Different kinds of teaching

I am slowly aware of how different kind of teaching suits different people, now that I'm experimenting with my own students. However, the method that my current teacher is using, may not suit most people. I guess the first thing that comes to mind is - is he even teaching anything?!!

I'm still doing Sun style. I don't think I'm trying to perfect it, but more of trying to feel the qualitative difference between whole body movement and "broken" movements. I am more or less been left alone trying to "feel" it. It's different from what previous teachers do. Some try to bombard you with the hoard of knowledge they have. Some doesn't know what they're talking about. Some will correct every little bits to the nth degree. And now, no correction at all.

I'm not saying which one is best. I think the best teaching is that which suits me at this time. Sometimes, I wish he corrects me more, but sometimes, I think this is actually the kind of teaching I need at this point, because I already know the correction, just need to internalise the message into my body. So less is definitely more now. I'm struggling to break the barrier of "feeling it". If you're at a lost of what i'm trying to say, don't worry, that makes 2 of us. I somehow feel that the breakthrough is just round the corner, and yet, it's proving to be as elusive as ever.

I think my teacher realises this, and he tries to tease out this feeling through push hands as well as the form. We'll see where will this take us.

A compassionate teacher always loses

Compassion has a bad name in the competitive world. It means losing. It means you're not up to standard. It means you're not promoted. It means you don't know how to play the game. But sometimes, in order to learn, a teacher has to show you what not to learn. And that is when he needs to "lose" to show you the way. Sadly, such teachings are only effective if the student is ready to learn. If the student is out to "win" the teacher, the loss is more than what the teacher is giving up, the loss is the lesson itself.

To put this into context, I first noticed this in a tai ji push hands class. The thing about push hands is that the more muscle you use, the harder you fall. Then I saw my teacher resisting the temptation to let that happen, but allow the student to continue to push him around, so that the student can learn and not just "push and be done".

I don't know about him, but I would think it must be boring for the teacher to continue to let the student push around and yet choose not to fight back. And yet, my current teacher is doing it over and over again. This is sometimes a more worthwhile lesson than push hands itself - compassion to teach.

My current teacher said that he has fused his life with Tai Ji's teachings. This is probably one of the fusions. If only more students realise what a gift the teacher has been presenting. Maybe you might notice this in one of your class one day. :)

My third teaching session - only one student!

My third teaching session - only one student. I must be really boring my students! When my teacher commented about a student who didn't turn up, he made a comment which I didn't fully appreciate at the time. He said:

"for students who can't turn up, they should actually tell me in advance out of courtesy..."

For my students who didn't turn up, I actually had to ask if they were coming, just to realise only one could make it that day.

I wonder if it's because the classes are free and hence less appreciated than paid-for classes. My initial thought was to make them pay at least a little bit so that they have a financial stake in the class. And I was planning to donate the proceeds away just as an added incentive for turning up for classes.

I voted against it to see if any students will turn up in the first place. Will see how this goes. But somehow, learning Tai Ji IS boring, until you get the "joy" of it. While performing just to show them the full form, someone commented on how I was "enjoying" it. He had a hard time describing what he saw.

I guess it's a compliment in a sense, although to the trained eye, I'm probably still quite some way off! The more important point is, how to make a Tai Chi class more interesting. Some people like being shown the applications, some like the fact that they're learning something, some like the social aspect of it, some treat it as a form of dance choreography - once you get the movements, you have learnt Tai Chi.

For starters, I guess I have to cater to all tastes, just to get them through the "door". If you have any other suggestions on how to make a class more interesting, please suggest away!

A student becomes a teacher

After becoming a student for years, a few friends asked me to teach Tai Ji. I rejected profusely, citing some lame excuses e.g. not ready, not good enough, do not want to mislead etc. Of course, being friends, they have the normal comeback for each of my excuses. I think the fact that I'm not charging for the class gives a strong incentive for them to try out Tai Chi for the first time!

I did think about why I didn't want to teach in the first place. Those reasons cited were actually true. And yet, something is nagging at the back of my mind about each of these reasons.

1. I don't feel I'm ready to teach.

Then it hit me that I will never be ready. Or to phrase it differently, I can never be ready as I am ready now. There will always be excuses down the line that will make me feel that I'm not ready - the timing is not right, I don't have time, I'm tired etc. It sounds very much like the top 10 excuses for not training!

2. I don't feel I'm good enough.

Also, I will never be good enough. There will always be someone better than me, but the question is, am I good enough for them?

3. I didn't want to mislead them

I didn't want to mislead them, the way I saw some of the teachers misled me! But without those misleading twists in my Tai Ji path, I wouldn't have been able to distinguish the good from the bad. So in a way, meeting these teachers did help. Somehow, the dots are joining.

So...

The student hence became a teacher, to all 3 students in the first lesson. :D They did try to rope in some other friends, but no one were as keen as them, yet. Maybe after the first class, more will turn up, and better still, none will turn up! Will see how this goes. Watch this space!

Strategies

Pregnant woman on the train, should I get up and free my seat for her? The thing is, I wasn't sure if she's pregnant or not. It might be a very embarassing moment for both of us! Then the guy beside me just got up and left without saying a word or signalling that the seat is for her. He was actually standing up because his stop was here. But it is an interesting strategy nevertheless! It doesn't offend her and allow the "pregnant" woman to make her choice. Fantastic!

Teaching tai ji requires a similar strategy. Instead of saying you are wrong, the teacher said, I prefer it if it's done like this. I'm not planning to teach (not anytime soon anyway!) but it's interesting to observe how a teacher teaches, to see what kind of strategy he goes about to make the student understand. It's always the "win-win" strategy (like the above pregnant woman strategy) that always wins - do not strike at the ego, and yet allow the person to make his/her own choice.

Have you seen any examples of such strategies in your class (be it tai ji or otherwise) or in life? Please share it here!