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| 4 types of student | ||
| Written by Rachel | ||
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4 types of student
There are 4 types of student in your average tai chi class:
1. Attender
Most people in tai chi classes are 'attenders'. An attender is
somebody who joins a school and attends
weekly lessons. This
type of student comes to class most weeks but does no training at
home.
For them, tai chi class is a pleasant
evening out: a relaxing break from their
everyday stresses and an opportunity to
chill out in good company.
An oasis
Attenders enjoy the supportive atmosphere of trust and care they
experience in our tai chi training hall. It is a
safe place to be.
Our students interact with one another
in a healthy, friendly manner, free from the competitive norms found in
wider society.
There is no meanness or petty behaviour, no malice or
sarcasm.
Good humour, camaraderie, polite
manners, consideration, respect and fun
result in a pleasant training environment.
Compartmentalising
Attending class and working through the
syllabus are sometimes
mutually exclusive
matters.
Many people compartmentalise class.
They set aside Monday night for tai chi and have a great time but think no more
about the art
until next week.
This is not at all the same as
working through
the grades.
It is absurd to think you are going to get anywhere by
giving only an hour a week to your practice or that you can regularly skip
classes.
Martial arts is not like a bridge club, where you drop in when you
have nothing better to do. Martial arts will always make greater demands on
your time than would most hobbies or avocations.
(Dave Lowry)
2. Student
By definition, a tai chi student is engaged in 'studying' e.g.:
Lessons in class/explanations
Practice in class
Reading text books
Heavy repetition of basic elements every day at home
Revision
Working through the syllabus; moving continually onto unfamiliar material
Proof of progress
Regular feedback
Paying money for lessons does not
mean that you are
learning
tai chi. It means that you are paying for lessons.
And nothing more than that. What you choose to do with those
lessons is up to you...
Indeed, you may not be learning at all.
Learning is different from attending e.g.
an attender
will
never become a martial artist.
Learning is
active
A student of tai chi trains at home between classes and commits to a
daily regime. They complete
assignments with enthusiasm and attend
workshops frequently.
They embrace
adversity and hardship, passes
grades with regularity and are actively working
through the syllabus.
This type of student has chosen to treat tai chi as
a daily tonic and wants their
commitment to produce
a notable result. They are
above average in terms of commitment and attitude.
A commitment to wellbeing
A student of tai chi has made time in their life
for tai chi. Their body receives a daily
workout. They unkink those unpleasant aches and pains, stiff muscles and sore
joints.
Every day their body is gently, softly encouraged to move freely and comfortably.
More ambitious?
Some people want to get fit from their tai chi and
being fit entails a wide range of concerns e.g. increased
flexibility, suppleness, strength, cardiovascular fitness,
agility....
Getting in shape requires on-going, daily work.
Adopting the right attitude radically affects your
fitness.
You are far more likely to exercise, eat
properly, rest and organise your
time constructively.
By taking responsibility for your fitness, you
recognise what needs to be done and you
actually do it.
Mind power
A student must cultivate a
strong mental attitude. They need to be self-sufficient and rigorous.
The training is hard.
Nobody gains skill overnight.
To become competent at the art you must significantly change your
habits, lifestyle
and attitude.
Martial expectations
A student is thinking in terms of
decades.
They are aiming to train for a lifetime...
They train patiently every day.
Their expectations are realistic.
Neither lazy nor complacent, the student works
through the many challenges and obstacles, becoming
stronger, calmer and more
adept.
McDojo
mentality
Modern students often expect high-level skills
to emerge almost
immediately.
In any martial art this is
improbable.
For an
advanced
martial art it is certainly not
realistic.
Progress cannot happen overnight.
Your rate of progress is entirely contingent upon how much
time and
effort
you invest.
3. Indoor student
Some students are more earnest: they want to
learn the nuances,
extra
insights and skills.
They may want fast-track progress or martial skills sooner
rather than later.
They may want to explore a particular field of
interest in greater detail.
The determined
and exceptional individual considers tai chi to be a significant part of their
life. They have made a notable commitment and are willing to make
sacrifices.
They do not need to be told to work hard.
Indoor doesn't mean 'lineage'
People might imagine that we expect them to leap from 'student' status to
being someone like Sifu Waller. This is
implausible. Remember that Sifu
Waller was a 'lineage
student'...
Indoor status is mainly self-serving. Lineage is
not.
Fast-track
Not many people are cut out for lineage but most keen people are
capable of becoming an indoor student and would benefit from
that extra attention.
An indoor student wants to accelerate their progress
and gain further perspective on just how
amazing the art
can be.
They have a priority
shift; focussing more to a higher degree on what interests them.
Being an indoor student is about personal progress, not
lineage.
Ability begets ability
People who excel, do so because they
put in more time and commit to greater
practice than other people do.
They also receive regular feedback, learn from
their mistakes and get
better (continuously).
Read Grit, Smarter Faster
Better, 5 Elements of Effective Thinking, The Power of Habit and Peak...
Find out for yourself.
Direct transmission
Interaction with the instructor is of particular importance for students who
want to climb high, as this commonly
entails the passing-on of knowledge, bespoke physical corrections and the
exploration of deeper philosophical issues pertinent to the training.
Nothing compares to one-to-one
work with the instructor.
You feel how they move, how
soft they are and
what they are doing.
It is not about the
methods and
responses they
manifest. It is the
Way of
their moving, the
essence.
Everyone who spends time partnered with the teacher undergoes a
transformation in their
tai chi.
A cunning thief...
An indoor student aims to steal their teacher's art.
The real tai chi is beyond the
verbal.
Only by taking responsibility for their own learning can a student hope to
learn the true depth of the art.
They must transcend the ordinary
expectations of learning and far exceed
their own ambitions.
4. Lineage student
A lineage student has at least
5 years unbroken tai chi training with our school
and are dan
standard.
The individual possesses a
high level of competence with
form, takes the
initiative when it comes to promoting/supporting the class and undertakes
study, research and assignments with
enthusiasm.
Their sense of
humour helps them to maintain
humility and perspective
despite their superior skill level and high
order commitment.
What type of student are
you?
Most likely an attender. If you train at home every day then you are a
tai chi student.
Your level of commitment speaks for
itself.
As you like it...
Students are taught relative to initiative.
Passive people are left alone; they attend, they enjoy the night and there
may be a minor improvement each week.
By contrast, active learners make the
best use of their time and make the most of every training
opportunity.
Everyone is encouraged to work at the pace that best suits their own
interest, motivation and grade.
We avoiding putting students under pressure.
If you want to train at home, then do so.
If you do not, then that is OK too but you may need to adjust your
ambitions accordingly.
You decide
If a person wants to move to the next stage of
training, the opportunity is there.
The criteria is clearly
stated and the
student knows what skills are necessary.
Whether or not the individual is prepared
to do the required work is entirely up to the student.
We don't decide what you can or cannot do. You decide this for yourself.
By the proof of your actions.
Asking Rachel...
Some people approach Rachel and tell her that they want to become a
martial artist...
OK.
What do they want Rachel to say? It isn't up to Rachel, or even Sifu
Waller. It's up to you. The
eligibility criteria is clearly stated on
the website.
And, even if you start tai chi practice,
you will only become a martial artist
if you train like one...
Consider this:
Most people live lives that are
not particularly physically challenging. They sit
at a desk, or if they move around, it's not a lot. They aren't performing
manoeuvres that require tremendous
balance and
coordination. Thus they settle into a low level of physical
capabilities - enough for day-to-day activities or
maybe even hiking or biking or
playing golf or tennis on the weekends, but far from the level of
physical capabilities that a highly
trained athlete possesses.
The reason that most people don't possess
extraordinary physical capabilities isn't because they don't have the
capacity for them, but rather because they're satisfied to live in the
comfortable rut of homeostasis and never do the work
that is required to get out of it.
The same thing is true for all the
mental activities we engage in. We learn enough
to get by but once we reach that point we seldom push to go beyond.
(Anders Ericsson)
More information
•
Advanced martial art
•
Authenticity
•
A beginner forever...
•
The
essence of the art
•
Forgotten how to learn?
•
Indoor student of tai chi
•
Inner school
•
Inner teachings
•
A life less ordinary
•
Lineage
•
The road less travelled
•
Steal my art
•
Strong mental attitude
Page created 2 March 1995
Last updated
16 June 2023
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