My first private tai ji lesson

To say it’s my first private tai ji lesson might not be entirely true, as I have come across several teachers over the years. None of those extended beyond anything more permanent. This is the first time I am able to commit to a teacher, or to be more accurate, this is the first time that an opportunity presented itself in the form of a teacher just for me!

The class started off with some of the standard questions - how long you’ve been doing tai ji, what style, what teacher etc. Then, it’s “show me your tai ji”. I was a bit nervous as I haven’t had ONE pair of eyes staring only at me. It was 6 in the morning. There weren’t many other people to distract him.

I did Chen Lao Jia Yi Lu. I was trying hard to show my best, but because of that, my mind just couldn’t relax to let it flow. Nothing was connecting. And then the leg got wobbly because of lack of concentration. And then I forgot a move. Imagine that…

I eventually stopped half-way and just asked him “how was it”.

“You look a bit nervous…”

*feeble smile* (You’re damn right…)

Because of the many corrections required, he suggested that I start afresh with a new style and stick to it. This does have the advantage of not requiring me to unlearn all my previous bad habits, plus it’s something new to learn, which is always nice in itself. And there it goes, my first lesson in Sun style tai ji.

I picked up the general form quite easily due to the similarities with the other styles. One thing which required a bit of adjustment is the leg movement. It features quite a mobile base. I’m sure I will write more about this in time.

After all the “hard work”, we started chatting. I asked him about his training previously. It was 3 hours in the morning, 3 hours at night. Mental note - I’m not doing enough, not even close! I asked him about standing poles vs form training. He trained mostly in forms. He said standing poles are good, but don’t do too long. It gives a good root, but may lead you to having “dead weight”, i.e. the feet may become accustom to one posture and will not be as nimble. He told me to focus on doing the form, and making sure each movement is well rooted. That’s as much as I can remember from the lesson.

It feels good to be part of a class again. Gets me focused on training and won’t stray too far off from getting the basics correct rather than cultivating another set of bad habits.