Local Tai Chi Teacher

Hi all
Here's a quick story. As I was helping my Taekwondo instructor put away the mats one night after class, we walked past a local Tai Chi teacher waiting to move his class of 2 students into the community hall. My Taekwondo instructor said "Sorry, we won't be much longer in your Dojo or Dojang or what ever you call it." I then said "I believe in Chinese it's Kwoon." The Tai Chi teacher said "The place we train is the universe". I then thought wow! How true is that!. This fellow sees things as they really are. He is showing so little ego, that he won't even use his affiliated terminology, but rather he just sees it like it is. Just another part of the whole of creation. And he labels it as such.

I really like this guy. I get good energy from him. He has a great sense of humour and he treats his students like members of a family, instead of treating his students as associates with different ranks. An example of this is that he doesn't like to be called Sifu. He says if we must label ourselves then he wishes to be addressed by his first name.

He explained the difference between internal and external martial arts like this. "In Martial Arts such as Taekwondo and Karate, they train the body and mind to enhance the spirit. In Tai Chi we train the spirit to enhance the body and mind."    

I participated in a few classes under his instruction and enjoyed it, but found it more interesting than anything else. It was interesting to learn about yin first and yang second. I'd like to get back there and learn more, but I don't know if I will have the time. Tai Chi is a Martial Art I recommend because a lot can be learned from it and there isn't much opportunity for the ego to assert its self. It focuses on moving meditation as it's primary method of training and the movements can be used in self defence when adequately understood. The teacher discourages his students from thinking of these movements as such because when thinking of combat, people naturally get tight and excited, and as a result there posture suffers. Combat application comes when students can move in meditation with ease. However the primary aim is to help people become calmer, happier and healthier. Thanks for reading.