Most people who do tai chi or qigong come along to a class because they want some exercise, perhaps also to meet likeminded people, maybe to do something a bit different, maybe to find some calm in a hectic working life, or to centre themselves… and so on. Probably something like .0001% want to become teachers.
The teachers’ balancing act.
For the tai chi and qigong teacher, you want to share your enthusiasm – your insights into what you do, and what gives you enjoyment, but you also know that the vast majority are there to do something a bit different, and probably don’t take it as seriously as you do. In other words, there’s a fine line between being overly serious in a class and making the event an enjoyable experience. I’ve known a few instructors who take the whole thing extremely seriously without any sense of making it enjoyable, seeming to forget that most people are not there for the same reasons that they are there.
Getting irritated.
I’ve also known teachers who get annoyed when their students don’t understand something. They seem to forget that the student is actually paying them money to come to the class, which implies that the student wants to learn, rather than be told off for apparently being stupid. The teacher’s annoyance also strikes me as strange because, if someone doesn’t understand something in a class, surely the tutor has either aimed too high with the info, or else explained himself inadequately. Sure, some people don’t listen, but perhaps their focus is still on something else from which you’ve now moved on.
‘I don’t get it.’ My view is that, if someone doesn’t get the point I’m trying to make, I’ve either explained it badly, I’ve explained it in too complex a manner, I’ve taken too long to explain it, the analogy I’ve used to help people wasn’t good enough, I’ve tried to explain too much at the same time, or perhaps I haven’t demonstrated it clearly.
A tai chi or qigong class therefore has to cater for all. You need a bit of fun, a bit of a challenge, but at the same time you need to present some of the subtleties so that people leave thinking, “I didn’t know it could feel like that”, having experienced a change in either their bodies or in the way that they move, or possibly in the way that they see the world.
Asking questions.
People don’t like to ask questions. I completely get this. If you’re in a group of people, you don’t like to ask anything in case everyone will think the question stupid, or too basic, or missing the point, or in case you are asking a question that’s already been explained and you were too thick to get it first time around!
But in my experience, however stupid you might suspect the question is, there’s always someone else in the group who wanted to ask the very same question, and who’s really pleased when you ask it. Furthermore, when people start asking questions, everyone suddenly gets involved and more often than not, other questions start to arise. Then the class takes on a positive momentum of its own. Questions mean that you’re thinking about what you’re doing and trying to get to grips with it in your own way.
Do I have to practise? We’re not in a temple in China anymore; this is 21st century high-pressure life, and not many people want more pressure in a lunchtime or evening class. No one wants to be emotionally beaten up by the instructor for not practising; yes, you might want to improve, but at your own speed. For some teachers a student’s lack of practise can be very annoying, but those teachers either forget, or simply don’t take into account, that people learn for a variety of reasons, and that their students are not learning to please them.
Details of Tai chi and Qigong classes with James Drewe here.