I’m currently reading a biography on Maria Montessori - an educator among other roles. When she teaches kids, one of the features of her method is to let them learn through their senses first, before labeling what their senses tell them. For instance, the children will learn to listen as they explore the different pitch of each bells (one of her education tools). It’s only later that the teacher will start labeling for the children, to tell them that this note is Do, Re, Mi etc.

She believes in stimulating the children’s senses first, rather than forcing an adult version of the interpretation of those senses, like long/short, loud/soft, far/near etc.

In a way, I’m also adopting the “action, then label” method when learning Tai Chi. I used to want to know each and every name of each movement, each posture. It’s only recently that I didn’t even bother learning those names anymore. It forces me to just see the action of the teacher, rather than saying “oh, that’s single whip” and then I’ll just have my own version of single whip.

I guess we have been conditioned to want to label things, almost too eager to put them in words so that we don’t lose it or forget it. It is easier, and I’m doing it all the time, by writing down my thoughts. It’s a good way to reflect but it’s not a good way to learn. You don’t learn music from learning to read the notes. Similarly, you don’t learn Tai Chi from learning the words. For music, it’s listen first. For Tai Ji, it’s observe first.

p/s: Picture courtesy from Fatima