The Great Leap Forward


	The great leap forward

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Purpose

The first year of being a teaching assistant is about settling into a higher standard of practice. Whilst it is tempting to see teaching in terms of personal gain and gratification, these are by-products and certainly not the point of teaching. Teaching is about serving the art; keeping it vital and alive through the medium of your own practice. To accomplish this, you must be seen to be actively stealing your instructor's art.

Reciprocity

Sifu Waller will schedule extra workshops providing teaching assistants are handing in assignments and actively progressing. This caveat is to ensure both progress and reciprocity. You give, you get.

My aim is only to move forward.

(Afro Samurai)

Evaluation

Rachel is actively evaluating teaching assistants and indoor students. Criteria:

• Attitude
• Challenges
• Attendance
• Assignments
• Combat skills
• Making progress
• Personal conduct
• Acquisition of drills
• Acquisition of forms

Trial by combat

Anyone can say that they want to 'steal the art'. So what? Think of this Zen saying: "If you meet a master swordsman, show him your sword. If you meet a man who is not a poet, do not show him your poem." Calling yourself a teaching assistant (or indoor student) and behaving like one are two different things entirely. The difference can easily be seen in combat. When you pass the test, you will know what it means to call yourself a teaching assistant/indoor student.

Actions speak louder than words

Ensure that you are actually stealing the art. If you are not, then you are not acting like a teaching assistant. We are defined by what we do. Good intentions are worthless in a tai chi class.

The great leap forward

The primary aim of being a teaching assistant or indoor student is to make a great leap forward in terms of tai chi skill. This is what Sifu Waller is looking to see.

The One

Have you seen the first Matrix movie? Neo begins with doubt, uncertainty and cynicism. He doesn't believe that he is the One. He asks Morpheus incredulously if he'll be able to dodge bullets.
Morpheus tells him that he won't have to. Your journey is like this. Right now, your skills are weak and you possess no power. To be the One you must have faith. You must believe in order for it to be.

Direct transmission

A teaching assistant and indoor students should be:

• Training every day at home
• Attending evening classes weekly
• Attending monthly workshops
• Attending boot camp
• Attending any extra sessions

This is just the start. The teaching assistant must work towards increasing their opportunities for direct transmission of the art. This means one-to-one practice and corrections from the instructor on a frequent basis. Physical contact and in-depth personal assessment will lead to an unprecedented degree of progress. Long-term; unless you have undertaken years of extra lessons, you cannot claim to have stolen anything because your level of contact was far too limited.

Extra lessons are vital

A teaching assistant must be taking extra lessons. How else can they receive direct transmission? You feel how the instructor moves, how softly they make contact and how little effort takes place.
This is an invaluable experience. Your instructor offers you a physical illustration of what is to come. They should embody the very characteristics and qualities you are currently working towards.
Without working 'hands on', this understanding is not possible. Tai chi is a physical art. It requires touch.

Morpheus: There's a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path.

(The Matrix)