Focus/Teaching Skills

 Paying attention involves both deciding what to focus on, and the actual set of skills used in focusing. 

Before I can focus my eyes or my mind on anything, I must pick that which I will attend to. It is only after this happens that actual focusing, or selection, may take place. 

For example, my general take on teaching has been to be task oriented. 

With this starting point I might think of the (or a) best way to learn T’ai Chi. 

I have tended to teach the way my teachers, the Chows, taught me. This was perhaps an excellent way, for them in their time and place, and in their culture, assuming a mature population in which the student takes responsibility for their own commitment, they focused on the form. 

In a large population, this was sufficient to keep motivated students. However many students today in our culture may benefit from something more. 

As Mary Poppins would say, “A little bit of sugar helps the medicine go down.” 

Many successful teachers know this and take this into account. 

This entails focusing on the big picture, not just the teaching task but also the teaching situation.

 I had excellent teachers, but perhaps I didn’t acquire some of their more subtle techniques that aided their students through the more tedious parts of the learning process. 

For me, this might just be some of the wisdom that accrues through age. 

For others, this entails looking at what might engage the student, and other such details that might fall under the category of being not only an instructor but also serving as an entertainer, or roll modeling healthy interactions. 

After these concerns are attended to and the student is helped through any pitfalls encountered, then the focusing or selection process may be applied more appropriately to the T’ai Chi content.

As I begin Teaching T’ai Chi again perhaps I might improve my teaching skills by paying more attention to the student’s needs as a student, and include this in the curriculum design. 

“A successful musician is not only a musician, but also an entertainer.”

- Marshall Tucker

Best Wishes to All,

Daniel 

An Ounce of Laughter

 "Drive all blames into one."  

                                    - Jamgon Kongtrul

What if we stop trying to assign blame for the situations that plague our search for peace of mind? 

“Transcendence restores humor. Spirit restores humor. Suddenly, smiling returns. Too many representatives of too many movements, even very good movements, such as feminism, environmentalism, meditation, spiritual studies, seem to lack humor altogether. In other words, they lack lightness, they lack a distance from themselves, a distance from the ego and it’s grim game of forcing others to conform to it’s contours. 

There is self transcending humor, or there is the game of ego power…

 

(We) should all trade the pounds of ego for one ounce of laughter.”

                                      -Ken Wilber (The essential Ken Wilber,1998,p.185)

In Jamgon Kongtrul’s The direct path to Enlightenment, a list of useful aphorisms, “Drive all blames into one” is followed by “Be grateful to everyone.”.

It’s good to stand up for things that we believe in, but, just maybe, not so beneficial to get lost in them. 

This is because herein we risk creating more polarization and division, and defeat our goal of making things better.

Earthlings are known throughout the inner Solar System for two things; their creativity and their resourcefulness. 

When some Earthling astronauts were scheduling their next mission, they decided that since some of them had already visited their moon, and they wanted to visit someplace that had not been visited before, they would go to the Sun. 

Their engineers protested that this was impossible. It was too hot! 

They replied “Don’t worry! We’ll go at night!”

Namaste, Daniel

Again,

"Namaste" translates as: “May the Light within me honor the Light within You!”

New Year's Resolution

 Recent events in my own life have caused me to look at and ponder upon what direction I might like to take, moving forward.

Although I am blessed with many skills and many options, I am finding out that I also have a lot of baggage and a long way to go. 

As I get older I find that this is good. It suggests that perhaps I am not done yet.

 

It feels good to be needed and as long as I have something to give, there is still a place for me here. There is always more to be done.

This might require that I keep an open mind and that I take good care of myself. 

I should not forget to always try to make things better and to work for the common good.

I should not expect perfection in myself or others. I hope to always foster Good Intentions in myself and by example, in others. 

I also see the importance of Joy, Humor and Compassion in order to foster thoughts, feelings, and actions that create an all encompassing ‘Us’ instead of ‘Us versus Them’.

Sometimes even a little bit can do a lot!

We have the power to make a better future and this thought can sustain Hope!

Namaste,

(May the Light within me honor the Light within You),

Daniel

Cleaning House

 I periodically try to go through the various spaces that I use, and clear out much of left over and no longer used residue and clutter that seems to accumulate over time.

 This includes many items that might detract from the efficient use of living, teaching and work spaces, as well as kitchen, yard, and the many storage areas that might be put to better use. This includes much that has become storage, although not originally planned as storage areas.

As I clean I believe that I am creating habits that might hopefully generalize into other, non-material areas of endeavor, and foster my “Cleaning up my act”, of no longer functional or useful thoughts, behaviors, and beliefs. 

This, in T’ai Chi terms can be seen as a process of eliminating the extra movements that disturb our balance and relaxation in so many subtle ways.

When I clean, whether it is going through the mail or clearing out a room or closet, the process is similar. 

The first division is to keep or to throw away, including taking out the trash. Next, the ‘keep’ pile might either be dealt with or condensed to deal with later. 

These easy first steps immediately shrink the size of the problem. 

On the surface these steps might seem obvious and not worth listing, but their application to our junk habits, thoughts and behaviors might not be so obvious.

It is of utmost importance to not just think or philosophize about this, but to practice and through this practice to change our habitual thoughts and behaviors, that may have led us to hold limiting beliefs as well. 

This is the real T’ai Chi. 

Practicing the form influences our everyday life and our everyday life influences our form. 

It’s a two way street!

Free Will

Meditation is traditionally used here to create a space between a thought and an automatic habitual re-action, and allows us the space to consciously decide what we might want to do. 

This is so important because this is where we have the option to exercise free will, instead of behaving in a predetermined, habitual manner. 

A meditation here is defined as anything that helps us to pay attention to what we are doing, and doesn’t necessarily require a particular posture or chant. 

T’ai Chi can be a meditation, or making music or exercising. 

A meditation can be anything that brings us more fully into the present moment.

Without our being present, how can we have choice, or Free Will?

Happy New Year to All,

Daniel

Economy of Movement

 Movement that doesn’t affect one’s state of balance does not require additional rebalancing movements, and immensely simplifies that which remains.

As this becomes evident through practice of the form, this simple principle may provide a greater understanding of how all the various and seemingly disparate parts of the form all work together to create a more advantageous path for our lives.

These various and disparate interwoven threads may then become parts of a tapestry or cloth that may extend far beyond our own lives. 

When we effect positive change that extends beyond the limits of our own reach, this may bring us a new strength, adding meaning and significance to our lives.

There is something special about having the ability to make the world even a little bit better. 

This might be as simple as being a little more relaxed and in balance, a little less polarized, or less up-tight.

Maybe some of that will rub off and help others. 

Again, we don’t have to be perfect. 

Sometimes just the attempt can be enough to be a powerful reminder, both for ourselves and for others.

For me, it’s. A kind of New Year’s Resolution!

Namaste,

Daniel

Learning/Teaching the Form

 In the beginning we demonstrate the form and explain the necessary precepts (Balance, shifting the weight, relaxation, moving from the center, etc.), and then have the students follow the instructor through the beginning of the form, including individual instruction, adding new parts as the student progresses. 

This is a lot for most beginners, and adding more to this regimen may risk driving some students away. 

Adding one somewhat challenging activity, which the Chows included almost from the beginning, greatly facilitates this learning process. 

This activity, although somewhat challenging, should not be overlooked by the serious student or instructor. 

In addition to presenting the precepts and the form and practicing the form, both by following it and by individual work with each student, having each student perform what they can of the form without help during the individual part of each student’s lesson greatly enhances this learning process. 

(“Now I want you to do as much of the form as you can on your own, without help.”)

If this part is left out, the student is sent home without practicing doing the form on their own, and then is expected to do this homework without having practiced it! 

This learning/ teaching technique makes the difference between storing the practice in short term memory or storing it in one’s long term memory. 

Without it, the lessons take much longer to be absorbed and internalized.

Accomplished musicians know this. When practicing a new piece, at some point they begin to play it without having a copy of it to follow. 

They then acquire the ability to play the piece without having a copy in front of them. 

Practicing the piece without using this aid is challenging, and might often require multiple attempts. 

I often remind students at this point that one doesn’t have to do the form perfectly in order to accrue benefits. 

No one (except perhaps Mr Data from Star Trek) achieves excellence without first making beginners’ mistakes. 

Einstein

No effort is ever wasted. This is known as Einstein’s law of the conservation of matter and energy, and means that our every effort can have a positive effect, even if it takes a while to manifest in our lives.

It just takes a little time.. With just a little patience much can be achieved. 

Changing Old Habits Takes Time

We are changing a lifetime of habits. 

These habits worked well for us.

They kept us from falling as far back as when we first learned to walk, so they may require a little time to change. 

It’s not surprising that it takes time to learn a better way to move. It’s amazing that we can do this at all! 

We learned some of these habits since before we learned to talk. 

We can’t easily access them or change them with words. But we can reach and work with them by changing the way we move. 

It just takes a little bit longer!

It just takes a little time. And the benefits of moving without un-necessarily tensing up are immense! 

We have much better balance now than we did when we first learned to walk. 

We waste so much energy when we aren’t in balance!

Namaste, Daniel

Finding Happiness

                                         The Beginning, Finding Balance

First, take the weight off the foot you want to move. 

This entails an awareness of one’s current state, which may require one to first relax.

 If possible, slowing down can help one to become aware of any tensions, so that one might have opportunity to not attempt to move when still double-weighted. 

If slowing down is not an option, noticing things that disturb the balance might precede the necessary centering from which balanced movement can be achieved. 

Physically this allows relaxation and movement from a balanced condition. 

When we apply these parameters to our daily activities, our lives may benefit immensely and perhaps allow these activities to proceed more effectively.

This is the real T’ai Chi.

Thus, learning from our imbalances may be a key ingredient to our coming into a more relaxed and balanced state, not only physically, but also transactionally. This might occur as we interact with our world in whatever situations that our lives may bring us.

Two Examples:

1. A chess game: A blunder (an obviously bad move) might be just the thing to suggest that one should “Slow down and pay attention.”  As Mrs. Chow would put it, “Relax and concentrate.”
2. Difficulty finding inspiration: To begin writing this piece, I needed to “Unstick my brain from this somewhat common “Energy block.” This is similar to trying to lift a foot that still has weight on it. 

      As soon as I slowed down enough to see how I wasn’t in balance, I saw that I had everything I needed. 

The extra weight that disturbed my balance was not here and now, but was only one of many possible imagined futures.

I saw that I might use my imagination in a far more positive and creative way. 

I found my balance. 

Simply put, our challenges might become our Blessings. 

When Buddha first achieved enlightenment, it is said that all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that befell him on his way were turned into flowers decorating his path.

Not everything is that simple, but many of our difficulties might stem from our lack of balance!

Again, this is the real work, the real T’ai Chi. 

The physical form that we learn is only the beginning.

Namaste,

Daniel