Watching How It’s Taught
I spent part of the morning watching videos of people teaching what I’m currently learning. I tried to watch without bias. I didn’t succeed. But in that failure, something useful surfaced.
Seeing what felt clumsy or overstated helped clarify what matters to me — not just how I’d like to teach one day, but what I’d rather avoid.
It isn’t only about movement, though correct movement matters. And it isn’t all about the dam and endlessly invoked Qi, spoken about as if it were a private possession or special ability accessed while holding an imaginary ball. That language feels tired to me. Overworked.
What draws me instead is something quieter. The way this practice seeps into everything — breath, posture, attention, response. The way Kung Fu and Tai Chi quietly reshape how a day is lived, not just how a body moves.
For me, it isn’t an activity. It’s a way of arranging life. A simple philosophy that holds up under pressure, without needing embellishment. I’m wary of teachers who make it sound complex in order to sound important. That impulse feels rooted in ego, not understanding.
If I ever teach, the practice will still be physical. But more than that, it would be a framework for ongoing change — something without a finish line. I don’t believe limitation comes from the art itself. More often, it arrives through the narrowness of how it’s presented.
I’d want the forms to be clear and beautiful. The thinking to be honest and inward-facing. Light enough that depth can arrive without announcement. I wouldn’t want people to just learn movements — I’d want them to notice how those movements echo through the rest of their lives.
No performance. No mystique. Just careful, grounded teaching that respects both the body and whatever else quietly moves beneath it.
The rest of the day followed that same tone. A lazy rhythm. Some improvised practice, warmed by the winter sun. An afternoon nap slipped in without resistance.
There wasn’t much to achieve.
Not much to plan.
For now, it feels right to let the next steps wait.