A Training Log |
Training at Home
Can you really learn T'ai Chi on your own at home from a book or a video?
To answer that, let's look at a story told by Cheng Man-ch'ing as translated by Mark Hennessy*. Professor Cheng tells of how he once taught a friend five T'ai Chi postures. When he again saw the same friend three years later, the friend demonstrated the entire Yang style long form and then asked for corrections. When asked who his teacher was, the friend replied "you." Using the personal instruction in those five postures, along with a book, the friend had taught himself the remaining postures and the entire long form sequence. That is quite an accomplishment considering that the Yang style of T'ai Chi teaches around 40 unique postures; and depending on the method of counting, the long form contains between 85 and 150 postures when the repetitions are included.
Notice a few key points from the story:
If you have realistic expectations, you'll find studying T'ai Chi at home rewarding. First of all, don't try to advance too far on your own before finding a teacher to guide you. This could begin through attending a seminar or public class. Many teachers will let you observe or try a class before enrolling; which gives you the opportunity to find the teacher and style that fits you best.
You can then alternate periods of hands-on instruction with self-study at home. This is especially helpful when learning forms, since memorizing the sequence of movements takes a long time. Spending time on your own memorizing these sequences allows your time with a teacher to be more beneficially spent working on the fine details of the art.
After a period of self-study, you should once again seek the guidance of a qualified teacher for hands-on correction. Eventually you'll need to go beyond the limited attention you can get in seminars or group classes. Private instruction is advisable once you've settled on a primary teacher and the two of you have a good working relationship as teacher-student. Personally, I've spent around 1/3 of my training time in private lessons and have studied privately with four different instructors.
Finally, after several years into the art an advanced practitioner can utilize video of themselves performing the form and administer self-correction. This is especially helpful for teachers or advanced students who are unable to routinely visit their teacher.
The true benefit of practicing T'ai Chi at home, however, remains in the exercise itself. Only when you are doing the form at your own pace, not at the pace of other students or the teacher, will you truly be relaxed and flowing enough for your body to return to its own natural rhythm and begin to heal itself from the inside out. Any feeling of relaxation enjoyed during a T'ai Chi class pales in comparison to the increased quality of life received after making T'ai Chi exercise part of a daily routine.
A final benefit of T'ai Chi self-study lies in the advancement possible through introspective thinking about the art. The cycle of questioning "why" and then discovering the answer on your own leads to this advancement and allows one to develop a personal approach to the art. As one advances in their T'ai Chi practice, the question and answer sessions become more profound and noticeable advances in the level of performance are possible in a short amount of time.