A Cat's Thoughts

   Work like a human

The last couple of times I went to Tai Chi class this week, my instructor - Ray Howard - mentioned the idea of working like a human. On thursday he explained the idea in depth:

The last couple of times I went to Tai Chi class this week, my instructor - Ray Howard - mentioned the idea of working like a human. On thursday he explained the idea in depth:
When humans are kids you can teach them to do something and they will automatically try new ways to do it everytime. Ray used the example of teaching his kids to feed the dog and a couple of days later they had managed to get thier skateboards involved in the chore. Other animals however, once taught to do something will do it the same way every time - like an Ox plowing a field. Somewhere along the lines as humans get older they tend to start working like animals - plodding along doing the same exact thing over and over an over again. We need to be reminded to work like humans.

In class this came in the form of doing repetative drills. Ok, I know that sounds like the opposite of what we were just told, but this is Taoist thinking so expect that. What Ray said was that as we do the same move over and over and over and over and over and over again (all the way across the studio in 2 inch increments), we should do the move differently each time. "Try balancing a little different, or placing your foot a little different - you'll learn a little more each time." he said.

So being the kind of student that I am, I tried it - even though it didn't make much sense to me right away. But you know what, he was right. Each time I did the cloud hands I tried to do one small piece just a little different. And each time I learned something. Sometimes I learned that doing it that way doesn't work. Sometime I learned that if I do this I have to do that or I'll fall over. Sometimes I felt my muscles learn something that my brain could never have told them (and don't ask - the lesson wasn't in English and I can't translate). The same was true with Repulse Monkey, and Seperate Foot Right/Left, and Retreat to Ride Tiger and all the other moves that we used to move back and forth across the studio with that day.

Then today I was in the Push Hands class (push hands are drills for learning the practical applications of all the moves in the solo form). We were doing a drill called Willow, where one person gently pushes the other and the pushee tries to move out of the way without moving their feet. I wasn't doing so well - I kept falling over. Ray noticed and came over and very quietly told me "work like a human." That was all I needed. I didn't stop falling over, I just stopped falling in the same direction every time. I also managed to stay on my feet longer between falls.

Clearly I have a lot to learn yet in this area, but I'm getting somewhere - in 2 inch increments.

Posted by Becca at January 31, 2004 03:01 AM