Watching video clips | ||
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Why watch videos?
Typically your weekly tuition lasts for 120 minutes and
you have a lot of unanswered questions.
Watching videos produced by tai chi tutors can provide a supplement between
lessons and add a valuable layer of background knowledge.
Just be wary of training anything that differs from what you are being
taught in class.
You are being taught certain things in a particular way for a reason, and if
you change the means, you change the end result too.
Learning to see
As you become more skilled at tai chi, you become aware of the detail within
the practice.
In time, you can watch a practitioner and pick-out nuances that a
less-skilled student simply would not see.
The same video will yield different layers of information as your capacity
to see it improves.
Can you learn from a video?
If you asked "Can you learn from just a video?" then the
answer would be "No". You need to attend classes.
Tai chi is far too complex to learn it through observation alone; you need
practice with somebody who can demonstrate their own body feel.
Yet, you can learn things from videos. They represent a potential resource.
Treat them as a supplement.
Just make sure that you have realistic expectations concerning
videos and what you expect to learn.
Remember - everyone's form is slightly different - the essential postures
may be present, but the sequence differs from teacher to teacher.
Demonstration or a lesson?
Tai chi videos can potentially be quite expensive.
(i) Demonstration
The teacher may be offering the video as an illustration of their system.
This could be entertaining, illustrative, and worth watching... but are
you likely to walk away with anything?
(ii) A lesson
Some instructors may actually be trying to teach you something.
They pay considerable attention to detail, and earnestly seek to impart
information to the audience.
A video like that is a lesson in itself.
It can be watched repeatedly, over many years and will offer new insights as
your own understanding grows.
YouTube
The main danger with watching on-line clips is that it is often in lieu of
physical practice or reading/study.
Quiet effort will bring
rewards,
so develop projects which will bring fruit later.
(I Ching)
Page created
18 April 1995
Last updated
04 May 2023
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