Today’s blog is from BSP NOVA member, Jeremy Brown. Not only does Jeremy bring a consistently sarcastic tone to most Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9am sessions, but he also teaches a tai chi class, right here at BSP NOVA, every Saturday at 11am.
Our entire staff did a demo class with him quite a few months back, and we thought it would be a perfect addition to complement our strength & conditioning offerings.
Jeremy will be contributing to the BSP NOVA blog every month, and today mark his first one!
“Tai chi is supposed to reduce my stress, not add to it!”
When I first started tai chi in 2002 it was because my kung fu instructor told me that I needed to work on my balance and coordination, as in I needed some.
I showed up the next weekend for my first class. The instructor was a former member of Nepal’s national kung fu team. After a group warm-up the instructor pulled me aside to begin teaching me as the other members of the class started going through their drills and forms together.
I stood and let her manipulate my back, shoulders, head, and knees to put me in the proper posture and then when satisfied she turned to me and said, “Now we will begin. Raise your left heel and step out to shoulder distance.”
As I began to lift my left heel I heard, “No! Start over.” She demonstrated the movement again, “Like this, not like this. Again.” The next half hour was a humbling experience in how I was incapable of taking a step sideways correctly.
This was my introduction to tai chi. This was my beginning. Since then I have taught over ten years worth of introductory classes. What I have noticed over the years is that where any of these people started had very little to do with how they progressed and how far they progressed in their training.
What seemed to make the difference was how they viewed their training and how they dealt with any frustration that might arise. At some point in your training, whether it is at the beginning or further along, a movement or series of movements will come along that will just make your brain stop and go,
“Wait, what? I see what you’re doing and it makes sense but for whatever reason my body refuses to cooperate.”
The metaphor often used to describe learning a martial art is that it is similar to learning a new language. The most frustrating part is learning is the basics; this is how you walk, this is how your arms move, this is how you breath, and this how you put it all together. It can at times be overwhelming. But, eventually there comes a point, and most of us will be unaware of it, when the thing we struggled with in the beginning begins to become normal. They are no long the things we focus on, there are bigger things to worry about. Stepping to the side no longer brings, “Like this, not like that. Again.” It will may be while you’re working on some movement or while you’re going through a form but the thought will bubble up from nowhere,
“Hey, you remember when we used to have to think about this? Victory! I can now step to the side without correction!”
Tai chi, as with so many other things in life, is a series of small victories. Yesterday I was not able to do a single movement, but today…today I can not only do the entire form, but I’m going to start learning a new one. When the movement you are learning today becomes so frustrating that you start see a coach from Nepal shaking her head in dismay and saying,
“Like this, not like that! Again,”
remember that it will not always be like this. Soon, you will have progressed on and at some point in the future a thought will bubble up from nowhere and declare victory over it.
