Chapter

5

Planning Ahead: Where and When to Practice T’ai Chi

In This Chapter

This chapter explains where and when to do T’ai Chi, as well as what to wear. As you read, you will discover that these questions not only are a matter of etiquette or convenience, but they can also affect the health benefits you get from T’ai Chi.

You also will discover the advantages of a large class versus private instruction and video/book instruction versus (or in addition to) live classes. You’ll also find tips on how to make time for whatever T’ai Chi program you choose.

Home Practice vs. Class Study

Although practicing at home by yourself on a regular basis is how you realize T’ai Chi’s maximum benefits, studying with a qualified instructor—in class or at home via video, if classes don’t work for you—is an essential part of the success of your home practice. No matter how many years you study T’ai Chi, you can still benefit from studying in classes. T’ai Chi, like life, is an endless growth process.

Most of us in the modern world want fast answers. We like to take classes or workshops and move on. And sometimes our educational motivation has more to do with getting our hands on a piece of paper that says we know something than with personally being changed by the knowledge.

Therefore, most people rush through a T’ai Chi course to learn a few moves and then think they’re done. Of course, you do get some benefit from any exposure to T’ai Chi. Things you learn on the first day can benefit the rest of your life. But why stop there? T’ai Chi can offer you a deep ocean of experience. After 30 years of T’ai Chi practice, I still study with my instructor and enjoy class, book, and video instruction by other teachers. And even though my very first class was beneficial and wonderful, I still find benefits that carry into my home practice in each and every new lesson. Also, as a teacher, I often get new insights into T’ai Chi by learning from other teachers’ classes, books, and videos, even those of different styles.

T’ai Chi provides lifelong benefits and should be practiced for the rest of our lives. However, this isn’t a marriage contract. Don’t feel smothered by this. Drop in and out of T’ai Chi as often as you like. T’ai Chi will always be patiently waiting for you when you come back, like a touchstone or a port in a storm. Eventually, you will do T’ai Chi simply because you feel pretty spectacular when you do.

Besides finding classes enjoyable, you will discover that T’ai Chi attracts interesting people, and the social aspect will draw you as well. I was among a handful of national T’ai Chi experts commissioned by the National Council on the Aging to create a T’ai Chi for Seniors Efficacy Guide for aging professionals seeking to begin T’ai Chi classes for their clients. All of the attending T’ai Chi experts agreed the “social aspect” of T’ai Chi was a very important benefit of the practice.

If self-confidence is an issue, you’ll find that most T’ai Chi classes are friendly and low key. However, you can also boost your confidence by learning T’ai Chi from a video program, to help you feel more comfortable beginning live T’ai Chi classes, even a different style.

The basics of T’ai Chi often transcend styles. Bottom line is this: do whatever it takes for you to enjoy T’ai Chi and QiGong!

SAGE SIFU SAYS

Making the Most of Learning T’ai Chi by Book

T’ai Chi books are great for helping you understand the philosophy, art, and science of T’ai Chi, and as supplements to classes, or video instruction if classes don’t work for you right now. However, a book cannot replace a live instructor or the other benefits of a class or the verbal/visuals of video lessons.

It’s difficult to explain body movements in books because books are dependent on still photographs. This book, however, includes a vast library of T’ai Chi and QiGong video exhibitions in the Web Support Video to provide you an unequaled, and profoundly deeper, T’ai Chi book experience. But, beyond reading this book, the ability to see an instructor move and to ask for clarification or hear other students’ questions is invaluable. Also, it’s easier for instructors to explain things in person in stages while you relax; when using a book, you have to remember facts because the instructor isn’t there to remind you.

But, again, this unique book’s voluminous Web Video Support will greatly enhance the book’s text and illustrated instruction with information that can benefit you no matter what style you study.

Making the Most of Video/DVD T’ai Chi

If you don’t have access to T’ai Chi classes or simply can’t work them into your life yet, a video or DVD is the next best way to learn. You can use books to supplement your understanding of what videos teach, too. Using books and videos together can help maximize the benefit of your T’ai Chi practice. As the videos teach visually and audibly, enabling your mind to relax, the books round out your intellectual understanding of the movements and exercises.

Consider that the average 8-week introductory T’ai Chi class entails at least 12 hours of instruction. The average T’ai Chi video is one hour. As you can see, it’s difficult for an instructor to explain a 2,000-year-old art and science that’s so rich in benefits in a one-hour video. However, some videos are done in multivolume, several-hour sets, which is the best way to go if you don’t have access to or time for live T’ai Chi classes yet. Don’t be intimidated by this. You won’t work out for hours, but you will use lesson segments of the DVD, progressing through the multi-hour instructional over a period of weeks or months.

DVDs’ video instruction can also be used in conjunction with a live class, enabling you to remember what you may have not noticed in class, or to help you practice more between classes. Some instructors have their own videos, or can refer you to one (See Appendix C on DVDs).

SAGE SIFU SAYS

Understanding TCM’s Horary Clock

TCM, or Traditional Chinese Medicine’s, acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, and T’ai Chi understand that the body has natural rhythms that align with certain organs and functions. You can actually use this “horary” (hourly) clock to treat problems. Each organ has certain hours, called peak hours, that are generally the best for treating that organ:

In Part 3, I introduce some QiGong exercises for specific organs. However, T’ai Chi can generally tonify all the aspects of the body and every organ. Therefore, T’ai Chi practice at a peak hour could provide a good therapy. Yet if your peak hour is in the middle of the night, you may prefer a Sitting or Lying QiGong exercise to focus Qi into the desired organ. The Sitting QiGong exercise in Part 3 gives you a great technique to use in peak hours. To clarify, you’ll find great benefit from T’ai Chi and QiGong practice even if you don’t observe the horary clock. Generally speaking, most instructors agree that morning is the optimum time for T’ai Chi practice.

KNOW YOUR CHINESE

Outdoor vs. Indoor Practice

The single most important thing about practicing T’ai Chi is that you actually do practice it. Where you practice is secondary. Don’t construe the following recommendation to do T’ai Chi outdoors to mean that you should not practice inside. If you can do T’ai Chi outdoors, do so. However, if you don’t feel comfortable doing it outside because of where you live or the weather, then by all means do it inside.

The Benefits of Practicing Outdoors

The purpose of T’ai Chi and other QiGong exercises is to promote the flow of Qi. Qi’s life energy flows through us and all living things. Therefore, the Chinese have always advocated performing T’ai Chi outdoors, where you can enjoy and benefit from the Qi of other living things. In fact, TCM teaches that when we do T’ai Chi, our relaxed body and mind benefit from nature’s healing energy even more.

Just being in nature has a soothing quality, so if T’ai Chi can magnify this benefit, all the better. German physician Dr. Franz Mesmer, from whom we get the word mesmerize, worked with patients suffering from psychotic episodes. Reportedly, Dr. Mesmer would instruct his patients to sit with their backs against a tree whenever they felt an episode coming on. His patients were said to benefit greatly from this “nature therapy.” As you practice T’ai Chi in your backyard, the park, or even next to the plants in your house, you may experience the benefits of this therapy for yourself.

Choosing a Surface to Practice On

T’ai Chi should be practiced on a level, predictable surface, especially when you are beginning. As you play over the years, you may experiment with more uneven and challenging surfaces. You can perform T’ai Chi on grass, sand, dirt, or pavement. It’s good to practice on varying types of surfaces because this gives your mind/body communication even more information for improving your balance.

Try to choose a flat area out of direct sunlight. Soft morning sunlight or evening light is all right, but do not practice in direct sunlight during the hot part of the day. You will discover that practicing T’ai Chi in different light is challenging as well. Doing T’ai Chi in the dimming light of sunset challenges you to use more internal and less external balance references.

SAGE SIFU SAYS

Practicing Indoors

The benefits of doing T’ai Chi indoors are pretty obvious if it’s freezing or smoldering hot, or the mosquito population is in full production. Although outdoors is optimum, you can experience the benefits of T’ai Chi anywhere and at any time. When you’re having a tough day at the office, it’s great to slip off to the restroom or the supply room to drift into a T’ai Chi getaway. If you practice T’ai Chi at home before work or in the evening, it’s often just more convenient to practice inside.

One problem students encounter indoors is space. As you move through your T’ai Chi repertoire, you often will cover more ground than your living room provides. If the next step takes you smack into a wall, just remember where you are, move back a couple steps, and pick up where you left off. Eventually, you won’t even think about it. T’ai Chi pours into your living room, just like it easily and naturally flows into your life. Just as T’ai Chi encourages an almost liquid relaxation of mind and body, its use and benefits can seem to pour into every nook and cranny of our lives with much benefit.

Last but not least, when you’re doing T’ai Chi indoors, minimize noise around you by turning off the TV and stereo. However, don’t let noises beyond your control be an issue. Noise is in the ear of the beholder.

Large Class vs. Private Class

Surprisingly, learning in a large class has several advantages over more expensive private lessons, although both have their own strengths, depending on your needs and budget.

The Pros and Cons of Large Classes

If an instructor is in great demand, his or her classes will inevitably be larger. Therefore, you will get less personal attention but will benefit from the quality of instruction. On the other hand, you might find instructors with smaller classes who can provide you with more personal instruction. Decide what your priorities are, and choose a class size that meets your needs.

You can learn very effectively in a large class setting. In fact, being in a large class has distinct advantages. As fellow classmates ask questions for clarification, you can benefit by their inquiries. Also, you will discover that T’ai Chi classes have a group energy. Just as plants emit life energy, so do other people, and as your classmates practice T’ai Chi, you can bask in the glow of their presence—and they in yours.

Usually, an accomplished T’ai Chi instructor will have numerous advanced students who will help as assistants. In a larger class, you can benefit from the expertise these students have to offer. Note that advanced students probably are less than perfect, but so is the instructor. You will learn T’ai Chi in layers, and the advanced students can give you a layer of instruction that the instructor can add to or polish over the months and years.

T’ai Chi or QiGong classes will benefit you even if you take them for a short time, providing you with tools you can use for the rest of your life. However, it’s best to take classes for a lifetime. It is fun, beneficial, and a great way to meet interesting people, so why not? Relax. Enjoy your classes as playtime. You have no deadline or rush to progress at a certain speed. If you practice for a few minutes every day, you will likely learn the forms quite easily. However, if you need to repeat the beginning class again—and again—that’s no problem.

OUCH!

If you’re in a large class, you may have to move around a bit to see what the instructor is doing. Move to wherever you need to be to see. T’ai Chi is very informal. Usually, in a very large class advanced students will position themselves in various locations so you can follow them if you cannot see the instructor clearly. If you’re not sure what’s being taught, raise your hand and ask for clarification. Don’t be shy about this. The best T’ai Chi classes are ones in which students interact and ask questions. The least productive classes are those in which the teacher does all the talking.

The Pros and Cons of Private Lessons

Very few people get private lessons. Part of the reason is that they can be very expensive. A good T’ai Chi instructor usually will begin at about $75 per hour and can go up significantly from there.

However, some people, such as emergency room physicians, have erratic, demanding schedules and are forced to take private lessons. This is a highly effective way to learn the T’ai Chi forms in a very short period of time, because the instructor’s entire focus is on you.

Private lessons can also be beneficial to those learning to be instructors, thereby enabling them to learn minute details and background on movements and their purpose.

T’AI SCI

How Often Should I Practice?

To maximize your T’ai Chi benefits, it’s best to spend about 20 minutes in the morning doing T’ai Chi or a Sitting QiGong meditation exercise. Then spend another 20 minutes in the evening doing whichever one you didn’t do in the morning.

Usually the first response to this suggestion is, “I don’t have an extra 40 minutes a day!” If that is your response, ask yourself the following questions:

For most of us, the answer to at least one of these questions is yes. If you look, you probably do have an extra 40 minutes a day. So the main difficulty in doing T’ai Chi isn’t really having the time, but deciding to do it. When we decide to do it, we find that we will make time. Beginning new life habits is one of the single-most difficult things people attempt. But T’ai Chi is worth it. Also, remember that if you practice T’ai Chi or QiGong two or three times a week for a few minutes, that’s much better than not doing it at all! Enjoy! Lighten up!

SAGE SIFU SAYS

T’ai Chi Is a Model for Easing Life Changes

T’ai Chi is new for you. You will find that it will take time to get used to doing it every day. Don’t punish or scold yourself when you forget. Just enjoy it when you do it. The following example will help you see just how difficult it is to change life habits so you can go easy on yourself as you begin to adapt to a new life with T’ai Chi:

A study of cardiac recovery patients shows just how difficult it is to change. Patients were given a choice of two therapies to follow after their heart attacks. The first was only to take medication and be released within days. Unfortunately, that first choice carried a prognosis of another possible major heart attack within a few months. The second choice involved staying in the hospital for a much longer period to learn stress-management techniques and new dietary changes, and it offered a much rosier forecast of the patients likely going several years before another coronary. Amazingly, nearly all the patients opted to leave immediately, even though it increased the likelihood of a premature death.

What is ironic about T’ai Chi is that even though it may be difficult to incorporate into your life at first, it will make all other healthful life changes much easier. T’ai Chi is a technology designed to help us change with less effort and stress. Therefore, the longer we practice T’ai Chi, the easier it is for us to change. So if you decide to go on a more healthful diet, or start getting out in nature more, the effort you make to learn T’ai Chi will make all those other efforts to change more effortless.

Let Go of Your Grip on Expectations or Results

Studies show that when we change for positive reasons, we are much more likely to change our habits. Therefore, rather than do T’ai Chi because your blood pressure is high or your stress levels are unbearable, do T’ai Chi because it feels good. Don’t rush through your T’ai Chi, but make it a little oasis in your busy day. Slow down enough to feel the pleasure of the movement and the stretches. Enjoy how good it feels to breathe deeply and let the whole body relax. This will condition you, day by day, to love the feeling T’ai Chi gives you, causing you to look forward to it and miss it when you don’t do it.

Make a Calendar

If you want help remembering to do T’ai Chi, create a T’ai Chi calendar and place it on your refrigerator door. Every time you do your T’ai Chi or QiGong, mark a big X on that day’s square. As you begin to get a few days in a row, you’ll want to keep that string going. You’ll also begin to notice that the more X’s you have on the calendar, the better you feel. Your awareness becomes more subtle and pleasant, which will help you make the transition from doing T’ai Chi for the calendar accomplishment to doing it for how it makes you feel.

OUCH!

The Value of T’ai Chi’s Social Aspect

T’ai Chi clubs are increasingly popular in the United States (and worldwide)—as they have been for centuries in China—because even though T’ai Chi is a terrific personal exercise and is thoroughly enjoyable alone, it can also be a terrific social event. T’ai Chi clubs offer a group energy that can heighten the pleasure T’ai Chi provides. When I was commissioned by the National Council on Aging to join a group of other top T’ai Chi experts from around the country to create an efficacy guide for T’ai Chi for aging population classes, we all agreed that the “social component” of getting together with your T’ai Chi group is a very beneficial aspect of T’ai Chi study.

T’ai Chi clubs also are very supportive and encourage T’ai Chi players to practice on their own. When we have a class or a club to get together with, we are much more likely to practice on our own at home. We want to improve our T’ai Chi so we can play more complex T’ai Chi games using mirror-image forms and other games involving several players. Continuing with a T’ai Chi class or club for the rest of your life is a great way to stick with T’ai Chi for the long haul. Social T’ai Chi is also terrific because T’ai Chi practice can extend your life substantially; if you outlive all your peers, you won’t be lonely because you’ll still have your T’ai Chi club to hang out with.