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Thoughts from Sifu to novice students of Tai Chi.
The
art of Tai Chi that is practiced daily in the local playground and goes almost unnoticed by the neighbors. Yet
every morning people get up and meet at an agreed upon time, in an agreed upon location, and move their energy, circulate
it, make it grow!
Some
do the Cha Cha, some dance to pop, or waltz, everyone is breathing and moving. It is the most social time of the day
for some. You can see three or four different classes going on at the same time these days. I often alternate
days with different teachers. Acceptance in a class might be as simple as getting behind someone and just following
or depending on the energy you walk with the selection process by you or a teacher may be necessary.
One day:
I saw this man performing in
the park, and the form which he demonstrated during his own personal practice just blew me away. Martial content and
applications were very visable and apparent to me. Balance, focus, potential for power, timing, continuity, grace, all
there. The man's body type was even similar to my own build. I was home.
Now all I had to do was get
this man to teach me what I just saw. How could I become worthy of the investment a sifu makes in a student? I
just kept showing up, hot, cold, icy, humid, dry, weekday, weekend, sunrise, sunset, I was there. Then I started to
get there before anyone else. I would have a complete workout before anyone would show. Then class would begin.
I found myself humming these tunes?
Anyway, that was 20
years ago and I am following in the footsteps of the teacher. I am still very enthusiastic about each approaching class,
and I still practice weekly with the Master. I want to continue
to learn and practice this art called: "Morning Tai Chi".
The offerring I make here are
the expression of the art I am learning and continue to learn and practice with the same man.
Due to the fact that I have been told "my father no want
famous" I will only work through my own reputation and recognition. My name is Ruben Torres, I have studied other
art forms over the past 39 years but I look forward to this journey of investigation into "Morning Tai Chi".
I have worked on the expression
of the sifu.
The way he executes his postures and transitional movements
and shifts while maintaining a correct posture with relaxed breathe patterns, made me realize my
training had only just begun.
Its easy for me to look back
and recollect the events and know what would have yielded good results. I didn't even know about the concept of empty/solid,
light/heavy, these are basic, even what I thought about circular movement and the arts only skimmed the surfice of this aspect.
Without an understanding of cantonese, I was lost.
Without writing about the year
that immediately followed my meeting with the teacher, I will tell you that most of the beginning postures I learned from
watching outside the fence, outside the parameters of the class.
The teacher would not teach
a student he could not talk to, share the intent, the history, the concepts behind the forms, and how they were to be used.
How could there be a transmission from teacher to student if they could not talk?
I would like to share the "alphabet"
I learned from my Sifu.
This class is called: Morning Tai Chi.
I am presently working out of Sunset Park on a daily
basis.
Of course its fall now, and all the masters are
in the park teaching their classes, at different times.you can see all the other players, and their expressions daily.
Pick one that works for you.
Through a series of drills of
postures and transitions from form to form, I learned what the teacher was saying to me.
During our private time, Sifu would review my postures
and applications, my stepping and weight distribution/commitment, my ability to flow through the basic drills, then he would
use counters, angles, folding, and unfolding to access escapes and locks, and throws.
For years now, he has continued
to surprise me with more and more forms used in the Push Hands drills.
Every form has an application!
Many have multiple applications.
The drills I learned for developing
Stationary and Moving Push Hands skills-I teach to my students from the very beginning.
Understanding comes in stages.
You always begin again.
We are not fighting. These
drills are for training!
We parctice an internal and external art for Self Developement.
The drills may influence the performance and application
of the form.
The student first
learns the postures and the stepping, then the form. (a suggestion>)
The student should mimic and mime
what is seen during the practice of the form portion of the class.
This is following from beginning to end the
complete form, whether its a empty hand form, a fan style form, a sword form, etc. Don't forget to keep your eyes on the Teacher!
When you stop looking, you stop learning.
We did three different Chi Kung Sets, depending on the
time of year. 18, 28, and Beat the Drum.
This would always precede the forms.
After the forms, we do the fan, then the sword forms,
review is next.
If there is time, we may review Push Hands basics,
Stationary fixed-single hand drills, Double Hand drills,
then Moving Single Hand drills followed by Moving Double Hand drills.
Cloudhands may follow if the students develop an understanding
