Creating a Positive Teaching Program

As teachers, we have the responsibility to realize that everything we say in class will be absorbed, both positive and negative. These things that we all absorb and store away in our memories, I call our “program”. Our individual programs are collections of images, both verbal and visual, which comprise our relationship to something—in this case T’ai Chi Chih.

I feel a positive program is essential to get the students to continue practicing after class, without the teacher. I insist from the beginning that “I am not going to do your T’ai Chi Chih for you.” The sooner students seize their moving as truly theirs, the sooner T’ai Chi Chih will be a part of their lives. The moment they acknowledge T’ai Chi movement as theirs, they have begun to create their program.

My message is this: everything you say in class should be a positive image of what T’ai Chi Chih is, of its essence, of posture, of the way we move in TCC, of feeling “Joy thru Movement.”

If everything that is said in class is an affirmation of what you do, then the students will have a clear memory of how to move and they will have a positive recall of the class experience.

What I am saying is, “Don’t say don’t, and never say never.” Please notice the effects of using such words as don’t, won’t, shouldn’t, isn’t, never, can’t, and not. Notice where these words settle with you. When you teach, use words that describe the results you want: “Make the movements soft and continuous,” rather than putting across the image that you don’t want: “Don’t use force; don’t jerk or stop and start.”

The following is a collection of messages from my own teaching which I have thought about and changed so that the images I present are as positive as possible. Please read through them and listen to the images contained in each. Each message consists of two ways of saying the same thing. Every message you say has an impact on your students. As you read, notice how you feel about the choice of words in each. How would a student react to or remember the instruction?

Make sure you don’t bounce. / In TCC we maintain a low stance, staying at one level.

Don’t rise up as you shift your weight. / Notice how we maintain this even level as we shift our weight back and forth.

TCC is not a dance. / TCC is a series of movement patterns that we perform in one continuous motion.

Our breathing is not hurried. / Our breathing is natural and gentle.

You won’t sweat in TCC, but you will lose weight. / The Chi dries up any excess fluid in our body bringing us to our ideal weight. For some it will add and for others dry up fluids.

You won’t feel exhausted, tired or achy. / TCC brings us energy. It is refreshing and rejuvenating.

You don’t have a physical here, a mental here, an emotional over here and a spiritual here; you are not separate pieces of sensitivities and a physical body. You don’t work in pieces, you work as a whole. / The physical, emotional, mental and spiritual are all connected. Like pearls on a string, you are one whole working being.

If you are stressed out—relax. / Let the events of the day just drift away as you allow peacefulness to fill that space.

The form doesn’t take months to learn or to receive the benefits, you will get them soon. / From the very first moment you begin moving the form will be teaching you. Instantly, your body is learning a new expression, your mind a new discipline, your spirit a new way.

Stop worrying about what comes next. / Give your attention to the movement you are participating in this moment. Trust your inner mind to do the right thing in the coming movements as it is doing in this movement.

Make sure your posture isn’t slouched over and that your back isn’t crooked. / We maintain a comfortable posture, with a straight spine and our pelvis tucked forward.

Don’t pause or break the movement. / Movement is continuous, even, flowing…

No jerks or rigid motions. / One continuous, circular, soft…

This is the last one. / We will have one more on this side, or bring all motion to stillness.

Our hands are not tight and our wrists must stay loose and not stiff. / Allow your hands and wrists to be open and delicate, like the wings of a butterfly.

Don’t say Yinggg and Yaaaang. / The correct way to say Yin and Yang is…

The next movements we are going to learn are the Taffys. They are much harder than the other movements but don’t worry, you’ll get through them. / The next movements are the Taffys. You will find these movements to be a bit sticky at first, so let’s have fun with them. (Or if that’s too tacky for your taste, how about,) there is a trick to pulling taffy; imagine long strands of sticky stuff that stick to your fingers as you move to the side.

I’ve worked hard for years to make my movements soft and flowing, so don’t worry if you feel awkward at first. / Moving the TCC way is simple if we let our movements be gentle and flowing.

We don’t do T’ai Chi, it does us. / Allow the T’ai Chi to do T’ai Chi.

– Christeen Niama Rae Sproehnle
Olympic Valley, CA