Today, I sat with my Tai Chi teacher, watching other students perform their Tai Ji movements. I thought to myself… my god, I must look like that the last time! They are so stiff! I believe it’s only through push hands that I learn how stiff I really was. This is when I realise application of a theory is really important, although push hands is just a half-way house between real application and pure theory. These days, you won’t find many “real application”. You don’t fight anyone anymore. And I don’t intend to fight any time soon as well.
I’m not the fighting type. Maybe that is just a loser way of saying I can’t beat you with my fist, that’s why I learn Tai Chi. But my interpretation of Tai Chi has come to this. I believe the fighting arena has shifted from the physical to the mental. We no longer fight with our fists but fight with our mind. The winner is whoever has the stronger mind. The winner is the one who has a more flexible mind. It is no longer survival of the fittest body, but survival of the fittest mind.
I continued watching their movements and discuss this with my teacher. Even though I continue to exhibit their tendencies of being stiff, I could now have a visual interpretation of what being stiff means. This visual interpretation did not come easy though. It did not come by watching people. The interpretation came from actual experience. My body knows what it’s like to be stiff. I can recognize it now in other people, only because I went through the lens changing experience that is push hands.
I know a lot of people who do Tai Chi for health reasons. I know self defense is not in your agenda. Know this. They are not separate. As an excerpt of this book says…
The practice of Taijiquan, if one follows a complete curriculum, leads to martial skill and good health concurrently. Attempting to separate the two leads to something that is not balanced, and not Taijiquan.
It is like learning anything. You will only truly understand the thing when you apply it. I’m not asking you to go fight someone now as I believe our battle is no longer in the shape of who has the faster punch. Your body needs to assimilate a physical connection with your mind so that you are poised to fight the mind battle while using your body. Just as there is no difference between learning Tai Chi for health or for martial art, there is no difference in learning to control your mind and learning to control your body. Both learnings tap on the same need, to be better. Doing one would necessarily improve the other, but both learnings have to go hand in hand.
This has been a weird post for me, but it has been brewing for a while now. I believe it will continue to brew.
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