PRACTICE FOR NEW STUDENTS
New students will often ask about the frequency and duration that they should practice Taiji Quan. Usually, my standard response is, “Find a time of day that works for you, and practice the portion of the form that you know every day at that time.” I’ll often add that they don’t have to practice very long each day. At first, five or ten minutes per day, especially when they only know the first few postures is adequate. But, that the amount of practice time will expand over as they learn more of the form.
The following is not a criticism, simply a statement of what I have observed. Watching students in class, it is apparent which practice routinely, and which practice only when they come to class once a week. While I recognize that most students have a life outside Taiji Quan (rightfully so), honestly, the more regularly a student practices, the quicker they progress. It is often a matter of commitment (or lack of) by the student to regular practice that prevents students from progressing quickly (at least more quickly). Every student’s life situation, and hence their Taiji journey, is different. As a result, how they progress varies widely. As I often tell students that apologize for missing class, “Life happens.” It is often outside our control.
PRACTICE FOR MORE ADVANCED STUDENTS
As a student progresses, and learns more of the form, what is an adequate amount of time to practice? To answer this question, I have turned to Taiji Boxing Explained by Dong Yingjie. This text was translated by Paul Brennan, (Paul Brennan’s full translation is here). Why have I turned to this text? The reasons are simple. My teacher, Fong Ha, first started learning Taiji Quan from Dong Yingjie in 1953. Dong Yingjie had been a top disciple of Yang Chengfu for many years (Yang Chengfu passed away in 1936). By the 1950’s, Dong Yingjie, was an acknowledged master of Taiji Quan, and was widely known throughout China. (see a Wikipedia article about Dong Yingjie here) So, who better to answer our question about practicing?
There are primarily two sections of Dong Yingjie’s work that contain tidbits about how to practice Taiji Quan. A section titled, The First Steps of Learning Taiji Boxing, and another section titled, The Process of Learning Taiji Boxing. The following excerpts in bold italic font are from Paul Brennan’s translation of Dong Yingjie’s work. All unidentified excerpts are from The First Steps of Learning Taiji Boxing. The one exception is the excerpt identified in square brackets as from The Process of Learning Taiji Boxing. Please note that I have rearranged the order somewhat to make it more understandable and to flow better. Text in unitalicized font are my thoughts and explanations. Recognize that when Dong Yingjie references “the boxing set,” he is referring to the traditional Yang Style Long Form taught by Yang Chengfu. The long form typically has 105 or 108 postures (counting Taiji postures is not a precise activity and counts can vary widely).
(a.k.a. Tung Ying-chieh)
Now, according to Dong Yingjie:
The boxing set can be learned within three months, thoroughly ingrained in a year, and will produce skill in three years. From then on, the more you practice, the deeper your skill will get.
Ah, if it were only that simple. As we will see below, there are many more recommendations from Dong Yingjie that allow a student to meet his projected three-year schedule.
Practice the set two or three times every morning and evening. After practicing during the heat of summer, never bathe in cold water or you may induce a fever. After practicing during winter, quickly put on another layer to keep yourself from catching a cold. After finishing a practice, do not sit down right away. Walk around for a good five minutes, causing your blood circulation to find a harmonious balance.
After eating a meal, wait a half hour or an hour, and then you may exercise. If your body is weak, be aware of your current limits while you practice so as not to overdo it. After taking Western medicines, do not exercise right away, instead you must rest until you are fully recovered, and then you may practice again.
Practicing the form “two or three times every morning and evening” is the equivalent of practicing for 30 – 60 minutes every morning and evening since the traditional long form takes 15 – 20 minutes to perform, if you practice it slowly (and you should practice the form slowly, but that is for another post).
Most of the remaining admonishments in these two excerpts may sound odd to a student from the West, but probably stem from Traditional Chinese Medicine practices. Also, recognize that when this text was written, in 1948, medicines were most commonly used for a relatively short period of time to resolve a particular condition (antibiotics to treat infections were introduced in the 1930’s for example, some vaccines are older – interestingly, smallpox vaccines date to the 1700’s). The use of medicines on a daily, long-term basis (such as for high blood pressure), didn’t become common, even in the West, until decades later (notably, insulin for diabetes became widely available after 1936).
In the spirit of this art’s Daoist origins, do not try to do too much. Learn no more than one or two postures a day, that will be difficult enough as it is. After about a month, you will have the basic postures and the fundamentals of the art, and then things will get easier. After the first couple months, beginners usually feel like they are learning the art very well. Then after another couple months, they instead feel that they are not progressing as quickly as before and gradually become frustrated. You have to understand that this is exactly what progress is like. Without progressing in this way, you will be incapable of judging whether your postures are good or bad. This stage is something beginners simply have to go through, so do not give up on account of it.
Students do often become discouraged after a few months of practice. But, can be true of learning any new activity. At first, when you know very little, it is easy to learn the most fundamental information. Then, as you progress, and the material becomes harder, learning slows down. This applies to learning anything new; a musical instrument, mathematics, a language, a new sport, etc. As Dong Yingjie implies, power through this stage, and you will likely develop feelings of confidence and competence.
When it comes to mastering art, there is no schedule for it. It depends entirely on the extent of your talent, intelligence, and effort. There is really no limit to the skill you can achieve. The only thing that can hold you back is a lack of commitment to the practice. You need to understand that one day of practice brings one day’s worth of benefit. It is a cumulative process, requiring a great many days. If you practice with great patience, attaining an almost magical skill will not be so difficult after all. [from: The Process of Learning Taiji Boxing]
Based on my observations of Taiji students, everyone’s Taiji journey is different, for the reasons Dong Yingjie noted. Students often compare themselves to other students in class, or even to the teacher. What they don’t keep in mind is that it took that student (or teacher) many hours of practice to achieve that level of competence – it didn’t “just happen.” Some students have an innate ability to quickly learn the form, others must study it and practice it many times over to make it theirs. It is actually the latter students that come to understand Taiji more completely as they are forced to think about it and examine it from different angles.
A Final Thought
One other point not brought up by Dong Yingjie (at least not in this text), there is no “perfect” form. Every practitioner adapts the form to their natural abilities, body style, height, and understanding of the Taiji principles, to name a few factors. What is fascinating about Taiji, is that over time, all these factors change, which changes your form, or at least your understanding of the form. This is to say that your form evolves over time, which is both a necessary and natural result. If your form is not evolving over time, you are probably not progressing (nor, practicing routinely). For more on common practice mistakes, see my post The Top Five Tai Chi Chuan Mistakes