Tai Chi Saints and Sinners
Why isn’t my Tai Chi teacher a picture of health and virtue? The simple answer is, everybody has a baseline of health based on their genetics, history and lifestyle. Tai Chi practice should improve on that baseline and that is where you will find them. That could look better than your average man or woman in the street, or it could look worse. Our experience has taught us that this is not an obvious indicator as to whether they have something of value for you.
There are a couple of large elephants in this particular room, one relating to the art and one relating to individuals. Tai Chi is magical, it contains remarkable practices, experiences and outcomes that are incredible discoveries by the giants whose shoulders we stand on, worth preserving and passing on. It also contains elements that are pre-modern sports science and are flawed. We have spoken a lot for example on how some styles are very damaging to the knees and in a bid to learn that style in its traditional form individuals have damaged themselves. Not to say the choice to learn a traditional art exactly as passed on is a bad endeavour, there are lots of fun and fascinating endeavours that come with risk of injury. Also, if an individual is going deep into the internal alchemy process this is a lifelong process with inherent difficult phases. Your teacher may be on this path and at a peak or a trough at the time you discover them. The second large elephant in the room is that humans are flawed; some of the most well known masters historically have not been saints and have not had long lives. And even if your teacher is not a total sinner, maybe they have chosen a middle path; walking instead of running, meditating instead of lifting weights, eating 80% well instead of 100% to enjoy life a little more.
What is for sure is that your teacher will (or at least should) have put their heart and soul into thousands of hours of training and research, and to a lesser or greater degree distilled it into their own style. This style must resonate with you for you to follow them, to join them on their journey, whatever their state. To what degree you should accept their flaws is proportionate to their skill, if they have incredible abilities then you can forgive or at least tolerate a lot. We have been taught by teachers that are rude, narcissistic, addicts and worse. Some of the most remarkable abilities we have come across have been in the hands of the least admirable individuals. There is something oddly fascinating and appealing about this idea of incredible skill in spite of character, but it can also be a frustrating journey. As for us, well we’re a work in progress.