Teacher has questions about the TCC movements for Ed Altman

. . . I’ve just read the new teachers’ manual and am especially taken with the addition of the “comments on chih”— intuitive knowledge! That has been my experience but I’ve never seen anything in print about it…ahhhhh…

It occurs to me that another good addition to the manual might be the idea of giving students a map of where they will be going in the next eight weeks by demonstrating that eight of the 19 movements use the same front to back motion, one bent leg and one straight leg… and that six of the movements use the same side to side movement — again, one bent leg and one straight leg… (Six Healing Sounds actually uses both)… This one change in my teaching seems to have made it possible for students to make a quantum leap in their ability to learn the form… I introduce the idea almost immediately in the first lesson as part of my introductory lecture… It seems to help them relax — and relaxed students learn faster!

Working with the ideas given me in teachers’ renewal and training, a question arises. I was left with the idea that there is not so much up and down movement in the taffies, but rather it’s preferable to sink down and stay down all the way through? Now I “git down and stay down” in the last wrist circle and my step to the side in Wrist Circle Variation — and teach it that way… but if I try to stay down all the way through all the Taffies, the chi seems to resist and say uh uh, nope, no way! Plus I think students would have a problem keeping their knees bent so much for so long… So am I laboring here under a false impression — that isn’t what you meant after all?

Also, when my weight shifts onto the back leg, I feel it move through the sole of my foot into the heel — yet I thought I heard you say that the weight rests on the whole foot… Experimenting with this I find that tucking my bottom a bit achieves more of a uniform pressure on the sole of the foot rather than just the heel — and also improves my alignment… interesting! I used to tuck and somewhere along the line I let that go… Tucking gives me more stability… aha! The question remains, though — weight flowing into heel or maintaining it along the entire sole of foot?

I’ve made a list of the principles and want to run it by you — am I leaving anything out or putting anything in that wouldn’t be considered a principle? 1) alignment 2) stance 3) weight shift (yinning and yanging) 4) scanning for tension 5) flowing softly with continuity 6) swimming through heavy air 7) effort of no effort 8) loose pelvis and soft knees 9) concentration in soles of the feet 10) top of body light, hollow…

Any feedback you give me will be greatly appreciated!

Love,

– Beverly [McFarland]