Know Your Stuff

Hayward, CA

What does it take to be a good teacher? Humor? Intuitiveness? Patience? Fairness? Ability to assess quickly? There are more qualities that come to mind and you may feel that not all of these are necessary. What I do feel is necessary and one of the most important factors of being a good teacher is to know your material inside and out.

I remember a very satisfying moment in my teaching life. I had been teaching four or five years. One night after class a student asked a question and we had a small discussion. About an hour later it hit me: “Where did that come from?” I realized what I said to her came from me and my understanding, in my own words. Up to that point I had been regurgitating information learned from others, from their understanding and experience.

Often a deeper understanding of T’ai Chi Chih does not come from changing our movements but noticing what we are doing from a different view. Practicing with feeling, practicing with awareness, not emotional or intellectual awareness but feeling awareness. Being aware of all parts of a movement and how movements blend together to create the pattern as we move. And, while the focus should remain on the soles of the feet or the tan t’ien, there should be an alertness to the whole.

T’ai Chi Chih is almost like a living, breathing practice. Not that it changes and grows and evolves, but those who practice it find their practice changes and evolves and grows with renewed understanding. It is alive in us. It is a practice that can continue to challenge us to go deeper, to find those subtle nuances that open up a whole new view of our practice. After 24 years of doing T’ai Chi Chih, I am still learning about T’ai Chi Chih and me. I relish those continuing moments of discovery. But it is not done by going on automatic each time I do my practice and it is not done by dissecting my practice each time. There are times for learning, questioning and working on our practice and there are times to let go and flow effortlessly. Balance in all things.