You’ve heard me say of many things in tai chi that they are “one of the Stations of the Cross.” Most of my students know what I mean by this; but since I’m speaking in metaphors, I probably ought to spell out exactly what I’m on about when I use the allegory.
“Stations of the Cross” refers to a ritual in many Christian traditions, where the practitioner moves along a series of representations (the “Stations”) of the story of Jesus leading up to Easter. At each “Station,” prayers are recited and the images are contemplated. The worshipper goes through these “Stations” in order, one to the next, usually during Lent to prepare him- or herself spiritually for Easter.
I use this term in connection with tai chi because our growth in the art tends to follow a certain well-trodden path, with steps that we really can’t skip, and which build one-upon-the-others. They're steps every tai chi player must go through – and I mean every player, regardless of culture, physiology or talent – in order to grow in the art. We have fewer “stations” than the fourteen in the Christian tradition, but we also spend more time at each.
Broadly speaking, they are as follows
1. Learning the postures
2.
Ditto the transitions
3.
Memorizing the form
4.
Perceiving the energies manifested in each
posture/transition
5.
Applying the energies into the techniques
6.
Partner work
7.
Personalization/development
There are differences, of course. The first is that we often return to the previous “stations” and revisit them, fresh with our new knowledge. We’ll often find ourselves at the threshold of one “station” even before we’ve fully completed the previous one. This is normal and natural – it’s not a perfect comparison, and it’s important not to torture the metaphor.
But the comparison, while imperfect, is sufficient. While we often “go back,” we can’t really skip one of the “stations” without diminishing the ones that come after. We can’t memorize the form, for example, if we’re still unsure where our hands and feet go in any given posture or transition. We can’t perceive our internal energy if our minds are too busy wondering if “Monkey Picks His Nose” comes before or after “White Crane Craps on Lotus*.” We can’t apply energy we can’t yet feel, and so on.
In other words, while it isn’t necessary to achieve mastery in one step before being introduced to the next, it is necessary to at least be comfortable with the previous steps in order to make any meaningful progress in the next ones. We can only hold so many concepts in our minds at one time.
This is why I’m so adamant about at-home practice, especially at the beginning stages. No one, myself included, can develop the internal energy that’s essential to good tai chi if he or she is craning their neck to see what the instructor is going to do next. Our minds just aren’t there yet.
I felt this “Go Back to Station No. 1” feeling very distinctly at the last Yang Jun seminar, when we were practicing push-hands the way he teaches it. I’m familiar enough with push hands, but the sequence and postures he was presenting were new to me – at least in performing them. I was literally at “Learning the postures/transitions” in this element of tai chi, for which reason I couldn’t concentrate on how things felt, to say nothing of moving in a coordinated and unified fashion.
“Going Back to Station No. 1” is good for growth. Just don’t stay there.
* If you think these are legitimate tai chi postures, go back to Station No. 1 and start over.
