Whether it is a leaf or a branch that falls upon the surface of a lake, the water yields. The water does not ask if the leaf is too insignificant to yield to, it just yields. Whether the leaf or the branch, it yields neither too much nor too little, only that which is required.
A carpenter uses tools to build a house. Not all carpenters are equal, not all hammers are equal. Many craftsmen use tools differently, to different results, some superbly, some less efficiently.
Martial arts are tools to be wielded by craftsmen. Do not judge the quality of a wrench that someone is using as a hammer.
When you think of nature, you conjure images of lush green fields, deer and bunnies frolicking by the edge of a clear stream. That’s only the pretty side of nature. The other side of nature contains the fire that burns the fields, the wolves that kill the deer and the drought that dries the stream. As humans, we alone have the ability to navigate nature with conscious will, deciding which elements to embrace and which to bend to our needs. Nature demands that we strive out of necessity, but as we reduce the effort of our needs, we reduce our incentive to strive. Nothing persuades the hunt so much as hunger. Your body doesn’t know it lives in the 21st century. As far as your body is concerned you live in a cave battling saber-toothed cats between exhaustive trips to the forest, foraging and hunting. The primitive part of the brain jealously guards its resources and takes the opportunity to rest whenever possible conserving those resources until the need to exert ourselves arises. Unfortunately in today’s world that leads us to sitting too long on the couch and foraging means walking to the fridge and hunting is a trip to the store.
Just as we must recognize the duality of nature, we must recognize that same dual nature within ourselves, and maintain that balance. Just as the fire is seen as a negative, it destroys and renews the forest, hunger is seen as a negative but forces us to our feet, inspires us to strive and creates the effort which restores the body and the mind.
Accept all of nature.
When you drive past a park and you see people moving in synchronized, slow motion exercises, yes, they are doing Tai Chi. But is that really what Tai Chi is? Central to Tai Chi is a concept, a principle, an undeniable truth, and that is change. According to traditional Chinese mythology, FuXi, the mythical first emperor of “China” received the trigrams from a dragon horse (or sometimes a tortoise). The trigrams contain the ideas of Yin and Yang which are so prevalent in Asian culture. This became the basis for the I Ching, one of the oldest written texts in human history and it is all about the natural cycles of change.
When you are walking and you feel yourself slipping and adjust your body so you don’t fall, you used the concept of tai chi. When you catch a ball, and your hand moves back with the force of the ball, you used tai chi. When you see car coming at you and you move out of the way you used tai chi. So unless you stand still and intentionally let things hit you, you are using tai chi. The question is: to what degree are you using it.
Anyone who knows me will attest that one of my flaws is that I do not accept compliments very well. I do not look for attention or praise and it makes me a bit uncomfortable, however I received a review written eloquently by one of our members, and I felt I should share it. She is an inspiration to others in the class, with fearless determination, not satisfied with just practicing the movements of the form, she regularly engages in applications with some strong, and in some cases, intimidating looking men in the class. Hopefully to inspire others in something that may help them achieve a higher quality of life.
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I am a senior lady and I want to share my story about Tai Chi.
I took ballroom dancing lessons for over 20 years competing in local, regional, and international competitions. It was a great social opportunity and I met many people. I had to stop due to health reasons and family obligations. I told my instructor I would be back, but that didn’t happen. Dancing was a passion for me; it was a part of my life that was missing.
About 5 years ago I read a fiction novel where one of the main characters, a senior lady, practiced Tai Chi. Then I started hearing more about it. Finally, 2 ½ years ago I googled Tai Chi for my zip code and numerous websites came up. I started reading them all, but one really caught my attention: Andrew Masterson’s school in Westville, NJ. I got the courage to send an email and within a week I found myself attending my first lesson.
Now after 2 ½ years of studying and practicing Tai Chi, I have a new passion that has replaced the passion I had for dancing. When I started, I had limited tolerance for standing and walking, Fibromyalgia, and Arthritis. Within 6 months my walking improved and I could be on my feet for hours. I saw great improvement in my agility and balance.
Then 6 months later when I was taking great enjoyment in Tai Chi, I fractured my foot. Following that, over the next year and a half, I tore tendons in the same foot, sprained ligaments in my knees, and developed an irregular heart rhythm. How does all of this tie in with Tai Chi you may ask?
In both foot injuries the doctor wanted me to have surgery and I kept refusing. Sifu Andy guided me in feeling the healing flow of chi opening my joints and increasing blood flow. I was having physical therapy and shared with my therapist the things I was doing with Tai Chi. Fortunately, she also studied Tai Chi and discharged me in only a few weeks saying there was nothing she could do for me that Tai Chi couldn’t. I fully recovered from both injuries and did not need surgery.
As for my irregular heart rhythm, Tai Chi helps me focus on relaxation and being in harmony with myself. It helps maintain a normal heart beat and my blood pressure can drop 20 points after an hour session.
In addition to all of the health benefits of Tai Chi, and I have only mentioned a few, it has improved my life in so many ways. There is no stress of competition as with dancing, but within myself a deep satisfaction of a sense of wholeness and accomplishment and enjoyment.
Yes, Tai Chi has replaced dancing as my passion. Sifu Andy brings out the best in his students. He is patient and offers gentle guidance in the understanding of movement and form. I look forward to every session whether private or group.
Oh yes, one more thing I must share. I am one of 2 women who study Tai Chi with Sifu Andy, and about 99% of the group sessions I attend, I am the only female. It was very intimidating the first time, but as I got to know the guys I felt accepted and respected. We each come from different walks of life, but one thing we all have in common is our passion for Tai Chi. I recommend Tai Chi for anyone, but most all for seniors where you’ll discover an exhilarating and satisfying new pastime, and as a bonus, better health.
Dorothy Groves
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Thank you Dorothy for your very kind words. It is enormously rewarding to be able to offer something that can have such a positive impact.
I started learning Tai Chi in about 1988. My teacher had talked about how relaxing it was, and being 20 years old, with two parents dying from cancer, working full time, and going to college full time I was a little overwhelmed. Needless to say, it worked wonders on my stress levels. For many years we practiced much like most Tai Chi students do, until my Sifu started training with Master Ting, only then did we start to glimpse how much we didn’t know. In 2005 my teacher passed the school onto me, and I started training with Master Ting myself and I was greatly intimidated. Not by him, for you will not meet a more humble, approachable and sincere man. I was awe struck by the depth and complexity of the art. I saw the differences between our practice and that of what we used to do and I asked him, “how do you tell someone they are doing it wrong?” He chuckled and said, “well first of all, you do not say they do wrong, you say we do differently.” It is a very gracious way to phrase it but the Tai Chi Classics go back to about 1200, 1600 and 1800 AD, with specific guidelines in the publications.
When I first started teaching in 1998, I had no idea how much I didn’t know, but I was moved by the stories of people who said how much it had helped them, and how much better they felt. Later I realized that they were experiencing such results and I wasn’t even doing it correctly, so they must feel much better if they did it right.
In the years since I have had many opportunities to help people with various conditions and afflictions. The list goes includes arthritis, fibromyalgia, disk issues, migraines, chronic knee, back and neck pain. Perhaps the most profound effect that practice has is teaching the ability to relax, which does wonders for the nervous system. Secondly is low impact exercise, but more importantly, correctly positioning the body so the joints work according to their design. This surprises people when you show them there is more than one way to bend a joint. It is a difficult process, teaching the body a new way of movement after a lifetime of incorrect use, but in this way the space between joints open instead of closing and grinding against itself. Some of our greatest success stories come from a 70 year old nurse who could not stand more than 20 minutes due to fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, now she does four hour tai chi workshops and has hiked in New Zealand. We have a 69 year old man who is competing in his first obstacle course race next month. Bob, a 66 year old man scoliosis, and three ruptured disks, yet moves with the grace and power of a man half his age. There are many other examples, but they all go back to the same root, which is understanding the correct way to move, position and unify the body movements. The effects will ripple through your life in all your activities. It is truly a great way to not only stay active, but opens a door to things that seem past us. Just do your homework and make sure where you are learning from is emphasizing the foundation laid out so well in the Tai Chi Classics.
A new video has been making the rounds featuring an MMA fighter beating the crap out of a Tai Chi practitioner. I will not make any excuses, I will not resort to silly arguments like the Tai Chi guy held back, in fact, he lost spectacularly. What I will do is offer some observational analysis. First and foremost, styles do not fight, people do. It is up to the person to apply the principles of their system effectively, and clearly not everyone does this. It is all too common to see “traditional” martial artists being decimated by MMA fighters, and as a result, we tend to lump these examples into categories that seem to define traditional martial arts as outdated and useless. So lets examine this notion.
How does something become a tradition? It must contribute something effectively. When discussing this idea in terms of martial arts, a fighting system had to be effective, during some of the bloodiest periods of human history. Consider the fact that grappling goes back to the 7th century BC in Greece with Pankration and 1,000 BC in China during the Zhao Dynasty where we see examples of Shuai Jiao. China is the oldest, continuous civilization in the world with thousands of years of record keeping and oral traditions, from a culture that has given the world many of its most impressive inventions. To assume these fighting systems did not test themselves against grappling and striking arts seems highly illogical. So why, in this modern age, do they seem so ineffective? It is not the tradition, it is the dogma. It is the allegiance to style, and lineage, or nationality. I have been studying martial arts for over three decades and I have seen the flavor of the month rise and fall like the tides. I am not a champion, I am not in any hall of fame. I am a student; one who studies. In fact, my greatest contribution is that none of this ever came easy to me, I was never the best in the class, the most impressive; the one in the spotlight. So I had to learn why it worked for some but not me. And over the years I have had the opportunity to work with people of many different styles. I have seen boxers get inside and dominate against taekwondo, but lose to wrestlers, I have seen wing chun neutralize boxers but get kicked in the head by a lightning fast TKD roundhouse kick, and I have seen grapplers rocked by a solid right cross as they attempted to shoot in. Most importantly, I saw the need to try and solve the problem within the principles of each system.
I am going to say something very unpopular, but undeniably accurate. Most people who study martial arts will never be very good. It is a combination of the student (lack of effort, lack of study, lack of physical ability, or lack of intelligence.), it could be the instructor, who may be an excellent practitioner but not a good communicator, not good at analysis, or diagnosis, or it may be the system getting too bogged down in dogma, point fighting or self promotion. Regardless, it is the responsibility of the student to oversee their own progress and to do so in a realistic manner. You need to recognize that you do not live in a bubble, where you only work with those doing the same thing. Make connections with people of other styles that are genuinely willing to exchange ideas and not just trying to inflate their own ego. As my master has written, “invest in loss, thank your opponent for showing you a weakness, then correct it”.
Now I would like to specifically address the use of Tai Chi in the video. What are the principles of Tai Chi? To use correct positioning of the body to divert energy and off balance your opponent. To this end we practice “push hands” to increase our awareness and sensitivity. In order to do this you need to make contact with your opponent, and adhere softly. In the video in question, did the Tai Chi practitioner engage in contact? Adhere to his opponent? Maintain correct posture so he could flow better? No, none of these criteria were met. In other words, it was like a boxer not punching, a taekwondo fighter not kicking, or a Brazilian Juijitsu fighter not grappling. Tai Chi is supposed to be the use of small circular movement to generate torque to diffuse and neutralize energy. In short, it is the study of physics within the context of the human body. The principles are sound, but only if one utilizes them.
One last note, yes, Qi, Chi, or Ki is a real thing. It is bio-electrical energy, that when flowing balances the well being. It is the vibe you get from certain people, the feeling that you are being watched across a room before you notice the old friend who has seen you after many years. It is what we experience daily, yet dismiss as coincidence. What it is not, is a force field, a magical, telekinetic power that turns you into Yoda. Martial arts is the scientific study of the body, not magic. Use the Force at Star Wars parties, but not against knuckles.
When someone yells at you its easy to see them as an adversary. When someone wears the face of a friend, its much harder to recognize the malice. The enemy is inside you, telling you the couch is comfortable, the work can be done tomorrow, the cookies taste delicious. Turn and face that whisper and shout back at it. Refuse to take the easy route. Just treat it like a shout and take that first step. Make that voice cower back in the shadows of your heart, knowing it will surely attack again tomorrow. But now you can focus on today.
Congratulations! You have realized you aren’t as young as you were but you have decided you aren’t ready to give up. So what’s next?
See a doctor and make sure your body can do this.Then, don’t try to do what you used to do 25 years ago, start small, embarrassingly small. One push up, or one push up on your knees. Go for a walk. Join a gym, and work small. The most important bit of advice I can give is to not be controlled by your ego. The ego will lead you down the path of trying to be 25 again and get you hurt, which leads to continued immobility. Take up golf, tai chi, yoga, and don’t be swayed by others who don’t recognize these as legitimate forms of exercise, worthy of their effort. I have had many athletes attempt tai chi, only to discover it was much harder than most things they ever attempted.
Be the best version of you possible. I have a friend who just joined Crossfit at 60 years old, and another who is doing his first obstacle course race at 69 years. There will be plenty of time to sit still when you’re dead.
Change And The Aging Athlete
It happens slowly, without much fanfare, and we largely ignore it. It starts in the late 20’s and we chalk it up to not having time to work out, but our performance drops. Family, career, and comfort push exercise from the forefront to some forgotten fashion statement from the 80’s like shoulder pads and popped collars, but in our minds we tell ourselves we haven’t slipped that much. Until you try to move like you used to and come face to face with the hard, brutal reality: You’re getting old.
This is the moment of truth, the time where you decide if you are content basking in your glory days or deciding to wring as much life as possible out of this existence. If you choose the former, it means taking the Blue Pill, deluding yourself that time has not passed, that it doesn’t matter, that you have in no way diminished. It is accepting a false view of reality. If you choose the latter, taking the Red Pill, it means accepting the truth. You have slipped a long way and starting back up is going to be a slower process than you believe, the things like push ups and pull ups that you took for granted are going to seem daunting, the shedding of extra pounds is going to seem excruciatingly, frustratingly slow. Perhaps the hardest of all is the realization that you will probably never regain those past levels of speed and strength. In other words, your body, your muscles, your joints, even your mind, have changed. This is your moment of truth; do you sit back on the couch or do you tackle the challenge and become the best you can be? Not the 25 year old version of you, that’s over, but rather a better, smarter, seasoned version.
We see it every day, young guys at work moving at 90 miles per hour, boundless energy and impressive production, yet they turn and look, with a puzzled expression, at the seasoned veteran who has his work done, and has exerted himself less. Once, that veteran was the youthful powerhouse but grew into the wizened tradesman. He accepted change; rather than continuing the same thing, the same way, year after year, he adapted.
The reality of the Red Pill is that getting off the couch and starting up that hill is going to be hard work. Probably much harder than you had to work when you were younger. You may not be able to do the same activities as you used to, and that finding new activities is not a cop-out, it’s a transition. It’s an act of courage, stepping out of your comfort zone, putting aside youthful arrogance, and looking into things that once seemed beneath you and your young, athletic incarnation. Moving from an attitude of striving to attain peaks of achievement, to one of longevity.
The truth is that you and your body have changed. It doesn’t mean you’re less, it doesn’t mean you’re over “THE” hill, it means you’ve passed over many hills and have more to conquer. Change is inevitable, so embrace it, accept it, adapt to it and use it to get off the couch and take the challenge.
Swallow the Red Pill.
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