I am not trying to develop a rogue-style of tai chi but that may be happening.
When I first learned the basics of tai chi, I was told that health benefits would accrue by practicing the form as well as I was able. After several years of study, that understanding was expanded by training in what is now being called adaptive tai chi -- tai chi modified for special needs, such as MS. I've witnessed how the tension between "just do tai chi" and "adaptive tai chi" erupts into personal and organizational conflict over how tai chi should be taught.
At this point, a few years years later, my understanding has shifted once again. "Just do tai chi" and "adaptive tai chi" address classes of individuals, not the individual. Multiple sclerois is a highly individual disease and each individual brings a bodymind shaped by genetics and experience. Each of us requires individualized remedial work to correct specific problems. The remedial work is person-specific.
Tai chi practice, done mindfully, generates specific knowledge about the way my bodymind functions. I feel this knowledge as much as I understand it. This Joel-specific knowledge informs my daily practice, guiding the focus of each session.
However, my own understanding is limited and I need the guidance of more advanced practitioners attuned to my specific needs. Until I find those teachers, I rely upon my understanding of tai chi principles and their applications.
About Me
- Joel Gottlieb
- Retired to Taos in 2000 accompanied by multiple sclerosis.2009 became a paraplegic after a spinal cord injury. Gratefully married to Linda Harrison Gottlieb, a collage and assemblage artist. Image of recent work: Field Guide to Rotifers
2 comments:
One of my tai chi teachers in a former lifetime said that as we practice tai chi it will eventually become our own, which I took to mean that the way we move through the form will change and evolve as we continue to practice. I didn't stick with it (I was foolish in that former lifetime), but I am looking forward to taking it up again in some kind of adaptive style.
I would agree from my experience. Each person develops their own style, their own form. Every Taoist instructor teaches the same set, the same principles, but you can hear the same thing from one instructor a hundred times, and not have it connect.
If you're practicing Taoist Tai Chi I wouldn't get too worried about a 'rogue form' as long as it adheres to the five basic principles.
Just my $0.02!
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