How to Find a Tai Chi Instructor (Part 5)

Continued from ?How to find a Tai Chi Instructor (Part 4)

22.Self Defense Applications

- A Tai Chi teacher does not have to teach self defense to students who do not want it but any real teacher of Tai Chi who can impart the real knowledge of Tai Chi to others must have at least a basic understanding of how the movements are really applied and be able to demonstrate it. This is a necessity as the moves can only be truly understood if the practitioner knows the basic fundamental applications for the move. Without this knowledge the Tai Chi instruction really is a case of the blind leading the blind.

Any basic Tai Chi instructor knows a minimum of 9 - 10 different applications for each and every move and the applications range from very simple to very sophisticated. An advanced teacher will often know a minimum of several dozen or more applications for each move that will include but is not limited to throwing, grappling, striking, seizing, controlling, pressure point strikes, take downs and slipping/warding off (soft blocking).

Tai Chi began as a martial art and is still practiced as such by the Chinese and any real teacher of the art is going to have been exposed to this part of the discipline.

23Many other items to numerous to include here and that can be found by reading quality books on the subject and by searching and reading online and by checking back with us as we continue to write and offer articles for the general public.

This article only covers a small fraction of what the art of Tai Chi really has to offer. We will be going into more detail on some of these points in future articles and hope to shed light on other aspects of Tai Chi training that have not been addressed here.

Tai Chi is Internal Kung Fu. A quote I have heard from more than one of my teachers about this is that ?Many people have the choreography. Not many have the Kung Fu.? One of the major concerns/gripes of our Tai Chi teachers is that many people learn a Tai Chi set of moves, practice it a bit and then start teaching Tai Chi and that somehow over the last 45 years this has become acceptable in America.

This is the equivalent of someone going to a Karate class getting their white belt and then opening their own school offering Karate classes. The average American would find this unacceptable and would not attend such a school opting instead to go to a school where the teacher has at least a black belt from someone who is truly qualified to bestow such a rank. We believe the same standard of quality should be true for Tai Chi instruction as Tai Chi is a martial art that has amazing health benefits based in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

A person claiming to teach Tai Chi or who is offering Tai Chi classes who does not have knowledge or direct access to most of the training methods and principles mentioned in this article is simply not qualified to teach even basic beginning Tai Chi.

To Be continued in ?How to find a Tai Chi Instructor (Part6)

Sigung Richard Clear has over 30 years of continuous study in Tai Chi and Chi Kung both in the U.S. and China. http://www.clearstaichi.com