Kindness

A drop of kindness can sweeten a bitter day

A good teacher is a good teacher

What a unique environment is created when a student enters a martial arts school with an accomplished teacher. The student will be in awe of the teachers ability; a student will even go to great length to try get the teacher to reveal his secret, what made him so good and so powerful in his art. Yet all along the teacher has done nothing more than what he asks his student to do and that is to follow in the steps he himself followed and assuring his students he will reach the same place with diligence and hard work.

Have the same student apprentice with master craftsmen like a master woodworker, gardener, builder and the student will not have this mindset of a secrets hiding some place but will know that it will take hard work and following his teachers instructions and he will also reach the same level. A good teacher is a good teacher treat your time with a marital arts teacher as an apprenticeship working to a goal of becoming the teacher that passes on the art completely.

Do not be in awe of your teachers ability this will set you back many years, instead be aware of certain truths, your teacher was just like you the day he/she started, he/she is still learning and exploring. Be content in your own accomplishments, listen to your teachers instructions and follow them closely, don’t doubt your ability to obtain what you are seeking, work hard. Follow these things and soon you will be on your way to being a peer to your instructor rather than forever the wide eyed in awe student, then you will gain a true closeness and respect that is mutual.

To quiet the mind

To quiet the mind does not mean to be void of thought, but to be filled with a positive thought/feeling that is both passive and active but not busy.

Busy thoughts are always thoughts about things that need to be done, events that had negative impacts on you as a person, relationship troubles. The mind races and the adrenaline is pumping from these thoughts the body is affected and the mind, the spirit dwindles as all this energy is taken up by the other two.

A positive thought has an opposite effect on the mind/body/spirit, the mind does not analyze positive thought it kicks into a feeling mode and the whole body experiences that wonderful feeling over and over, the endorphins are released in the exact same way they were when the event happened. The positive statement made you feel, an accomplishment made you feel, the body/mind/soul is whole in that experience and the mind is quiet not active just perceptive.

Mastering an art

Mastering an art requires

Perseverance
Study
The right system
The right teacher

Seeking outside yourself

Many Taiji player are always looking for the next short cut or that teacher who will give them the secret to mastering Taiji Chuan even if they have heard it over and over from their teacher deep inside they think "It can't be that easy to master Taiji."

To master Taiji it is easy as the following:

1. Practice
2. Relax

Practice twice a day everyday without fail and you will gain great knowledge of yourself and Taiji.

Relax in every movement, this means to go slow listen to your body and let go of expectations and just explore.


Prof. Cheng Man-ching wrote down all the his knowledge and his teachers, Yang Cheng Fu, knowledge of Taiji Chuan in Cheng Tzu's Thirteen Treatises.

Read this book read the Essence of Taiji Chuan and you have all the tools you will ever need.