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Syllabus

A teaching assistant with our school should make an effort to acquire all of these skills at their earliest opportunity:

  1. Long Yang form (sections 1, 2 & 3) (regular & mirrored)

General:

  1. Yielding exercise

  2. Yielding basic skills

  3. Single pushing hands

  4. Monkey paws

  5. Cat-stepping

  6. Double pushing hands

Martial:

  1. Chin na applications

  2. Form applications

  3. Shuai jiao applications

  4. San sau

  5. Knife drills

  6. Stick drills

  7. Sword drills

Without these skills, you will remain a novice, no matter how many years you train.
 

There are no fixed limits.
Time does not stand still.
All is in movement.
The game is never over.

(Chuang Tzu)
 

Books

A teaching assistant with our school should make a serious effort to read these books:

  1. The Sword Polisher's Record

  2. There Are No Secrets

  3. The Essence of Tai Chi Chuan - The Literary Tradition

  4. The Book of Five Rings

  5. The Way of Chuang Tzu

  6. The Art of War

  7. The New Lao Tzu

  8. Tao of Being

  9. Commentaries on Living volumes (1-3)

  10. Back to Beginnings

  11. Tai Chi Theory & Martial Power

  12. Chinese Boxing

  13. Effortless Combat Throws

  14. Zen in the Art of Archery

  15. Moving Zen

Without an adequate 'mental representation' of tai chi and Taoism the teaching assistant will find themselves lacking the psychological framework necessary for the comprehension and application of the art.


Look deeper

Ideally a teaching assistant should endeavour to gain a greater sense of Asian thinking:

  1. Sword and Brush

  2. The Little Zen Companion

  3. The Book of Tea

  4. The Book of the Heart

  5. The Prophet

  6. Wabi-Sabi: For Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers

  7. In Praise of Shadows

  8. Lost Japan


DVDs

We think a teaching assistant with our school should make an effort to watch these movies:

  1. 300

  2. The 13th Warrior

  3. Blade

  4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

  5. The Forbidden Kingdom

  6. The Fountain

  7. Highlander (1986)

  8. Holy Man

  9. I Love Huckabees

  10. The Illusionist

  11. The Karate Kid, the (part 1)

  12. The Karate Kid, the (part 2)

  13. Kung Fu TV series (pilot episode)

  14. The Legend of Bagger Vance

  15. Lost In Translation

  16. The Matrix

  17. Ramen Girl

  18. Remo: unarmed and dangerous

  19. The Silent Flute

  20. Solaris (remake)

If you watch the films/clips they will help to create a richer sense of context for what you are exploring...

Further reading...

Page created 18 April 1995
 Last updated 10 November 2023

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