I am slowly aware of how different kind of teaching suits different people, now that I’m experimenting with my own students. However, the method that my current teacher is using, may not suit most people. I guess the first thing that comes to mind is – is he even teaching anything?!!
I’m still doing Sun style. I don’t think I’m trying to perfect it, but more of trying to feel the qualitative difference between whole body movement and “broken” movements. I am more or less been left alone trying to “feel” it. It’s different from what previous teachers do. Some try to bombard you with the hoard of knowledge they have. Some doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Some will correct every little bits to the nth degree. And now, no correction at all.
I’m not saying which one is best. I think the best teaching is that which suits me at this time. Sometimes, I wish he corrects me more, but sometimes, I think this is actually the kind of teaching I need at this point, because I already know the correction, just need to internalise the message into my body. So less is definitely more now. I’m struggling to break the barrier of “feeling it”. If you’re at a lost of what i’m trying to say, don’t worry, that makes 2 of us. I somehow feel that the breakthrough is just round the corner, and yet, it’s proving to be as elusive as ever.
I think my teacher realises this, and he tries to tease out this feeling through push hands as well as the form. We’ll see where will this take us.
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For me, the only way I could reallly *feel* the correction was to receive the correction multiple times and have it drilled into my body. Personally, I prefer the hands-on approach in terms of teaching and corrections. Instead of explaining, show me…
What if he doesn’t explain nor show? For info, he does show briefly of how he does it and mentions that I lack that kind of quality – which i soon realise is the connectedness throughout the whole form from start to finish. Still leave me to discover on my own. Would you prefer to discover on your own or be shown over and over again? Maybe the answer lies somewhere in between…
For me, I have to be shown first. Then I try it. What works for me is a teacher who can imitate my mistakes. Once I see what I’m doing wrong, the light bulb goes off, and I tend not to repeat that error again.
I have a feeling that there is a limit on how much can be shown for tai chi. The form is easily shown, but the internal thing, the internal quality, it’s not something that can be copied wholesale. The movement is different for a different body structure, but the internal environment needs to be the same, which has to be felt on your own to achieve that “aha” moment.
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