Why write this blog?
Posted by Cat on June 2nd 2020
Many people have written extensively about Tai Chi for hundreds of years.
When I started this blog, I wondered whether I should or shouldn’t put my thoughts about Tai Chi into writing. Did we really need one more person adding to the confusion?
First I want to make clear that I don’t have all the answers. I am not trying to describe “correct” Tai Chi or say that any other interpretation is wrong.
Interpretation and Expression
Tai Chi is a set of principles expressed differently by different people based on their own context; such as their body size, their preferences, their language, and their culture.
Like the blind men trying to describe the elephant, we’re all creating unique expressions of Tai Chi based on both our common humanity and our personal differences. No single person can describe the whole thing, but that doesn’t make their personal experience of it wrong.
We each understand Tai Chi from within our own context.
Shared Context
So, if I can’t explain Tai Chi, what’s the point of writing all this?
First, to help establish a baseline of assumptions, vocabulary, and methods we can use to explore Tai Chi together.
There have been moments in our Push Hands after-class discussions where a part of me would step back and listen to what we were saying about some subtle topic and think… “If someone who had no experience of push hands heard this right now, we’d sound like crazy people.”
So, I wanted to create something to help people new to Tai Chi theory understand the shared context we have that makes these conversations turn from crazy talk to practical advice.
Pushing Minds
And second, the only way to learn is to engage. In Push Hands practice, we learn to understand by making contact with our partner and listening. We push each other physically to find the flaws in our structure, energy, and intent.
Think of this as an invitation to do some pushing of minds with us!