What makes a good Tai Chi teacher?
A traditional Chinese saying: “It is better to spend 3 years looking for a good teacher than to study 3 years with an incompetent teacher.”- Preferably good lineage. Only a proficient teacher has a better chance of producing good students but good lineage is no guarantee that the instructor has learned the ‘correct technique’ from his teacher. Very often the instructor must show respect, sincerity and love to his teacher and demonstrate that he is of good character before his teacher will show him the correct technique. The relationship between the instructor and his teacher has great influence on what his teacher will teach him.
- The instructor must train very hard himself so that the Tai Chi principles can be expressed in his movement, internally and externally.
- The instructor must not be selfish and be willing to share his knowledge with his students (of course the students must earn it first).
- The instructor must be able to explain and demonstrate the principles and movements to his students.
- The instructor must teach hard, i.e., be willing to spend time in correcting individual movements of his students and be serious about his teaching.
Why tai chi standards have gone downhill until recently
There are many reasons why tai chi standards have lowered every year. Some of these trace back to generations ago and some were during the last few decades.
Tai chi principles are very complex. It is the combination of Yin Yang principles, Chinese medical theories, ‘tuna’ (breathing techniques), ‘Dao-yin’ (mind control), and various essences of Chinese martial arts.
For many generations, there were very few writings to explain the truth about Tai chi. Most writings added confusion to the followers because it was written in abstract, ambiguous and mysterious language. It was also Chinese tradition that good martial techniques were only passed down from father to son, within the family or only to a few ‘closed-door’ disciples and thus outsiders had nowhere to learn the essence. This hindered the progress of the art. In ancient China, martial art teachers would hide certain advanced techniques from their students to prevent the students from betraying or challenging them later.
For the past 3 or 4 decades, Tai Chi was popularised only as a health art and was deliberately ‘softened’ to suit the general public. The majority who joined Tai Chi classes were sick, weak and elderly people. Even in Asian countries, when someone was joining a Tai Chi class, the first question on everyone’s mind was: “Is he not well?” With all those students who were physically disadvantaged as ‘student-base’ for the past few decades, how could standards be elevated?
Because Tai Chi was promoted as a “health art”, many students just learned the form for a few years and felt that they were qualified to be teachers.
These ‘new’ teachers did not even know the principles, body mechanics, six harmonies and energy (chi) movements, etc, before they began to teach and thus their students could not benefit from the complete training of Tai Chi. Many classes did not teach basic movements or the foundations. As in the Chinese saying, “Lian chuan pu lian kung, dao lao yi chang khong.” It means, “Practicing martial arts without practicing the basics, it will be empty till you age.”
Since communists took over China in 1949, the Chinese government has tried to raise the health standards of the Chinese people, hopefully to reduce medical expenses. They created a simple form in the 50s and called it the ‘Beijing 24 Official set’. That simple Tai Chi set was to encourage ‘quantity of practitioners’ and not ‘quality of the art’. People who learn that form alone can never have real ‘kung fu’. After more than 50 years, recently the Chinese detailed the harm and flaw of this official set. Unfortunately it has spread all over the world.
For the past 2 decades, in order to internationalise Tai Chi, the Chinese government created many competition sets which were the combination of aerobics and gymnastics with dance-like graceful movements. This completely destroyed the essence of Tai Chi. It also created misconceptions to the general public that Tai Chi is a ‘Chinese cultural dance’ and is despised by many martial artists. Those who learn these competition sets alone will never achieve high level ‘kung fu’ as stated by many great tai chi experts.
However the simplified form from China is not the simplest. Nowadays there are forms that have only 6 movements or 9 movements, etc. It is a real insult to the art of Tai Chi. Chen Wan-Ting and Yang Lu-Chan would be very sad to see the art being destroyed by the irresponsible ‘creators’ of all these simplified forms!
Every practitioner knows that in Tai Chi practice the ‘base’ is very important but nowadays there are new forms that you can do while sitting on a chair, table, or lying in bed. It is another ridiculous Tai Chi creation! How could standards not go downhill after all these unfavourable factors?
All Tai Chi forms are good for health and as my Sun style teacher told me: “Sun style Tai Chi is especially ideal for older people and people who suffer from joint pain (or arthritis) because of the nature of its footsteps.”
Yet there are so many new creations of forms. Some claim that certain forms are good for certain diseases (even going as far as naming the form after a disease), certain forms are good for young people, certain forms are good for old people, etc. is there any real proof in all these claims or have traditional styles and respect for generations of Masters been replaced by marketing and salesmanship? Some of them are so commercialised that you just have to attend a few days of workshop training and you will be a qualified Tai Chi instructor. We hope it is not like many drugs produced by those commercial drug companies who admit the side effects after a few years from being in the market.
It is fortunate that in recent times, proficient teachers such as Grand Master Chen Xiao-Wang and other instructors from the Chen village, Beijing, etc and many others from Yang, Wu, Woo, Sun and other styles are not selfish with their knowledge and tirelessly spread their art to the whole world. There are also many new generation practitioners that train very hard to improve the art and who are also scientific enough to apply the old methods or techniques to “modern ways” to suit the present social structures and environment. This may help to elevate Tai Chi standards in the future.
Chi Kung: Its development since 1955. True and false chi kung
Chi Kung has been practiced in China for a couple of thousand years. However it was not called Chi Kung until after 1955.
What is now known as Chi Kung encompasses many variations in the practicing methods, postures, breathing techniques and thoughts. The influence of religions and philosophy such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and also martial arts and Chinese medical theories also means that there are major differences between the many styles of Chi Kung. Before 1955 it was called Dao-yin, tu-na, lian-tan, choy-zen, etc.
The definition of ‘Chi Kung’ given by Liew Kui Ching was narrow in meaning and did not give a complete picture about what Chi Kung really was.
Chi Kung literally in Chinese means: ‘Breathing work’. It was because the Chi Kung that Liew learnt and taught was based on breathing only. He did not realise that the ‘breathing’ in the Chi Kung that he learnt was a technique that helped him to concentrate, thus leading to a relaxed and tranquil state. It is what Chinese say: “Using one’s thought to substitute millions of thoughts.”
At the opening ceremony of the China Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Institute in 1955, Liew was highly praised for his contribution to the well being of the public by the Chinese government. Chi Kung has become popular in China since then.
Chi Kung practice was quietened down from 1966 till 1976 due to the Cultural Revolution. Chi Kung revived again after the Cultural Revolution.
In the early 1980’s, suddenly there came a lot of Chi Kung experts. All of them claimed to have supernatural powers or abilities. They could perform stunts such as ‘using the ears to recognise writing’, ‘sending messages to their disciples thousands of miles away’, ‘predicting the future’, ‘extinguishing a mountain fire’, ‘alter the molecular state of water’, etc, etc.
Later, all these Chi Kung experts claimed they could emit ‘external chi’ and used that chi to cure patients of various illnesses. They also claimed that paralysed patients could walk again after chi treatment. At that time Chi Kung was a very hot topic in China. Many newspapers, magazines and even some hospitals and certain departments in certain universities did support their claims (without scientific proof). From then on, Chi Kung became an art of wonder. It was a ‘cure all’ exercise and technique! These types of false Chi Kung spread all over the world and were very misleading to people who genuinely wanted to learn Chi Kung for health.
A lot of the claims by false Chi Kung practitioners are not true. Eg, they may tell you that you will feel their ‘chi’ or you will feel your own ‘chi’ moving in the body, etc, etc. (this is done by verbal suggestion.) It is so easy to prove them wrong.
Some false Chi Kung practitioners claim that they can absorb chi (energy) from the universe. The problem is that no one can prove that they can do it and no one can prove that they cannot do it! As long as they have the guts to say that they can, no one dares to say that they cannot!
Some may say: “I personally ‘see’ the miracle!” but what you see can be deceiving. Eg, David Copperfield can make a plane on stage or the Statue of Liberty disappear in front of millions of viewers. Was that true? Was that Chi Kung?
No! It’s an illusion. It is the same with a magic show. Magic is not true but our eyes deceive us. Of course magic is not Chi Kung either.
Chi Kung is a self-help therapy. After learning the technique, practice diligently will help to strengthen the body systems and maintain good health. Quite often, it is the psychological effect on the physiological functions of the body. It is the adjustment of the mind, breath and body.
The most important adjustment is the adjustment of the mind. So far our brain is the most powerful ‘computer’. In a relaxed and tranquil state, it regulates the Yin and Yang of our body system and achieves a balance. The body system will function normally and we will be healthy. Adjustment of the breath is important and Chi Kung encourages deep diaphragm breathing.
Deep diaphragm breathing has the following advantages:
- Making the blood more oxygenated and thus the brain cells will be more active and alert and increase metabolic rates to create energy.
- Increase the effectiveness of the immune system enabling the body to fight bacteria and germs due to extra oxygen intake.
- Diaphragm movements up and down serve to massage internal organs.
- It seems to cool down our central nervous system.
Chi Kung practice can encourage relaxation of the mind. Certain movements such as those contained in Yin Yang Tai Chi Chi Kung can improve body coordination and exercise the joints and muscles. Beware of all those false Chi Kung practitioners who claim to emit ‘chi’ for curing any illnesses.
