ShinNa Tai-Chi Blog

[Path to Mastery 3/3/10 – Wk25 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey: Free hand weapon The title “Freedom is Discipline” may have thrown you off.  Freedom Discipline is a complete oxymoron.   Like all truth, truth is simple yet profound.  Truth is often paradoxical.  It’s like the North and South pole of a magnet.  You need the Yin and the Yang to make the whole truth. So, how does this relate to weapons?  Weapon is the ultimate discipline.  When you learn to use weapons, you have to be disciplined because if not you can be injured or injure your partner that you are training with.  You also need to be disciplined because if you are not, it is easy to make the training none realistic.   To stay with a real or realistic weapon is hard.  If you have an edge coming into you, you will be extra diligent, or it would be a good idea to be extra diligent.  You must be very relaxed and very calm, not reac...

[Path to Mastery 3/2/10 – Wk25 D2 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey: Free Hand Training: So, we discussed Free Hand Pushing Hands and how it relates to freedom.  Today, I would like to discuss another definition of freedom. We discussed that freedom is not resisting the opponent while not allowing oneself to be compromised.  There is an opposite side to this truth:  Freedom is going beyond your limitations.   It’s actually the same thing, but it looks totally different doesn’t it?   In free hand, anything goes.  There are no rules except for making sure you are comfortable with what you and the people involved are doing.  It is your responsibility to communicate if anything is happening that you are not comfortable with.  You start moving very slowly, and as you get more and more comfortable you start increasing the speed.  This helps you notice your body, what feels right and what feels off. Eventually, the spee...

[Path to Mastery 3/1/10 – Wk25 D1 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey: Free Hand Pushing Hands Training: You can have the power of absolute freedom when you understand what it means to be free.   Free hand pushing hand training provides Tai-Chi practitioners with the experience of absolute freedom.  For the Tai-Chi practitioner who understands what free hand pushing hands is about, they also understand what it means to be free in the most tangible way.   Freedom is a very abstract idea.  What comes to mind when you think of freedom?  Jumping off the plane and sky diving?  Eating all the ice cream you want without the consequences, or having all the money you want in the world to do as you please?   These things do make you feel free.  Freedom is being able to do what you want.  But is it being able to do whatever you want?  When somebody imposes their desire on you when you don’t want it, and they get their wa...

[Path to Mastery 2/26/10 – Wk24 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey: Freedom comes from within. Within Free Hand (The un-structured part of the system) we have free movement and free conditioning.  Before we can discuss free movement and conditioning, we have to discuss the nature of freedom.    Freedom is a perception.  I once heard Wayne Dyer tell this story of a man who was in prison.  He had programmed this satellite and he was the only programmer who knew how to operate it.  This satellite was too important for the government and thus they imprisoned him so nobody else could get in contact with him.  Now something had gone wrong with the satellite and they wanted his help.  But he wouldn’t respond to the people who were talking to him.  So, one of the agents told him, “If you cooperate with us, we can give you your freedom”.  The programmer answered, “You mean you can give me my liberty.  I ha...

[Path to Mastery 2/24/10 – Wk24 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey: Now so far, we have been covering the structured part of the system.  Starting today, we will be covering the part of our system that is unstructured.  Today, I will give you an overview of the unstructured training. One can argue that the unstructured free hand part of the system is the purest part of the system.  Tai-Chi is formless at its essence.  True Tai-Chi is a state of absolute harmony and uninhibited flow.  It is where things are absolutely natural.   However, there is one catch.  In order to be free, one has to have discipline.  Let me illustrate with an example that I heard Steven Covey once use.  In order for you to have complete freedom at the piano, you must have put in endless hours of discipline before you can have the freedom of a master pianist.   Going through the Tai-Chi system teaches you what it means to be nat...