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| The road less travelled | ||
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90 minutes
Dr Michael Greger (author of How Not To
Die) recommends 90 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise every day.
The three doctors who wrote The Okinawa Program maintain that tai chi -
with its ancient origins and incredible health
benefits - is the ideal
workout for modern
people.
If this sounds like a lot of exercise, why not chop it up into
smaller increments spaced throughout the day? How many people watch 90
minutes of TV every day?
How many people
exercise?
Consider all the people you know.
Do many of them exercise?
Of all the people in the world, how many actually exercise?
Humans are pretty lazy and the invention of cars, televisions and
computers have made things far worse.
How many people study a fighting art?
Out of those people that exercise, how many
choose to study a
fighting art?
Not many.
Sport is far more popular than martial arts training.
Running, football, the gym, yoga... these more widely practiced.
Not many people study the martial arts these days.
How many people learn an internal art?
The internal martial arts are
the hardest of the martial arts to learn.
They involve a lot more patience and take longer
to yield their results.
A would-be martial artist could learn judo or wing chun far easier than they
could learn tai chi.
How many people train the art correctly?
Although tai chi is widely practiced and fairly
popular, not many students are learning
tai chi as a martial art.
Most students are training tai chi for
health, or as a performance art.
Very few people are engaged in learning the internal arts properly.
Some tai chi people externalise the
art in order to make it easier to learn.
But this does not succeed.
Instead, it creates a new art: an external hybrid based upon the idea of
tai chi.
Hard work
Training an internal art correctly - using the
principles of the art
fully and faithfully
- is relatively rare these days.
It requires a lot of hard work, exploration,
study, patience
and practice.
How many people are committed?
Out of the internal martial artists who are adhering to the key
precepts of their art, and faithfully perpetuating the essence, how many
people are training it fully?
It is not enough to be training the right thing.
You must also practice frequently enough
for the skills to emerge, grow and reach fruition.
Daily
To do any internal art justice, daily training is necessary.
The amount of time each day required depends upon your own
individual grade.
Essentially, you need to practice what you know.
And the more you know, the more you must practice. Yang Lu-chun trained his sons so hard that they ran
away from home.
Dear Lord,
Thank you for giving me the strength and the conviction to complete the task
you entrusted to me.
Thank you for guiding me straight and true through the many obstacles in my
path.
And for keeping me resolute when all around seemed lost.
Thank you for your protection and your many signs along the Way.
Thank you for any good that I may have done, I'm so sorry about the bad.
Thank you for the friend I made.
Please watch over her as you watched over me.
Thank you for finally allowing me to rest.
I'm so very tired, but I go now to my rest at peace.
I fought the good
fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith.
(Book of Eli)
Be honest with yourself
It is good to be honest with
yourself about just how serious you are...
Some people are casual students, whilst for others it is simply a hobby.
A few individuals are committed.
Not many people are serious.
There is nothing wrong with approaching the art in
the way that best suits you.
Your own level of interest and commitment are your affair.
What you get out of the art will be directly relative to what you put into
it.
Uncommon
If you are studying an internal art, then you are not the
average member of the public.
You have chosen to learn one of the more challenging martial arts.
This is not what most people do with their time.
Not for everyone
Your curiosity had led you on a journey
that is not for everyone.
It requires a steady commitment, patience, enthusiasm, money and time.
In order to make progress you will have to make choices, face doubts and be
criticised by your peers.
Lifestyle
Hardly anyone is truly dedicated.
For the most earnest of students, the art has become part of their
life.
It is a vocation, a calling.
Why bother learning tai chi?
There is more to life than buying
goods, eating, sleeping, drinking alcohol and watching TV.
You are more than this.
The martial arts train both body and mind to move in a graceful, precise,
functional way.
Strength, flexibility, vitality and good
humour typically emerge.
Greater harmony and balance is found.
You look at life a little differently.
Balance
The internal arts require the student to explore Taoism
and Zen. Contemplation, meditation,
settled emotions and calmness of mind
are all wonderful additions to your life.
Instead of becoming the violent brute people often associate with the
martial arts, you become relaxed and comfortable with yourself, and with
those around you.
Taoism embraces all sides of our character;
recognising that people are both good/bad, strong/weak and so on.
We cannot be one without the other. The key is to find balance. A harmony of
apparent opposites.
Martial arts training inspiration
It can be inspiring to read the
experiences of other martial artists:
Moving Zen by C W Nicol
Waking Dragons by Goran Powell
Angry White Pyjamas by Robert Twigger
Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel
The Sword Polisher's Record by Adam Hsu
Page created 2 March 1995
Last updated
14 August 2023
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