Our class is like Alexander the Great teaching Dad's Army. Sifu Waller's not even trying. It's unbelievably powerful and looks like nothing. It's beyond impressive.

I think it's the ease and speed at which Sifu Waller does it. It's like a magician with a sleight of hand but obviously with potentially deadly consequences. It's amazing to watch and utterly awe inspiring.

Sifu Waller is incredibly quick sometimes it's impossible to get your head around it.

The more I get into this, the more I realise how lucky we are as a class. Most people could look their whole lives and never find anything close. I find the class to be very empowering.

(Karen Laws) 

Biomage?

A taijiquan student will never be asked to wear a top hat, a leotard or to pull a rabbit out of a hat. But you will get to do some pretty amazing things. And no tricks or fooling people.

There are some incredible abilities in the syllabus. Arcane skills. And you can learn them all. But they are not magical. They are the product of patience, practice and persistence.

But first, you must work on freeing your mind.

Beyond thought

The I Ching teaches us that events, people and circumstances coalesce to create 'the moment'. In order to get the most benefit, we have to align ourselves perfectly with what is taking place.

This is 'wu wei'. Not forcing. The challenge facing us is that the moment is instantaneous, unique and not reproducible. It continually changes. In order to deal with this, we must flow.

That is why we learn to listen, to feel, to be sticky, to follow. Thinking won't help at all.

Awake

In taijiquan you need to become exceptionally sensitive. You need to be capable of 'listening' to what is happening. You need to adapt, change and improvise again and again and again.

Our drills cultivate these skills. If they did not, what purpose would they serve? As you become increasingly competent, you are less and less able to explain just how you defended yourself.

You just did it and it worked. This is tzu-jan.

Beyond words

Words have severe limitations. Not everything will fit the form of words. Can you explain the colour red to a blind person? The taste of a dosa pancake to somebody who has never eaten one?

What love feels like? An orgasm? When an expert (in any field of study) shows a spontaneous demonstration of skill, they are drawing upon experience and abilities that are largely intuitive.

The skill comes from the subconscious mind.

Qi magic?

The magical skills of taijiquan are not common in modern society. 

The reason for this is simple. People are quick to dismiss biomechanical and mind skills in favour of qi. Qi is a quick and lazy answer.

It requires no deeper explanation. It is akin to a conclusion.

We like the feeling of being in charge of our thoughts and actions, and abandoning our sense of free will feels rather uncomfortable. However, magicians have developed powerful ways of manipulating your thoughts, and they can influence many of the choices you make. For example, the magician may ask you to choose a card from a deck of playing cards, and while you feel you have an entirely free choice, the magician made you choose one particular card. This is known as forcing and is a principle by which magicians covertly guide you towards a predetermined choice.

(Gustav Kuhn)

Cup is full

There is an over-used Asian example whereby a teacher pours tea into the student's cup until it spills over. The student urgently tells the teacher to stop pouring.

The teacher explains that the student's mind is like the cup; it is already full of ideas and preconceptions. Until they empty out what they already think, no new knowledge can be comprehended.

Lost...

When a new student begins to learn taijiquan they are not allowed to use muscular tension. The muscles must remain relaxed at all times. The importance of optimal alignment is emphasised.

Over-reaching, sweating, exertion and force are all rejected. This is bewildering for the student. They feel lost and confused. This is a good starting place.

Research on magic highlights that we are not only wrong about the amount we see, but also about the extent to which we can trust the things we see and remember. As we are learning more about the mind, it has become apparent that most of our experiences are an illusion. Of all of these illusions it’s the illusion of free will that I find most unsettling.
(Gustav Kuhn)

Awe & wonder

When a taijiquan student discovers that they can reproduce an unexpected outcome repeatedly; in varying and unpredictable circumstances, their confidence grows. They seek to gain new power and skill.

Much of our work on misdirection reveals that the gaps in our conscious experience are bigger than most of us had assumed. As you look at your surroundings, you experience the world as a rich and complete sensory experience. However, our research on misdirection illustrates that this conscious experience is a powerful illusion. Our true perception is full of gaps and holes, and much more removed from reality than most of us imagine. I spend much of my time studying these types of illusions, and even though I know my brain is being tricked, I still struggle to appreciate just how little I am truly conscious of. It’s a very compelling illusion and one that is very difficult to break.

(Gustav Kuhn)

Stop fighting

At some point a taijiquan student lets go of their preconceptions and just does what they are being told to do. They stop being awkward, arguing and over-analysing everything... And suddenly it works.

Freed from self-consciousness, the art emerges and the skill is just there. This is called 'tzu-jan'. It happened without being forced. Typically the student is sceptical; convinced that there's a trick.

They question their practice partner - leery of unwanted compliance. This is a normal response and quite reasonable. So, the situation is reproduced or the roles reversed. The same thing happens again.

It doesn't make sense...

Taijiquan new starters always make the mistake of trying to understand something unfamiliar in terms of the known. They want to get a handle on the training. They want reassurance and security.

They want to feel confident. Not knowing is daunting. But it is the truth. You cannot possibly understand taijiquan in terms of anything else.

Mind

Instead of thinking about qi, turn your attention to the human mind. Now that is a fascinating subject, and a bona fide mystery. We use the word 'mind' quite readily and freely, but do we know what it is?

Philosophers and scientists have explored the workings of the mind for a very long time now. Yet, nobody knows quite how the mind affects the body or even what the mind is. 

There are many scientific studies exploring how our thoughts directly affect our health and wellbeing. In taijiquan, the role of the mind is significant.

Qi

It is tempting for many new starters to read about qi and believe that some kind of mystical energy is going to power their art. Be prepared for disappointment. You still need to exercise the body.

There will be no 'mystical' moments where qi does the work for you.

This research on misdirection has important real-world implications. It is often important to accurately judge our own cognitive abilities, and misjudgments can have fatal consequences. For example, most people underestimate the extent to which their attention is misdirected by a phone call. Research has shown that talking even on a hands-free phone has the same detrimental impact on your driving as being over the drink-drive limit. However, since we overestimate our own abilities, we don’t notice the impact this technological misdirection has on our performance.

(Gustav Kuhn)