Teaching Tips For Teachers (Also Valuable For Students) (November 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) ~

Pulling in the Energy is simply “Around the Platter” upside down, with one important exception. The student visualizes great energy coming in to the finger tips (not the hands or full fingers) from the most distant star. This will greatly enhance the flow of energy. It is not necessary to explain about the different colored Pranas, etc. that the teacher has read about in the Teachers’ Training Manual. This move has great power. One time the writer and a top student performed this movement for a considerable time, and both felt a great stimulus in the heart, almost like a shock.

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Pulling Taffy, all four variations, may be the most difficult movement to teach, but that is often the teacher’s fault. It must first be stressed that the movement of the upturned hand is horizontal. Some students want to make a graceful dance movement out of the pull, gradually raising the upturned under–hand while bending both knees and turning sideways. This may be a graceful dance movement, but it certainly is not T’ai Chi Chih.

The upturned hand moves to the side, still upturned, after the two hands have crossed in the taffy pull. That move started with the upturned hand going to the opposite elbow past the top hand; from there the pull begins. Many start the movement with the two hands together, and this does not allow for the pull that ensues as the two hands cross each other.

As the hand pulls to the side, both feet remain flat on the ground. Many have the tendency to raise the back leg’s heel in a graceful gesture, but the back foot actually remains as flat as does the front foot. Teachers must check on this. Also, be sure the student does not shift the weight too quickly; the weight should shift in direct coordination with the pulling hand, and no faster.

The hand that has the palm turned down pulls to the side and slightly down so that it finishes alongside the back leg, palm turned down. Actually, this is the substantial hand in order to balance the Yang leg, the one that supports the weight at the end of the movement.

Once the student understands how the basic “Pulling Taffy” movement is performed, the three variations should be easy to learn.

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In the first variation, “Pulling Taffy, Variation #1, Anchor,” we turn the body to the right and step forward, but the back leg does not turn, so we are pigeon-toed. Then, when we come back to the starting position, the back leg is already in place for the basic pull to the side.

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Pulling Taffy, Variation #2, Wrist Circles finds us circling the wrists, two full turns and then a half turn, starting our sideways pull from the top of the circle. It is easy for students to rise on their toes for the first two circles, then to remain flat on the feet for the third half-twirl and the pull on the side, but the teacher must watch carefully to see that the students do remain flat on their feet the third time. As with all “Pulling Taffy” movements, look to see that the student does not make an exaggerated turn to the side with the head. Some students want to do a stiff-legged “Pulling Taffy,” compensating with the head and the hands, and this is incorrect.

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Pulling Taffy, Variation #3, Perpetual Motion may be a little difficult for the teacher to explain in words, and it will be much easier to teach it by demonstration. After the first pull to the side by the upturned hand, the opposing hand sweeps over to the other side, moving past the upturned hand, and then the two reverse roles. The key here lies in the turn of the waist, which sweeps the down-turned hand across, setting up the pull to the other side. Do not let the student rush any of the movements, and remind him or her to swim through heavy air. Keeping the knees bent all through the “Pulling Taffies” will make the movement look much better; a low “Pulling Taffy” gives a much better appearance.