the ball as its thrown.  Michael Moschen, a juggler whose work I admire said,”You must learn to feel with your eyes, and see with your hands”.

In the Practical Method Chen style Tajiquan, we practice Yilu again, and again, and again, removing (or subtracting) any inconsistencies with the known form, until we can do each movement in the form repeatably, consistently, and correctly.  Each move needs to be done exactly right (footwork angles, hand position, without transition).  Why?  Because when we transition to using the form (push hands, Erlu, or zhan shou) all sorts of strange things will occur: timing will be off, or the wrong movement or angle will come out.  This is normal, and should be expected, but needs to be corrected.  All incorrect or additional movements need to be subtracted from the Yilu form so that taiji can occur.  Taiji cannot occur until the practitioner can consistently perform each movement without paying attention to the required actions as the movement occurs.

Timing
Object fall if the timing is off while juggling.  This is Mill’s mess (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Bc8f6mPry6A#t=25s).  If the timing’s off in any way, it will certainly be a mess, but it won’t be Mill’s mess.

Similarly movements won”t work if the timing is off in taiji.  Take the steps of the circle (http://practicalmethod.com/lang/en/2012/02/the-circle/).  Not only will the circle not work if these steps are done out of order, but it could cause other issues (http://practicalmethod.com/lang/en/2012/01/stacking-the-joints/#more-17117) .

Master Chen shared an interesting concept in the recent Phoenix workshop.  Imagine that there are three actions that need to occur.  They may well start and end together, but the beats at which each action occurs are different within that time.

This has also been explained with dotted lines.  To the observer, there are no missing spaces, even though no single action covers the whole length of the line.

Observer

Action 1:  ————–
Action 2:             ————————-
Action 3:        ———————————————————————–There’s a trick in juggling where the juggler does a 3 ball cascade with only 2 balls.  A hole is deliberately left in the pattern where the third ball would be.In a similar way, only two of the above actions could be performed, leaving the third available as an option to be used only if needed:ObserverAction 1:  ————–
Action 2:   (only if needed)
Action 3:        ———————————————————————–If the observer is also acting as an opponent, and the timing is correctly executed, the opponent will jam himself at the unexpected hole in the timing.Feedback
Feedback in juggling would seem to be easy.  If the balls are in the air, the juggler’s doing it correctly.  And that’s correct for a beginner.  Troubleshooting (or removing incorrect movements) is difficult without experienced assistance.  I taught myself to juggle, and it took me months before I could manage to stand still while juggling.  I’d made a simple mistake (starting with juggling against a wall), and it took me a lot of practice time to figure out that I was doing something wrong.  Once I figured that out, it took me even longer to figure out what I was doing wrong, and then even more practice to remove the error from my form.  This would have taken a couple minutes to correct if I’d had access to an experienced juggler.Yilu is much more complicated than a 3 ball cascade.  And there is no obvious feedback mechanism (http://practicalmethod.com/lang/en/2012/08/no-feedback/).
Master Chen has mentioned some ways to get that feedback, but it involves not trusting yourself:  http://practicalmethod.com/lang/en/2012/03/how-do-you-know-whether-you-are-learning/

Master Chen and the instructors he’s authorized (http://practicalmethod.com/lang/en/2012/03/authorized-instructor-list/) can also provide that feedback.  As an example, when I went to the recent Phoenix workshop, I thought I was doing the form choreography well.  Master Chen pointed out several items (fundamentals) I needed to work on (incorrect footwork and angles, elbow outside the hip), and quickly provided pointers on how to correct each of them.

Practice
If you want to do it well, whether the activity is juggling or taiji, you need to practice.  And practice.  And practice some more.  10,000 repetitions.

I can teach someone how to start juggling in about 30 minutes.  I can show them how to throw the ball consistently, and work with them to remove some of the more obvious errors.  I can show them the path that they will need to take, and get them to where they can start stumbling down that path.  And it will be a stumble for a good long set of practice sessions.  But that beginning juggler is the one who will determine how good a juggler they will be, by how much they practice.

The same holds true for taiji.  The teacher shows the path, but the learner determines if, and for how far, they will walk it.
http://practicalmethod.com/lang/en/2008/02/are-you-learning/

Try, fail, and try again
One of my favorite quotes is from Samuel Beckett, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Every beginning juggler will fail.  Every beginner drops the ball.  Many, many, many times.  Most experienced jugglers drop every once in a while.  Here’s a clip of Michael Moschen, one of the world’s most famous jugglers (this is a 37 minute clip:  http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_moschen_juggles_rhythm_and_motion.html).  In the first few minutes, he drops a couple times, in front of a live audience.  Beginners should follow his example, pick up the balls when there’s a drop, and keep throwing up.

I may never get more than 1% of Chen style Practical Method Taiji correct.  I may fail at 99% (or more of it).  But that 1% will be more than if I stopped practicing now, and much more than someone who never starts.

Not knowing
One of Michael Moschen’s thoughts (34:30 in the above clip) that I find intriguing is that when working with an idea or object for manipulation, he likes to not nail down what it is, or how to perform with it, for as long as possible.  He enjoys not knowing, and perpetuating not knowing in order to find more possibilities.Byron Lerner says something very similar here: http://practicalmethod.com/lang/en/2010/09/on-the-nature-of-learning/.  Quoting Byron on this idea:When students are attached to preconceived notions, the mind remains closed to new experience.  As soon as students think they know something, they can’t learn anymore.  The very notion of presumed learning is what closes the mind from continuing to learn. This is very difficult for most people to accept because they cling to the idea that they know something.  They don’t like to think that they know nothing.  Almost everyone struggles with this concept because of its apparent paradoxical nature.  The solution is to stop thinking and simply act.  Be like a child.  Cultivate the attributes of innocence, openness, and humility.An ancient Taoist proverb says that the beginning of wisdom is – “I don’t know.”  Most people don’t allow themselves this stance of “I don’t know” often enough.
For me, the main idea that transitions from juggling to Taiji is this:  Open yourself to learning, and practice,  often and hard.

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Wilkin Ng December 8, 2012 at 12:50 pm

Thanks for the well thought out post, I did some juggling long time ago, it is a challenging hand eye coordination. In the end taiji is just another ‘hobby’ unless ones want to make it ones livelihood. In this sense, only person who dedicate lots of time on it will gain the most out of it.
Out of all my previous hobbies, I find Taiji gives me the most benefits. I also am grateful that Master Chen has dedicated a big part of his life teaching this art all over the world. I don’t know if I am not off to the next hobby if I haven’t met Master Chen

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