SO serious!
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.
Getting irritated.
‘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.
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.
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