Teaching Tips For Teachers (Also Valuable For Students) (August 2014)

From the booklet “Teaching Tips For Teachers”, excerpted and available for free download from Good Karma Publishing () and in print form for a small fee from the New Mexico T’ai Chi Chih Center (taichichihassociation.org).

~ The Movements And Their Keys (or, what to look for) ~

Daughter on the Mountain Top is a great favorite. It should be explained that we start “low” because we are going “high.” Again, the movement is done mostly with the wrists, not very far from the chest (we do not extend way out so that it is the arms that are moving). After the two hands cross and start to come down, the fingers still point upward until the last minute, when we begin the next swing. Some students have the tendency, when the hands cross, to then point the fingers down and to make arrows of the hands. This is not correct. As the hands come down the wrists are still cocked and the fingers point upward as the elbows swing out slightly to the sides.

When doing this “Daughter” on the right side (right foot forward), the student may ask why the right hand still crosses in front of the left, as it did when the left foot was forward. The proper answer is, “Yes, the right hand crosses outside the left, which is closer to the body.” This does not answer the question. There is no end to such “why” questions, and the teacher would be wise not to try to explain. Again, remember that the benefits come from the doing, not the discussing.

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Daughter in the Valley begins “high” because we are going “low.” Some students mistakenly bring their hands up the side,

waiting almost to the top of the arc to bring them together . This negates the important polarity of the two hands rising close together, the palms facing each other . This latter way is correct. Many students begin to move their weight back, toward the rear leg, before the two hands reach the top of the arc. Actually, the weight continues shifting forward until the top of the arc is reached; then, as the hands swing out to the side, the weight begins to settle back. Teachers should watch to see that the weight does not begin to switch back until the hands swing out to the side, and the teachers might well check their own form to see if they are doing it properly.

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Carry the Ball to the Side is one of the more complicated movements, though not difficult. First of all, it is done primarily with the wrists, not the arms. Since this is the first movement that uses the T’ai Chi sideways step, the teacher should demonstrate this step before teaching the movement. The foot snakes out to the side, toes pointed out, and the knee bends slightly. The foot then comes down on the heel (not flat on the foot), with the foot quickly flattening out. Don’t let the student get in the habit of just falling to the side. After each sideways step, as the hands come to the side in the “rest” position, be sure the knees are slightly bent. All through the series of movements it is necessary to make sure the student bends the knees and does not do “stiff-leg” T’ai Chi Chih.

Only when the student has learned the entire movement should the matter of emphasis be taught. As we move to the left, the emphasis is on the right hand, but, as we bring the hands over the top and back to the right, there is no emphasis. It is important to understand this. After we have done the three steps to the left and begin to move back to the right, the emphasis is naturally on the left hand, as described above. Do not forget to teach this emphasis and change of emphasis; it is an important part of the movement.

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In doing “Push Pull” we do not push straight ahead. The hands dip slightly–not way down, as some do–then come up again as we near the end of the forward push. Thus, from the side, the

movement looks like this and not like this .

It is important to explain that, with the left foot forward, we emphasize the right hand as we push forward (but remember, there is no emphasis when we pull back). It is 60% right hand, 40% left hand. When the right foot is forward, naturally it is 60% left hand, 40% right hand. But remember, not as we pull back, when there is no emphasis.