Continuing Education

I recently attended an afternoon workshop with Dr. Janet Oussaty, who offered inspirational ways to teach T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) to beginning students. Janet takes a gentle and humble approach when imparting wisdom in a clear and engaging manner. She is a master teacher who pointed out that “education” comes from the Latin educere which is “to lead out or to draw forth.”

Janet began with quotations: “There is within you That Which Knows and that is your teacher…” (from Justin Stone’s 1992 conference talk on Prajna) and “Remind students that ‘T’ai Chi Chih will teach T’ai Chi Chih.’ This helps them focus on the intuitive knowledge which comes from doing the movements… Help them develop habits based upon the feeling of the movements rather than specific checkpoints or details.” (Ed Altman, The Vital Force, December 1994)

The second point Janet offered was feelin‘ groovy as a way to experience movements through sensual imagery. For instance, standing with softened knees and arms relaxed at their sides, students might imagine standing waist-deep in warm ocean water with gentle waves softly washing in and out. As we experimented, our bodies began to sway slightly forward and back. This can provide a foundation for forward and backward movements and focusing on feeling.

To provide an idea of what energy feels like, students might hold an energy ball between their hands, expanding and lessening the distance between their hands to feel the sensation. Once completed, it’s a perfect time to demonstrate Base Drum without instruction.

The third point was that analysis can lead to paralysis. Keep things simple and do not provide too much information initially. Allow new students to watch a demonstration, then provide a little instruction while demonstrating, and then offer an invitation, “Now let’s do it together.”

The fourth point was ot a cue? — offer a prompt to help students understand the essence or principle of the movement. If we think of ocean waves when teaching Rocking Motion, the waves move us forward and back. As we move forward the weight moves more heavily to the balls of our feet; as the wave brings us back, our weight moves to our heels. The wrists rise up on the wave as we move forward, cresting, then gently moving down as the wave recedes.

The fifth point was p the down staircase: spiral development of learning. In teaching a practice such as TCC, learning does not progress like steps of stairs. In math we might learn addition/subtraction, take a test, then move up to the next tier. In TCC, we learn through the practice of movements and small, easy-to-digest instructions. Then we go more in-depth, circling back to the beginning, feeling how the addition of new movements has changed the practice and the feeling.