Week 4 Manual

Form: Grasp Birds Tail - tell the name and that we are doing the Right ward off, the Roll Back and Press.

Demo: that "ward off" is any upward motion in Tai chi, Demo on roll back.

Philosophy: "Stacking the Paper"- The value of each Tai chi session or practise is minimal. The benefits of each practice is small, and little difference if you practise or you don't.. Its benefit is paper thin. However, just like stacking the papers together, after some time, the benefits are substantial.

Assignment: Practise the form - 3 days out of the coming week.

Further understanding:
Q: Why do we move so slowly in Tai chi? It's very boring to me.
A: We move slowly in Tai chi, and it appears to bore you. Its not that the Tai chi steps and postures are boring. No, that's not it. You need to understand the nature of your mind.

Your mind loves to travel, and wander, and hates to stay still. Where does it wander to? Everywhere. More accurately, it wanders into the future - and day run day dreams; and it wanders into the Past - going over what had already transpired, and perhaps changing a senario or two. It goes over and worries over the one hundred and one maddening things that you have to do, in order to survive, and in order to be happy.

Your mind resists the Now. It wants to run away from the Present. Now, when we do Tai chi slowly, we are training the mind to focus on the incremental movements, the millimeter-by-millimeter movements; in our thouroghly relaxed way. The Tai chi game is that we do not move abruptly and quickly from the start of a movement to the end of a movement. No, we are interested in the journey of the hand (or waist or foot) as it moves from the start to the end of a posture. We are not concerned with just the destination of the hand.

The Tai chi postures are upright, hence the body is in harmony and perfectly poised.

What happens when you witness and are keenly aware of each and every part of our body movement described? Your mind is still, and you experience quiet, and stillness, and peace. This is the calming effect of being aware.

Tai Chi Format - Manual Week#3

Tai chi week 3

Intention of the classess: [Repeat to the class
] :To achieve measurable results in the area of learning the form, manage your stress, and to have fun (and not to be afraid to make mistakes or to "look bad"). That way you learn better and easier. Its better: Don't be strsssful, be playful.

Test: Ask the students for the 10 basic points for Physical alighment.

Form:
Revise previous classes
New addistion: Left ward off -> Grasp bird's tail (ward off).

Here, with this new movements, you may have to break it up -> do the feet fisrts, and later, do the hands movements.

Philosophy: Assure you that its ok that some of you are finding it difficult to rememeber all these new steps, little twists here, and turns there. Its the beginning, its week #3. You are learning everything new - the Tai chi vocabulary, the movements, the posture requirements, and that's ok it seems difficult and alot to learn. This is not the same rate you will learn as the weeks progress, your learning will be much faster- exponential, because you'd have climbed the learning curve.

Week 1 & 2 of Tai chi class

Week 1
About Tai chi

• Put in - Fun / Playfulness
• Myths 1 - softness/ formlessness
• 10 points of physical requirements

The Forms

1. Suspend the head
2. Tuck in the chin
3. Tail bone tuck in
4. tongue on palate
5. sink shoulders
6. sink elbows
7. hollow the chest
8. movements are led by the waist
9. differentiate the yin from the yang
10. knee over the toe

Forms Postrures

• Raise hands - 6
• Shift and to hold ball

History of Tai chi
Inspired From Tao, Change, yin yang, soft overcoming the hard (water v rocks; concentrated water vs rocks)
---------------------------
Week 2
Forms
Repeat steps of previous week and corrections
Add - Left ward off

About Tai chi
Your story
Why move slowly - not to make it hard for the students. Their minds don't see the "in-between movements" (in meditation its the Gap), only see the end postures.

Demonstrate being attentive to every milimmiter of movement. Enjoying the Being Present. Being in the NOw- "the Present" the gift.

Tai chi Intensive course for advanced students

Sylabus

A) Special Students Coaching Program
i) Acomplished Students of Non-Tai chi Styles (eg Wing Chun, Shaolin etc).

ii) Acomplished Students of Other Tai chi Styles (eg. Chen, Yang etc)

Structure: Intensive course of either:
18 day x 1 hr
9 days x 2 hr
6 days x 3 hr

Include Theories, Principles and Forms and Demos.

Fees: RM 2,800

Other courses : www.wellnessBiochi.com/taichi