Negotiating your way to Success

Most of us who have committed years to seriously developing our Taijiquan (or any other sport or martial art) enjoy training - that is a given. Family, friends, colleagues etc might be hankering for time at the bar/beach/TV etc... but we want to...need to...MUST get in our daily quota of training. I was struck by a conversation I had with a long term and very committed student who also runs a successful osteopathic clinic. He happens to  treat a number of professional sportsmen and women as well as the usual range of crocked people. We were discussing the difference between professional athletes and the multitude of weekend warriors. A major difference he found was the seriousness they attached to the slightest injury. Sorting this would take priority before they would be prepared to push their bodies to the max again. Compare this to the bravado of the aforementioned weekend warrior, who takes pride in pushing through his injuries during training.

Chen Taijiquan has at its heart the idea that we must strive for complete physical and mental balance. This is the basis for both the health and martial aspects of the system.  In our school we have students in their 20 and in their 80s; some physically very powerful, some weaker; some living with illness,others in rude good health. Each can make a success of their Taijiquan if they tailor their training according to their own capacity. A quote I like is that "the best way to achieve a goal is to be fully present in the here and now - to be conscious of what's going on in our own bodies. Surpassing previous limits involves negotiating with your body, not ignoring or over-riding its messages". Don't be discouraged by the fantastic stories of other people's training eg. 12 hours a day, or the prodigious number of forms they (say) they do. Long term success comes from consistency.  According to Dr James Loehr, author of Mental Toughness Training for Sports, who worked with famous sportspeople such as Jimmy Connors (tennis), Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini (boxing) and Dan Jansen (speed skating), the single most important defining quality of mental toughness is the capacity to do the right thing (even if that went against what you wanted to do) - that includes resting if your body is tired.

In an article on how to approach training, Chen Xiaowang said "you must not try to accelerate your progress by over-exerting your own limits. It does not work that way, there are no short cuts, and it means you must train yourself in stages, bit by bit. Train with moderation. Adjust the frequency of your training, the intensity and the level of difficulty and the height of your stances according to your age group, fitness level and physical health". Do your training at a level that is right for you - like a thermostat that changes the temperature of the environment in sync with the outside world.

The Essence of Taijiquan in Italian & Portuguese

Rome based Chen Taijiquan teacher Amanda Carloni (left) has done a fantastic job translating The Essence of Taijiquan into Italian.   In the next few weeks it will also be available in Portuguese!

The Five Levels of Taijiquan

In an earlier post I mentioned Chen Xiaoxing's statement on how to train and reach a high level - "You know the law...now follow the law"! Likewise, 16th Generation Chen Taijiquan theorist Chen Xin stated that all you have to do is to "follow the rules".

That's all very well if you are clear on what the rules actually are! The average Western student is faced with many difficulties in clearly understanding what is really required. Problems of language and culture, false assumptions and interpretation can lead even the dedicated student far off the correct path. A well known Taijiquan saying advises that, "If you don't diligently search for the meaning, you will only waste your effort and sigh (from disapointment). Where should you look then, if you want to avoid wasting your effort?

A good place to start might be Chen Xiaowang's  "The Five Levels of Taijiquan", to be released on February 15th. I've just finished reading a review copy and found it clear and helpful. Many people are familiar with Chen Xiaowang's interpretation of the different stages the Taiji student must go through to reach mastery. This book includes an extensive commentary on the  Five Levels by Jan Silberstorff. The book has been laid out so that every chapter begins with the original Chinese text and its direct translation. The detailed explanations in the commentary follow.

Precise and mindful practice is the key to genuine progress

As it states in the introduction, the five levels help us to know where we are now and what will follow. Secondly, they help in the understanding that learning too fast or skipping something may not be a shortcut - in fact the opposite is more likely to be true. With the knowledge of the systematic ladder that must be climbed,students of Taijiquan should have confidence that "...one vehicle is enough: one system with corresponding basic exercises, refinements and advanced levels on which to build". One for your Taijiquan library!! 

PS We've begun the process of uploading our archive of articles as pdfs onto the school website (below). This will be added to over the coming months, so check back regularly!!

WWW.CHENTAIJIGB.CO.UK 

Taking Pleasure in Small Steps

What does it take to be a master of Taijiquan (or anything else for that matter!)? The ex-Soviet Union, in their Process of Achieving Sports Mastery, reserved the title of "master" for individuals (regardless of what disciple they were pursuing) who had either achieved a world record or won a world level championship. That is, individuals who had achieved an extraordinarily high level of performance. Compare this to the endless list of Taiji “masters” in any major city listing. Perhaps it is easy to master Taijiquan? Hardly!!

We live in a culture at odds with the proper understanding of mastery. Movies, commercials and popular culture, present life as an uninterrupted series of successful peaks, without little thought for the effort, pauses, and setbacks that all winning individuals inevitably encounter on the road to success.  Today individuals are programmed to expect a certain level of excitement and interest in any experience, or we become quickly bored. Students leave Taijiquan classes in droves when they do not match up to the effortless and fragrant images from coffee table magazines. Everywhere we are encouraged to adopt a quick-fix and bottom-line mentality. In our work life and even at home, we are told to set goals, to measure our advances, and to expect continuous progress towards our goals. And even happiness itself is defined in terms of reaching those goals - "Get a six pack in six easy weeks"...

George Leonard's classic book, "Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fullfillment", explains mastery ultimately as a person’s commitment to a process. In his words:

· "...mastery is not about perfection. It's about a process, a journey. The master is one who stays on the path day after day, year after year. The master is the one who is willing to try and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives" 

·"Almost without exception, those we know as masters are dedicated to the fundamentals of their calling. They are zealots of their practice, connoisseurs of the small incremental step...".

Leonard characterised the practice of these masters as "involving a certain steadfastness, an ability to take pleasure in the endless repetition of ordinary acts". 

The real road to mastery in Taijiquan (and anything else) is the path of patient, dedicated effort without attachment to immediate results. Great success in any physical endeavor, including Taijiquan is built upon consistency and patience. We must be prepared to pay the price both in time and energy. In the words of Chen Fake, one of Chen Taijiquan’s most celebrated practitioners, “beginners should practice slowly, so that the movements are correct. Practice makes perfect, so after a LONG TIME movements can naturally be fast and steady”. 

The Essence of Taijiquan (see the link above right) is now available for download on iPad & iPhone  

Notes on Wushu Exercises

I've just returned from Chenjiagou with a group of students from our school, who spent a couple of weeks training with Chen Xiaoxing. Anyone who has trained with him will be aware of his penchant for simple, repetitive and excrutiating emphasis upon basic training. There is no truck paid to entertaining students. He offers what works and then it is up to you whether you stick to it. In a previous blog I mentioned his statement - "you know the law, now follow the law"! Simple, but not easy. Our group trained for 5 hours a day, divided into 2 2.5 hour sessions. Every session was the same. First standing for half an hour in the challenging position he put everyone into. Then 30-40 minutes unbroken training on a single reeling silk exercise. For the rest of the session training a short section of the form. I was in Chenjiagou earlier in the year training alongside a small group of Chinese students of Chen Xiaoxing, the programme was the same. One of them was still in the school during our latest visit. He said he had been there for 4 years following this same routine everyday.

We have been travelling to train Chen Xiaoxing since 2003 and leave the programme to him to decide. A common mistake is to go to the teacher and then say I want to do this, this and this.  Who would go to their maths teacher and say I'd like to do some algebra for 3 days and then some calculus for 2 days?   I've got a week - I'd like to do sword, spear and the erlu!!!

On the flight back to the UK I read a book - Chinese Kungfu: Masters, Schools and Combat by Wang Guangxi who died in 2008 shortly before the book was published. Wang was an academic and lifelong Chinese martial arts enthusiast. Throughout the book his love for Chinese martial arts, in their many diverse forms, was obvious. At the end he included some advice or "notes on wushu exercises" regardless of style.
These included among others:

1. Take it step by step. Rome wasn't built in a day
2. Never tire of it. The more often you clean the net, the more fish you will get.
3. Concentrate on the martial arts of one school. Do not always look to the grass on the other side of the hill.
4. Be good at the basic techniques, especially footwork and waist techniques.
5. Great importance should be given to position training, but avoid excessive training at the beginning.
6. Equal attention should be given to simple movements...
7. Do not seek highly difficult or impossible moves right away.
8. Concentrate, focus and pay close attention to learning every detal during practice.
9. Do not argue with superiors
10. Stay modest at all times and do not despise anyone at any time.
11. Do not practice martial arts when exhausted and do not practice internal martial arts when the mood      cannot remain calm from great sorrow, rage or joy.
And finally -
12. Assure enough sleep, increase nutrition and use hot water to wash your feet!!! 

When East Meets West

I finally got to see Jon Braeley's interesting film about the Chen Village.

I was struck by two comments on the differences between Chinese and Western students - one I would completely agree with and one I strongly disagree with. First, Chen Xiaowang, who has spent many years teaching in the West, said that Western students pay more attention to technical details within the forms - the exact hand position, how far to turn the body etc. Chinese students, he went on, pay more attention to feeling and sensation. In a recent facebook debate about style differences one guy summed up what many Westerners believe when he declared that "Qi is crap"!

So have all those generations of Chen Village practitioners since Chen Wangting's day been deluding themselves? Bodyguards like Chen Changxing and fighters like Chen Fake. I don't think so! Chen Zhaopi, teacher of Chen Xiaowang, Chen Xiaoxing, Wang Xian, Zhu Tiancai, Chen Zhenglei et al listed ten different classifications of Qi - but then what would he know? 

The second comment, which I would take issue with, was made by Chen Bing - after opening his new school in Chenjiagou  he quickly concluded that Western students are not able to and do not want to, train hard like their Chinese counterparts - "in the West people train for health ...or for fashion"! - so as a result, he said, he trains Western students differently then Chinese students. Where has this misconception come from? Look at all the other Asian martial arts practiced in the West - Thai boxing, Judo, Ju Jitsu, Taekwondo etc ... or the modern Western combat sports like boxing and wrestling ... these Western students seem capable of training hard!

The Winning Mind!

Often when students train with the great masters they are suddenly overwhelmed by the enormity of what it actually takes to reach a high level of Taijiquan skill. Different students deal with this in different ways -some just leave, others revise their expectations downwards and are happy just to be the student of a successful teacher, others look for a short cuts...  I've been reading The Winning Mind by Sebastion Coe, Olympic gold medallist and one of Britain's greatest ever athletes. The following two quotes, carrying on from our theme in the previous post, are motivational, realistic and equally applicable to Taijiquan players seriously trying to progress: 

"Throughout my athletics career, the overall goal was always to be a better athlete than I was at that moment - whether next week, next month or next year. The object was always to improve - gradually, steadily, sustainably - and in achievable stages. The improvement was the goal. The medal was simply the ultimate reward for achieving that goal.

"...steady progress results from maintaining a consistent approach, trial and error, going back to "first principles", hard graft, examining form and process and taking care to assess and correct any mistakes along the way".

You can't force the fruit to ripen!

A saying that is often repeated in Chenjiagou is that "you can't force the fruit to ripen". There are no shortcuts and wishful thinking is just that. The students I like the best are the ones who quietly show up week after week, year after year and just get on with it. No hurry, no impatiance to get on to the next thing. Just consistent honest effort... What we are trying to achieve in Taijiquan is much more than just learning a few sets of movements  or a few push hands tricks. Instead what is asked for is the development of complete physical and energetic coordination. But what does that mean in real terms? It means striving to follow a set of rules that have been passed down for many generations. Chen Zhaopi said that without striving for beauty in your Taijiquan you could never hope to achieve high skill. Today people often mistake this as a license for their own individuality. However, to those of Chen Zhaopi's generation beauty was synonymous with conforming to nature - to following the rules! 

L-R Jan Silberstorff, Davidine Sim, David Gaffney

All those instructions handed down in Taijiquan lead the seriously interested on a path back to their innate physical and psychological nature. This is achieved through consistency, not unsustainable short bursts of enthusiasm. In his excellent book Chen:  Living Taijiquan in the Classical Style, German Chen Taijiquan teacher Jan Silberstorff amusingly likens this to boiling an egg. "After I've heated the stove and placed a pot on it, brought the water to boil and added an egg, I still have to wait four or five minutes until the egg is boiled and ready. Just like the egg is being boiled slowly, the body and mind will slowly develop  by continuous training".  

A guy I met in Chenjiagou disputed the stories handed down about Chen Fake practicing an almost inhuman amount of repetitions per day. The truth [he said] was that Chen Fake did not miss a day's practice in over thirty years and it was this consistency and persistance that gave him his great skill!

Clive Howells & Tim Drummond: Two of the old-timers!

 I like the following parable by the Daoist  Chuang Tzu:  "Chi Hsing Tzu was a trainer of fighting cocks for King Hsuan.  He was training a fine bird.  The King kept asking him if the bird were ready for combat.  “Not yet”, said the trainer.  “He is full of fire.  He is ready to pick a fight with every other bird.  He is vain and confident of his own strength”.  After ten days, he answered again: “Not yet.  He flares up when he hears another bird crow”.  After ten more days: “Not yet.  He still gets that angry look and ruffles his feathers”.  Again ten days:  The trainer said, “Now he is nearly ready.  When another bird crows, his eye does not even flicker.  He stands immobile like a cock of wood.  He is a mature fighter.  Other birds will take one look at him and run”.

                                                                                                                                

Don't set limits on yourself!

Training under the watchful eye of Chen Ziqiang

We just had Chen Ziqiang conduct a series of seminars at our school- the third consecutive year he has visited us in the UK. Anyone who has trained with him will know what a fantastically dynamic and athletic individual he is. People often approach these events as if they are spectators rather than participants. Happy to watch and marvel at the workshop leaders skills but full of reasons why they cannot do the same thing - too old, too many aches and pains, too busy etc etc... While the topics covered included basic training, broadsword, push hands and cannon fist, the central message put across by Chen Ziqiang was that people must not put limits upon themselves.

Don't say that you cannot do the jumps or fajin or stretches. Some of the participants were in their seventies but were still encouraged to leap and punch - even if a little lower and slower than they may have done in their younger days. Lee Davis-Conchie, one of the instructors in our school, was another participant leading by example. Training Chen Ziqiang's short cannon fist form with a chest drain attached. The last workshop finished at 5pm on Sunday afternoon and the same evening he went back into hospital for his fourth round of chemotherapy for the leukemia that was diagnosed a few months ago.

Cannon Fist group -  participants ages ranged from people in their 20s to 70s

 So don't think too much about what you can't do. As Chen Ziqiang said "don't label yourself and don't let other people label you" - just throw yourself into your training and then you'll make a success of your practice!

   

Just Follow the Rules!

Chen Xin

"Follow the rules in all respects, and a narrow beam of understanding will appear"          -   Chen Xin

Every discipline has its own rules that have to be mastered if you are going to progress to a higher level. In music you have to learn the scales, etc ... Why do so many people find this so hard to understand? You give a simple instruction - "lift your head up" and the response is "but what about my feet"? ..."in my Japanese martial arts class we do it like this and the teacher says its ok"... "but I feel more comfortable when I do it my way"... and on and on and on!


Chen Taijiquan has a clear and progresive syllabus that has been passed down and developed for more than 300 years. Everything in it is there for a reason. In his notes from the 1986 Taijiquan Theory  convention  in Chengdu, China Chen Xiaowang advised:  "Don't discard any aspect of it before you have full understanding!"

An early shot of Chen Xiaowang

He went on to say that "Chen Taijiquan's theory is the accumulation of many years and many generations of study and experimentation. What has been passed down is their "sweat and blood" in order for continuity in future generations. Sixteenth generation Chen Xin spent over a decade of hard work and toil to record the theory solely because he wanted Taijiquan to be transmitted to those who possess virtue and martial committment. Each generation of Chen family has produced excellent martial artists,this bears witness to the efficacy of this theory".

So all you have to do is to have confidence in your system (otherwise why are you doing it in the first place?) and follow the rules!

"Village Style" Taiji!

"Village Style" training in Chenjiagou with Chen Xioaxing

I've just finished reading a post in the newsletter of Kim Ivy's Embrace the Moon Taiji school which really struck a chord with me. She wrote of training "Village Style" with Chen Xiaoxing during his visit to her school. Village style she explained as being given one or two movements and then practicing them for an extended time. My own group have been going to Chenjiagou to train with him for nearly a decade now and this is the how he teaches. A few movements, and then you train and train and train with corrections from him. First time we took a group it was in the winter of 2003 where we spent 19 days on the Laojia Yilu routine.  A few years ago Stephan Berwick wrote a really nice article about Chen Xiaoxing and his training method entitled The Simple Wisdom of a Village Grandmaster. The following is a quote from the article: "Chenjiagou training is highly focused on the basics of boxing practice. At a recent U.S. east coast seminar, he pushed the students through 2 hours of practice on just 3 seemingly simple silk reeling exercises, which the students found excruciating, but deeply satisfying. Speaking no English, he did not have to rely on words to get his point across. The next day, the seminar participants completely understood the lessons in body structure and rootedness he imparted".

During Chen Xiaoxing's visit to our school last year - his first visit to Europe - he taught a group a weekend worshop on the Laojia Yilu. The group was an experienced one everybody knowing the form, many being teachers. So, he said that there was no point just running through the sequence and taught in his usual way. Everyone training, with him working through the group giving personal corrections. Most people loved it, but I was really surprised to get negative feedback from several people who thought he should be standing at the front leading the group. Is it a coincidence that one of those dissatisfied spent most of the time sitting at the side while everyone else was training? As Kim put it in her newsletter:   "I find my teachers respect their students when they feel they have the enthusiasm and tenacity for "the Village." Indeed, instructional generosity appears to be commensurate with how few moves one asks to be corrected and how deep one can plumb with only small & precise corrections in tow".

 

Its Official - Now Taijiquan doesn't even qualify as light exercise!

A study into the role of exercise for heart failure patients conducted by the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre and Harvard Medical School concluded of Taijiquan that: "While it has little physical benefit, patients who do it are more likely to try light exercise". So there you have it, according to these illustrious institutions and reported in a British national newspaper, Taijiquan is now considered to be nothing more than confidence building for those too unwell to do even the lightest exercise. An easy option... Not even really exercise at all!

 Funny that. I've just got back from a week of training in Warsaw with Chen Ziqiang and it sure felt like exercise to me. Applications and push hands contest training with those big-boned Polish guys, as well as dynamic form and sword training - in the words of one of the young students -"every bit of me feels stretched and worked". How can Taijiquan reassert itself as a serious martial art against the misperceptions that surround it. Even in China this is now a cause of concern. Last month in Chenjiagou I listened to a couple of seasoned Chen Taijiquan players debating how to get young people to take up the art with its negative image as being suitable only for weak or elderly people. They asked the question, should Taijiquan training be modified to make it more exciting and the training fast tracked to compete with the more obviously exciting external arts, in the process losing the essence of the system? Or should they continue teaching in the traditional way and see less and less young and fit people taking up the art.

Seems like exercise to me!