Creating a Curriculum

During the introduction of my beginning T’ai Chi Chih class, I always make sure that I tell the students about the sequence of classes available to them: Beginning, Intermediate, and Seijaku. This way, they know that it isn’t enough for them to just learn the mechanics of T’ai Chi Chih, that is, where to put hands and feet; but that T’ai Chi Chih is so much more, being as it affects the whole person: body, mind, and spirit. It is always good to keep in mind what Justin says, “The chi is affecting you, but you are also affecting the chi.” Therefore, the more we know about ‘chi’ the better. Our very being is being impacted, so is our future.

In the Beginning class, students learn that there is such a thing called ‘chi’ and that the movements of T’ai Chi Chih, 19 movements and one pose, help us to learn more about it. To that end, not only do we teach them a little bit about the history, being clear to mention the originator, Justin Stone, but also mention that this is not an ancient discipline, since it was created in 1974. Usually when I say this several people in the class are surprised as they have heard about T’ai Chi Ch’uan, and know that it is over 900 years old. However, since they have not studied T’ai Chi Chih they do not know that there is a difference. It is important that the student knows the basis of T’ai Chi Chih which is the use of the ancient principles yin and yang. It is also important that we stress, as it says on the front cover of our text, that this is not a martial art. This sets the tone of the class. Our intention is not to teach them to fight and defend themselves, but rather to learn about themselves, the flow of the chi, and how it affects us. It follows then that how to move, from the t’an t’ien, flowing, soft, and continuous is all important.

The Intermediate class can be a repeat of the Beginning T’ai Chi Chih class; however, many students will find this to be boring, as if the teacher believes that they didn’t learn anything in the first class. We remember to keep stressing that in the first class, it was important to learn where to put hands and feet and to flow from the t’an t’ien. However, in this class what Justin says, “practice, practice, practice is all important.” To this end practice is approached from the nine principles that Ed talks about at Teachers’ Training.

Here then is a breakdown of what I do in each Intermediate class.

The first class is a full practice. This gives the teacher the opportunity to assess where the students are and to make general points that will be emphasized over and over.

The second class works with the movements Rocking Motion to Basic Pulling Taffy, stressing circularity, continuity, and yinning/yanging. I also encourage the students to begin learning to count the movements using their fingers. This helps in several ways, two of them are: it allows the student not to have to engage the mind to concentrate on the number of repetitions done, but rather to allow the experience of the chi to be felt, and it also acts as a double check that the chi is flowing all the way to the ends of the finger tips, rather than being caught in tense wrists and hands.

The third class works on the movements Variation 1 of Pulling Taffy (Anchor) to Cosmic Consciousness, emphasizing movement in the waist, looseness of the upper body, and continuity. Part of the discussion focuses on yin and yang. The meaning of it philosophically and how we actually see it in our movements. Note that one of the key reasons why T’ai Chi Chih is so powerful is because of the yin time spent at the close of each movement, the time when we allow the yin and yang energies to flow back together.

The fourth class works on the movements Rocking Motion to Daughter in the Valley. Now, even more so, the student is encouraged to feel the chi as it moves from the bottoms of the feet through the body and then is formed as the arms and hands make the shape of the movement. This is done for the next two classes also. The students are also encouraged to look around and see where they see the movements of T’ai Chi Chih happening in their daily lives. Examples of this are: seeing someone at the grocery store holding on to the shopping cart and unconsciously doing a forward yinning and yanging, or a mother rocking her baby and doing a sideways yinning and yanging.

The fifth class works on the movements Carry the Ball to the Side to Third Variation of Pulling Taffy (Perpetual Motion). Besides feeling the flow of the chi, more work is done on learning the Taffies. Stop action is done on all the Taffies so that the students become very clear on where the movement starts and where it finishes. Helping the students become very comfortable with the Taffies is one of the biggest parts of the Intermediate Class. The students are now beginning to recognize that T’ai Chi Chih is happening not only during their practice but is, and always has been, an integral part of their day. Which is why I say, T’ai Chi Chih is so natural to us.

The sixth class works on the movements Working the Pulley to Cosmic Consciousness Pose. We continue working on feeling the flow of the chi in each movement. Again we continue using the principles taught to us at Teachers Training by Ed.

The seventh class is a review of all the movements. The students are encouraged to note what benefits they are experiencing from the movements.

The eighth class is a full review of the movements again. During the discussion portion, the students are encouraged to talk about the benefits they have noted. Later they are told about Seijaku and encouraged to go on, if they are ready, stressing that doing T’ai Chi Chih well is very important to learning Seijaku. Seijaku is by invitation only. Most of the students will be ready.

This is a skeleton model of how I do my Intermediate class. Noel has asked all of us to share our ideas in the Vital Force. I look forward to reading about things you do in your Intermediate class.