You’ve
seen me use the word “player” in regard to one who practices tai chi. There are a few reasons for it which are
worth going over.
The first and most important is that it’s the word the Yang family uses. Since I’m a dues-paying member of the
International Yang Family Tai Chi Association and aspire to become a Certified
Instructor, it’s only fitting that I use their jargon. I don’t know what word the family uses in
place of it in Chinese. There are a few different words in Chinese for “student,”
and in a philosophical sense we are all “students” of the art. But in Chinese, just like in English, the
words for “student” or “pupil” are usually defined against their opposite
“teacher.” And sometimes a person doing
tai chi is, at the moment, neither student nor teacher, but simply someone
doing tai chi.
I also like the word for personal reasons.
Back when I was on Active Duty I read a science-fiction novel called
“The Regiment.” It was about a unit of
mercenaries from a culture whose approach to literally everything in life was
that of “play.” The book goes into great
detail on this approach. The short version is that approaching the
things we do as if we are “playing” encourages both a sense of detachment and a
focus on the activity for its own sake.
If this is hard to wrap one’s mind around, try looking at it this way. Think back to when you were a child, and the
games you played as a child. Take
“Hide-and-Seek” as a simple example.
When you played, you were intensely focused on the game – your senses
were at their peak, you were completely “in the moment” and you were extremely
intent to do your best. And it was a lot
of fun. But it was also “just a game,”
and whether you won or lost wasn’t world-changing important. You had your fun but when the game was over,
life went on, you went home when the street lights came on, Mom had dinner
ready and your adventures while “in the game” were yours to keep.
This is the
“early-middle” of a game of Go I played with my daughter on her 21st
Birthday. The same dynamic existed in
this “state of play” as when each of us were kids – the extreme focus, the
intense desire to do our best, the fun.
To this is the added dimension of collaboration – we’re not merely
competing against each other, we’re also creating the game as it
progresses.
We should try to do the same thing with our tai chi. It ought not to be work; it ought to be
approached as play. If I’m sore and
tired from a day at work – particularly if the job was a drag and unsatisfying
– I’ll come home feeling like I’ve suffered.
Contrariwise, if I come home sore and tired from class – particularly if
the class was rewarding and everyone (including me) learned something – I feel
happy and as though my effort had value.
Just as sore and tired either way, but the outlook makes all the
difference.
The last reason I like the word “player” is it’s easier and quicker to type out
“practitioner,” which while descriptive is also needlessly cold and detached.
