There is something about the Taichi curriculum that you might not know. Oh,
you might know about the forms and the breath work and the energy work and the
silk reeling exercises and the two-person exercises and mental and
physical conditioning the core training, and the medical therapeutic applications, the
martial applications, throws, the joint locks, the pressure point control, the
esoteric blindfolded training, the forms competition, the competitive combative
sport aspects, and so on. But do you really know what Tai Chi is made of?
Hello. I am very tired. In this episode we will talk about what Tai Chi is made of.
If you ask some people what Tai Chi is made of, they will say, "Oh, you take some
water and sugar and milk and some black tea leaves and cardamom and ginger and
perhaps some cinnamon and some fennel..." But that would only be correct if we
were talking about chai tea. And it wouldn't really be correct to talk about
chai tea because that is redundant. Because "chai" means "tea." So, when you say
"chai tea," you're actually saying "tea tea" and so, it's redundant.
But I digress. I do that sometimes. I digress. In fact, I think that my students may find
that to be one of my more endearing qualities. You see, my digressions are
actually a feature of my pedagogy. They are part of the way that I teach.
You see, when I am teaching a Tai Chi or a chi gong or a martial arts class,
sometimes my students will be working on something that requires
so much focus and effort that their concentration starts to become
consternation, and working any harder would be counterproductive. That is
when I will deliberately talk about something completely unrelated and lead
my students on a bit of a shaggy dog story for a few minutes and then come
around to the topic at hand...but from a completely refreshing new direction.
I feel that really helps to reinforce those neural pathways and helps the
students to learn faster and to remember better. But even on those rare occasions
when my digressions seem to get a little out of hand, it can lead to some very
interesting and useful lessons. In fact, I remember one time when I digressed so
much that we didn't get back onto the topic again until we were all speaking
Klingon. Yeah. You see I have been in the habit of beginning my classes with a
formal, standard Chinese greeting. I begin with a palm fist salute and I say
"Tongxuemen Hao" which is Chinese for "Hello, fellow students." and the students respond
with "Laoshi hao," which means "Hello, teacher." It is a simple thing. But when a
famous Chinese master comes to visit our school, it helps to present the illusion
that my students have good manners and that they might know what they are doing.
So, one day, just for fun, I replaced the standard Chinese greeting with
"GhojwI may' qeq", which is Klingon for "Students, prepare for battle." Most of my students
just responded with the conditioned response, "Laoshi Hao."
But one student paused for a moment and then said
"LupDujHomwIj Luteb gharghmey." which of course is Klingon for "My hovercraft is full of eels."
Of course, this crew raucous laughter from all of the Klingon-speaking Monty
Python fans in the class. And that led to a very insightful discussion about the
comparisons between Oriental martial cultures and Klingon warrior culture, and
how they are expressed in the language, and that if you want to really
understand a culture, it is a very good idea to learn their martial art.
Oh, speaking of Monty Python... Did you know that John Cleese was once
offered the equivalent of a knighthood by the Klingon High Council? It's true.
He was declared a Dahar master after his glorious battle against the City of
Palmerston North in New Zealand. A battle in which he forced them to name the local
landfill after him. They called it "Mount Cleese" because apparently, that is what
everyone wanted to do after the battle... Mount Cleese... But Cleese rejected the
Klingon title for two reasons, one of which I won't get into in detail. But
just let's say that it involved an unfortunate altercation between Cleese
and members of the order of the daughters of qeylIS. But the main reason
why he rejected the title was because he was frustrated by the fact that the
Klingons refused to learn how to pronounce his name correctly.
"For heaven's sake," he said, It's pronounced 'Cleese,' like 'cheese.' I could
not go through life being referred to as 'Dahar master John tlhIs.'" But I'm getting
off the topic. Back to the thing about the language. We were comparing 14 tonal
dialects of a language like Chinese with the approximately 80 poly-guttural
dialects of Klingon and .... although some people were arguing that Chinese really
shouldn't be classified as a real language... But that's beside the point.
It was then that one of my students pointed out that instead of saying "LupDujHomwIj Luteb gharghmey"
one could have just said "LlubloymoH gharghmey." And this brought up
the fact that the Klingon language is one that is based entirely on an
adaptive syntax, compared that to the partially adaptive syntax of Chinese.
Now, this led me to point out that the Tai Chi curriculum itself is less adaptive
under some cultural and linguistic contexts than it is under others.
You see, for centuries, Tai Chi styles have been guarded secrets passed on through
families from generation to generation. But no two people will do the style
exactly the same way. And each person will change it to suit their needs and
abilities and understanding. And on those rare occasions when the art passed from
one family to a completely different family, a distinctive new style would be
created... due to the different experiences and circumstances. Over the centuries,
Tai Chi styles have mixed with other martial arts like xingyiquan and Baguazhang,
and yiquan, and have been influenced by many, many different styles
of martial art. Some famous Tai Chi masters were also masters of Shaolin
kung fu, or wrestlers or sword masters. Some were doctors, or generals, or
aristocrats or farmers. They all had their own unique perspectives on the art.
So, Tai Chi is, in fact, a mixed martial art... historically.
Now, teachers will adapt the curriculum to suit their students. For example, if I am
teaching an octogenarian Canadian who has just heard about Tai Chi for the
first time, then I will not be teaching them the same curriculum that would be
learned by, perhaps, a five-year-old in Chen village who is practising six
hours per day, on the same street where the style has been practiced for
20 generations. In some places the style adapts to become more standardized.
And this is good. So, these places become touchstones, whereby
serious students from around the world can go, to discover the essence and
origins of a style, and to see what happens when you practice this way
full-time for decades. But even in these places, the art will change and refine
itself over time. And the individual masters do, thanks to human nature and
nature of the art itself, transcend the structure of the style. So, as Tai Chi spreads
throughout the world, it changes and mutates. And some of these changes will
be tested and some will not. Some that are tested will survive and some will
not. I have learned eight different versions of Yang style Tai Chi, and five
different versions of Chen style Tai Chi, two different versions of Wu style Tai
Chi. I have also studied Wu' style (the other Wu style), Sun style and Zhaobao style,
and other styles that I dare not name. I have also learned from martial
arts from six different continents. All of this research has informed, or
corrupted, what I teach. I also teach different types of qigong and neigong, and
all of these influence my curriculum. Now, some of what I teach has been
thoroughly tested, and some of it... not so much, or not yet. Oh, I have experimented a lot,
but that is not the same as getting tested. ... So, what I teach to my students is
designed for them not for me. Som the art that I teach
is not the art that I practice. For me, as a teacher, the real test of a curriculum
is how well it benefits the individual student...
What was I talking about?
Well, I'll figure it out and I'll get back to you in episode 3.
Thank You. Tongxuemen, Zaijian.