Do you have what it takes?

A student may decide that they can be an instructor.
This sounds reasonable.
However, can a student assess this for themselves?

It is like a person deciding that they want to climb a mountain.
Have they researched the criteria?
Do they meet with the necessary fitness standards?
Is their skill level adequate?
Can they be trusted to do what they are required to do?

You may think that you are good enough...
So what?
You are not an instructor.
You have not climbed the mountain.
From your perspective you cannot even see how high the mountain is or understand what is involved.

Only the most arrogant person decides for themselves that they are instructor calibre.

Your instructor will assess whether or not you are fit to be a teacher.
It is not for you to decide.

What qualities does your instructor seek?
You need to be:

1. Caring
2. Reliable
3. Earnest
4. Genuine
5. Punctual
6. Motivated
7. Committed
8. Trustworthy
9. Friendly and personable
10. Interested in other people

Beyond this, you need to have actual talent.
You cannot be lazy, indifferent or emotionally unbalanced.

There are 5 levels of Tai Chi Instructor in the UK these days:

1. Health-only Tai Chi Teacher
   - 5 years experience
   - these are the majority
   
2. Tai Chi Chuan Instructor
   - equivalent of 3rd dan black belt in any martial art
   - 5 years experience
   - these people are less common
   
3. Tai Chi Expert
   - 15 years experience
   - 10,000 hours tai chi chuan practice
   - 10 years teaching experience
   - fewer to be found
   
4. Tai Chi Master
   - 25 years experience
   - 30,000 hours tai chi chuan practice
   - 20 years teaching experience
   - pretty rare
   
5. Tai Chi Grandmaster
   - extremely rare

Peter Southwood has graded Sifu Waller as being a Tai Chi Master based upon his practice quality and experience.

Plan your walk such that you have plenty of time to wander, to drift, to explore.
Find avenues that are away from the bustle and the noise. Places of quiet and calm. Relish the solitude, the integrity of being alone yet united with all things. Feel your place in the world. Enjoy the easy rhythm of your stride.
Let your body loosen as you walk. Feel the ground. Be whole

Expert students must move from a connection/leverage-based structural framework/use of the body onto an energy-based functionality.
This is a big step.
Li is easy, jing is not.
In order to facilitate vibration and effective reeling the student must:

1. Internalise
2. Free the joints
3. Stop stretching
4. Rely upon soft tissues
5. Reduce the frame size
6. Use a far smaller circle
7. Express sung and folding
8. Make the stances smaller and higher
9. Arcs and circles are largely replaced by spirals
10. Bring the hands closer to the body and not as far away

The delivery mechanism becomes less overt, more subtle.
The outcome/effect is quite different.
Fa jing is possible.

Form without application literally has no meaning.
After all, a sequence without purpose is merely a pattern, a dance.
This is not kung fu.

Only when a student can apply each and every movement of the form are they truly performing the form meaningfully.
Until then, it is merely an empty form.

After some months of questioning and reflecting on the true nature of internal martial arts I was recently, along with a number of Sifu Waller’s students, given an energetic and skilful introduction to the world of baguazhang. My first reaction was it’s everything I thought it would be, and clearly so much more.

 To be on the receiving end of an application of bagua from Sifu is to be permanently cured of any lingering doubts as to its effectiveness as a profound martial skill. I certainly harboured those doubts coming as I do from a background of predominantly external martial arts. (Where’s the flamboyant stances, where’s the crack of the gi as you snap out a gyakuzuki???) But as I gingerly picked myself up off the floor after a particularly enlightening application from Sifu those doubts have died away like the echo of a scream from someone on the receiving end of ‘cavity press.’

 As a general rule when Sifu remarks ‘Hey, this will make you laugh!’ I have come to understand a particularly vigorous application is approaching! It is in these applications that I am beginning to recognise firstly the skill and depth of Sifu’s learning, and secondly how my own learning skills and experience are woefully inadequate to the task of learning bagua and tai chi.

 It’s certainly sobering when after all those years of training, facing Sifu I feel about as effective as an old lady throwing marshmallows.

 Sifu is constantly stressing relaxation. As I was reflecting on this it occurred to me that watching Sifu perform bagua is for me like trying to read a book without my reading glasses. Once I learn to relax everything will become a little clearer.

 I feel very grateful to Sifu for an introduction to a form of martial arts that as I understand it is not that widely available to western students in its authentic form. And, as Sifu recently pointed out bagua is part of the black belt syllabus, I feel he has generously presented us with a wonderful opportunity.

 It is also I suspect in my own case something of a double-edged sword. As part of the Mc generation I am as guilty as anyone of wanting everything now, and being very demanding in terms of my own needs, of looking straight to the highest teaching and grasping after it. It’s interesting to reflect after the introduction that this is clearly the opposite approach that is required by a martial art like bagua, and then it follows that an introduction to bagua at this time may simply be utterly beyond our capabilities. As Adam Hsu says in his book, The Sword Polishers Record, ‘kung fu literally means time and hard work, there are no shortcuts.’

 Certainly bagua cannot be seen, as perhaps it could be argued some other aspects of martial arts are, as simply another medal to pin on the chest of ego.

 For those of us who’ve been involved in martial arts for some time, and have some experience of Chinese arts and teachers, I feel we can be confident that with Sifu we have stumbled upon a treasure trove of authentic Chinese martial arts. It’s tremendously exciting as the lineage and history is abundantly clear in his approach. It struck me, the first time I saw Sifu demonstrate it, that 5000 years of Chinese culture and history is somehow woven into the lethal beauty of bagua.

 Having reconciled myself many years ago to an understanding that I have no flair for Chinese martial arts, in fact I am hopelessly inadequate and uncoordinated, I must confess to feeling a little intimidated by the skill required to approach tai chi and bagua. A friend, an excellent choi lee fut practitioner, once remarked as I struggled through a set from shaolin long fist that ‘ you look like my father disco dancing at my wedding.’ I can’t help feeling that Sifu’s generosity and skill may be utterly wasted on me and I should put all my energy in learning to be an expert at falling well! Right now that would be a profound achievement.

 (Graham)

External tai chi classes often place their emphasis upon form practice.
How the form looks is more important than any internal concerns.
This is essentially performance art.

These external forms are practiced with tension.
There is little or no understanding of the martial nature of tai chi chuan and no ability to use the art in realistic self defence.
When pressed, exponents resort to brute force and muscular tension.
And this is not tai chi chuan.

In order to promote health, the People's Republic of China created new, simplified forms of tai chi.
Lacking neigong and the martial component - they could be learned quickly and easily.

Many of these forms combine elements from Chen, Yang and Sun style tai chi chuan, but the forms are not martial.

The new forms were designed as performance art and are popular in competitions and exhibitions e.g. Peking 24 step.

Most tai chi chuan classes are not really teaching tai chi chuan.
They offer a health-only syllabus aimed at the non-martial student.
The combat curriculum (chuan) is missing.
Only a small fraction of the art is being taught. Over 90% of the material has been omitted.

In truth, such a class is teaching tai chi-style exercise.
It is not tai chi chuan.

Tai chi chuan is a martial art. A style of kung fu.
There is a world of difference between tai chi chuan and tai chi-style exercise.

Relaxation is not the same as rest. 

Rest means stopping, and doing nothing.
Watching TV does not qualify as rest.

Taken literally, rest means either lying on the ground and undertaking 'constructive rest', or actually going to bed and getting some sleep.

 It is quite common for students to neglect their fluid intake.
 Dehydration is very bad for you.

 Ideally, you should be drinking well over a litre of water during a training session.
 If you do not drink this much in class, be sure to re-hydrate when you get home.

In order to escape from danger,
one need only take the line of least resistance,
just as liquid spills from a vessel over the lowest point of its rim.
Concentrate only on escaping.

(I Ching)

TV, food, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, caffeine - these do not free you. They are addictive and harmful.
They are distractions. They dull our minds and use up our time.
Instead of living, we waste our lives 'killing time'.

People attend football matches and jeer as people race up and down the field.
Others are glued to reality TV shows.
Distractions come in all forms.

Some distractions can seem to be more academic or even spiritual:

1. Reading 'intelligent' newspapers
2. Gossiping
3. Politics
4. Further education
5. The news/current events
6. Religion
7. New Age interests: crystals, auras, chanting...

These may be further illusions, more convincing deceptions... Who can say? 

It is difficult to learn both tai chi and bagua - but absolutely worth the effort!! With time, I expect to be able to fully differentiate one art from the other without having to think about it and also not mix them up in practice. They are both so completely different, one teaching to yield, empty the centre and act - the other teaching to move your centre and act. Baguazhang is sneaky, like moving in a shadow. Tai chi teaches to yield to the incoming force as a tactic.

 It can be a lot to take in at times, however, when you 'get it', the feeling is fantastic. Applying an application on an opponent correctly is both exciting and surprising. The effect from so little work and being relaxed [or trying to be relaxed] is incredible. It is absolutely worth it, but it obviously requires more practice than learning one art alone. Reading, relaxing and practice are the key elements to be able to learn both in my opinion.
 
 (Barnaby Baron)

Does everything need to have a function? 

Humanity is obsessed with being productive. 
We fill our living spaces with junk, and then work harder and harder to acquire more and more.
But why? What is it all in aid of? Do we need all this stuff? Why are we doing this?

A functional life may sound fulfilling and useful, but it also sounds mechanical. 
Where is the fun, the pleasure, the creative spirit?
Do you explore who you are? Or what you want from life?

Becoming an instructor takes a lot of time: literally years...
You need to be closely guided by a skilled and knowledgeable instructor.
It is easy to mistakes.

Your instructor will set you many tasks to determine your attitude.
Laziness is your worst enemy.

An instructor works far harder than a student.
If you lack the motivation to do what is necessary, you would make a very shabby instructor.