In the beginning we demonstrate the form and explain the necessary precepts (Balance, shifting the weight, relaxation, moving from the center, etc.), and then have the students follow the instructor through the beginning of the form, including individual instruction, adding new parts as the student progresses.
This is a lot for most beginners, and adding more to this regimen may risk driving some students away.
Adding one somewhat challenging activity, which the Chows included almost from the beginning, greatly facilitates this learning process.
This activity, although somewhat challenging, should not be overlooked by the serious student or instructor.
In addition to presenting the precepts and the form and practicing the form, both by following it and by individual work with each student, having each student perform what they can of the form without help during the individual part of each student’s lesson greatly enhances this learning process.
(“Now I want you to do as much of the form as you can on your own, without help.”)
If this part is left out, the student is sent home without practicing doing the form on their own, and then is expected to do this homework without having practiced it!
This learning/ teaching technique makes the difference between storing the practice in short term memory or storing it in one’s long term memory.
Without it, the lessons take much longer to be absorbed and internalized.
Accomplished musicians know this. When practicing a new piece, at some point they begin to play it without having a copy of it to follow.
They then acquire the ability to play the piece without having a copy in front of them.
Practicing the piece without using this aid is challenging, and might often require multiple attempts.
I often remind students at this point that one doesn’t have to do the form perfectly in order to accrue benefits.
No one (except perhaps Mr Data from Star Trek) achieves excellence without first making beginners’ mistakes.
Einstein
No effort is ever wasted. This is known as Einstein’s law of the conservation of matter and energy, and means that our every effort can have a positive effect, even if it takes a while to manifest in our lives.
It just takes a little time.. With just a little patience much can be achieved.
Changing Old Habits Takes Time
We are changing a lifetime of habits.
These habits worked well for us.
They kept us from falling as far back as when we first learned to walk, so they may require a little time to change.
It’s not surprising that it takes time to learn a better way to move. It’s amazing that we can do this at all!
We learned some of these habits since before we learned to talk.
We can’t easily access them or change them with words. But we can reach and work with them by changing the way we move.
It just takes a little bit longer!
It just takes a little time. And the benefits of moving without un-necessarily tensing up are immense!
We have much better balance now than we did when we first learned to walk.
We waste so much energy when we aren’t in balance!
Namaste, Daniel
