The View From The Front

This is a place for musings, moans and reflections of the guy standing at the front of the class.

I hope to be able to reflect on the things we have covered, or will cover, and to provide a place for students to comment on how things have gone.

• Just a brief note

  Posted on: 07 Aug 2010   Comments (3)

   

  I just wanted to add a brief note here to thanks all of those who have wished me well during my current ill health and also to say that you should nip across to the news page as there is some important information there about term dates.

  I hope you're all enjoying the summer sun and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

  --
  Stuart

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  Posted by: Stuart Hemming

• Was it something I said?

  Posted on: 11 Jun 2010   Comments (5)

  I was a little surprised at the number of attendees at the first class of the new term on Tuesday; it was a quiet, intimate affair with a number of missing faces. But when I thought back I was able to recall sketchy memories of people telling me that, for one reason or another, that they weren't going to be able to make it.

  My problem is, I can't remember who it was who said what.

  It seems more than a little ironic that I should forget things that I've been told by my students when I spend so much of my time trying to encourage you all to remember all the things I tell you.

  I know that, in the past, I have encouraged you all to "learn the words", that is to say, to learn the names of the forms and the order in which they are played. I stand by this advice. If you learn to associate a name with what it feels like to perform that particular form and how it feels to more from it in to the next form in the sequence you will find it easier to play the sequence through.

  I've said to many of my students in the past, if it were just a case of learning the sequence, I could get a new student all the way through Part I in no time. But if that's the case, why does it actually take so long? The answer is that you aren't just learning the sequence. 

  By mastering the gross choreography for the form you can afford to expend much more of your concentration of those things that make playing the form different from Line Dancing, things like intent, the generation and direction of power as well as the more prosaic things like breathing and balance. Learning how to do all of these things along with moving the correct arm at the correct time and in the correct way is what makes Tai Chi what it is and it is that that I'm aiming to share with you.

  So, I guess that this is another of those "do as I say, and not as I do" moment. Yes, I'm prolly going to continue to forget when student X says that they're going to miss a class or 2 and I'll them paint 'em as MIA. You, on the other hand, should try and remember some of the rantings of the guy at the front and if you find yourself getting stuck in your practice, try learning the words.

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  Posted by: Stuart Hemming

• Getting it right.

  Posted on: 25 May 2010   Comments (0)

  I was thinking about last week's class and a conversation I had with first one group of students and then another; and it was about the difficulty one or two members of each group had with remembering sequences or, more specifically, the details of some parts of some of the sequences.

  I was reading something today in a book entitled The Essence of Tao by Pamela Ball (ISBN 1-84193-189-6) and in the introduction the author is talking about some of the principles of leaning about how to follow Tao and specifically what in the Tao Te Ching are called the 'treasures'. These treasures help us to understand others, except what we cannot change and maintain our equilibrium. She then goes on to suggest that the key to finding these treasures is to stop looking for them; that is to say, stop actively looking for them.

  There is no difference in the attitude that you should adopt when trying to learn any aspect of the form. Yes, you do have to try and learn the mechanical movements associated with what it is you're trying to do, but the other stuff, the deeper and meditative aspects will come of their own accord. And they will come when you stop worrying about them. 

  But it's not just these aspects for which this is true; worrying about whether or not you have real ward off energy, or proper intent is, generally, counter-productive. Once you know when and how these elements of the form should be employed you will find that they will be once your concentration is more correctly fixed on the more holistic view of what it is you're trying to achieve.

  The section of the book I referred to includes the following passage:

  The external world is fragile,
  and he who meddles with its natural way,
  risks causing damage to himself.
  He who tries to grasp it,
  thereby loses it.

  I'm sure you can understand the point being made here, but for those of you of a less poetic bent, it boils down to "Don't sweat the big stuff".

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  Posted by: Stuart Hemming

• Welcome

  Posted on: 25 May 2010   Comments (4)

  OK everyone, here we go.

  I'm going to try and post class reports here and look forward to the things we might do in future classes. Now, don't panic, by class reports I don't mean "Eileen: 7/10. Must try harder". What I mean is I want to try and expand on questions and ideas that come up in class and add my own reflections on how things have gone.

  Anyone can make comments about individual blog posts and I really hope that you all take the trouble to read what's posted and feel comfortable about commenting. As I said, anyone can comment; you don't have to log in and, therefore, don't have to identify yourselves if you don't wish to.

  Starting this on the last day of term prolly seems a bit daft, and it most likely is, but that's just the way things fall.

  So, if things happen the way that I hope, I'll be able to post a report on tonight's class sometime tomorrow.

  See you all later.

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  Posted by: Stuart Hemming