Teaching Tips

Hayward, CA

When teaching, be aware of the words we use. New students are trying to process a lot of information at once. They are following our movements and responding to our words. They often don’t have time to think for themselves. So in forward and backward weight shift movements, for example, when we say “Do Bass Drum on the left side and then on the right side,” the words indicate that we go to the side. It would be more correct to say “Bass Drum, left foot forward” and “Bass Drum, right foot forward.”

Consider if we were teaching a blind person, how important it would be to use the most precise word to impart the idea.

For my continuing T’ai Chi Chih group (beyond beginners), we usually spend the first 15 minutes of class working on a movement or a principle and then reinforcing that lesson in our full practice together.

One lesson we worked on was paying attention to the top arm/hand in the Taffy movements. The students did Pulling Taffy several times. I then asked them which arm they were most aware of when doing the movement. One hundred percent said the underneath arm. We talked about the top arm and what direction it moved, how much, the angle, etc. We then did the movement with the attention focused on the top arm as it moved past the other arm, traveling downward, making sure to be aware of the palms passing.

I pointed out how the majority of the movement was going in one direction: stepping to the left, weight shift going left, hips turning to the left, left arm going left. It became obvious how important it was for the right arm/hand to move in a downward direction and ground the movement, balancing the majority of motion going the other direction. Often the downward moving arm floats out to the side too soft and empty. Be aware of that arm/hand and use it to balance the move. Let the arm/hand move downward as if the palm were drawing down to meet the earth.