Learning a tai chi or qigong form takes conscious effort. A weekly class is great, but you still need to put in some homework if you want to actively learn the forms. You might get familiar with the movements through class, but still may not be able to do them by yourself.
If you go to a follow-along style of class where you follow your instructor and copy what’s in front of you - that’s wonderful, but it’s a different style of class to what I’m talking about here.
This article is about actively learning the form so that you can practise it at home by yourself.
So what can you do to help yourself? Here are a few tips to try:
Essentials for active learning:
As soon as you learn a new movement, try to practise it when you get home and again the next morning. Rehearse it in your mind. Same thing for un-learning bad habits for a movement you thought you knew: practise it that night and again the next day. Otherwise it’s likely you’ll revert to your old way of movement. Even a five-minute practise will help new material stick.
Have a list of the movements of the form and read through it frequently. Stick it up on your wall, leave it on your coffee table, read it frequently. When you read it, visualise the movements that you have learned.
Have some reference videos of the form in front and back view. If you can find a video with back view, written movement names and audio prompting, even better. The front view is great to have for reference before you then go and practise to a back view. Practise with video several times a week when you’re actively learning a new form. Ideally at least one video is by the instructor you’re learning from at class, but also have some videos of Masters to refer to because they are generally pretty awesome to watch.
Great for levelling up if you can:
Start learning with a friend or family member. If you don’t have someone to start with, actively make some buddies at class. Text each other or meet up between class and practise together. Encourage each other to go to class when you’re lacking motivation; keep each other accountable.
Make notes that are meaningful to you. Reading someone else’s descriptions of moves doesn’t always work; it’s better to make your own. But only do this if you’re likely to actually read the notes. You could draw stick figures of the moves too.
Get a book. If you’re learning a Chinese Health Qigong Association form for example, get the accompanying book (try Amazon).
Try practising with audio prompts. Don’t do this too soon however. If you really haven’t got a handle on the movements, trying to follow along to audio could be very frustrating. But if you’re pretty sure you know most of the form, just need a few reminders here and there, then it’s a good tool to have. It also forces you to stick to a certain pace, ideally a bit slower than what we might default to on our own.
Bonus enthusiast points:
Get curious. Learn more than just the foot goes here and the hand is there – find out why. Learn at least one martial application of tai chi movements. There are many different applications for each movement but learning just one will help you understand why your weight shifts in such a way and why your arm is here and not there.
Learn a bit of theory. Look into which meridians and acupoints are being stimulated in your qigong form and think about how Yang Chengfu’s 10 Guiding Principles of Tai Chi might apply to the tai chi movements you just learnt.
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So let’s say you’ve left your weekly class with good intentions, and suddenly a week’s gone by and you have class again in an hour. What to do? Do the time-honoured method used by students the world over: cram! Look at your list of moves, watch the back view of a video and follow along, or even just sit and watch it. It all helps prep your brain to flip into the zone when you get to class.
If you don’t do any of the above, that’s okay. The main thing is that you go to class and enjoy it. If you go to class and feel guilty for not putting in the work, well, work out how to make peace with that. It’s better to go to class than not go to class, it’s as simple as that. If you want to practise your forms at home, you need to put in the work to remember them. This is how you get all of the amazing health and fitness benefits of the forms - by practising them multiple times a week. And you can only do that if you remember them. It’s worth the effort!