Tai Chi – Page 34

Working With Teenagers

Last night’s presentation (see previous post) to a junior football team went very well.

Twenty 15-19 year olds attended and they were not sure what was going to happen. Their coach said it would be special and to ‘watch out for the Sabre’.

I was a little apprehensive about the reception I would receive as it was my first presentation in a football environment. And Tai Chi can appear weird and silly in a macho culture.

But my concerns evaporated quickly as the boys got right into the spirit of what was offered by having a go to a very different approach to achieving their best.

Over the years, working with teenagers, regardless of the environment, I find the same themes keep coming up.

If you want to engage them in an activity you need to;

make it fun
challenge them
talk their language
make it relevant
keep things moving
encourage and praise them often

I finished the presentation with some weapons demonstrations to reinforce the difference between Yin and Yang energy. I did a short sword form, staff form and fans. They enjoyed the snapping fans demonstration.

It’s great fun working with teenagers.

And maybe why I enjoy it so much is because ‘I’m just a big kid too’.

Tai Chi & Aussie Football

By Chris Leave a Comment

This evening I will be delivering a presentation to about thirty 15-19 year old footballers.

The theme is Best Performance – a Tai Chi perspective.

I know from experience that if I present it in the traditional way I will lose the audience in the first few seconds.

Teenagers need excitement, movement, fun to keep their attention otherwise they get bored quickly.

I intend to ramp up the excitement and get them focused by using humour demonstrations and challenges. I’ll bring in the teaching points at the end of the fun stuff.

The key to the success of the presentation will be the language I use in relation to Tai Chi.

I’ll need to keep it simple and relevant to their football skills. Having an esoteric approach will only bore them.

Now excuse me while I go and practice my sabre form for the demonstration this evening.

And iron my Tai Chi shirt.

It’s a bit wrinkled. Just like me.

Every Little Bit Helps

By Chris Leave a Comment

It’s difficult fitting in all my Tai Chi and Chi Kung training sessions each week.

I don’t train at a set time each day because of the nature of running a facilitation business. I can be working any day of the week, morning, afternoons or during the evenings.

So I have to fit my training in around my work.

While taking out the rubbish bin the other day I discovered a way of fitting in extra training time.

I ducked into my garage and spent a few seconds training a specific skill on the punching bag.

I now do this at least once a day whenever I step outside my backdoor.

It’s only a light workout lasting a few seconds but every little bit helps.

Grinding Tai Chi

By Chris Leave a Comment

I was working with grade five and six students the other day in our ‘Pozitive Kidz are happy kidz’ workshops.

As I walked into the hall for the first session I noticed some workmen outside.

Once the kids came in and I introduced myself the ear-bursting screech began.

One of the workmen outside was using a grinding tool on a piece of metal.

I had to raise the level of my voice so the children could hear what I was saying.

The irritating and annoying sound threaten to disrupt the class as some of the children started to complain about the noise.

I had two choices – either complain about the noise which would have further highlighted the discomfort or use a Tai Chi principle (yin/yang) to deal with it.

I chose the Tai Chi option because I was there to teach the children how to cope with stress.

This is how I did it.

I acknowledged the noise to the students without making too much of it.

I then reinforced the idea throughout the session that Tai Chi helps us to focus inside of ourselves rather than on external distractions we have no control of.

This worked reasonable well as we got through what could have been a disastrous session because of the noise.

This experience for me reinforced the lesson that as teachers we need to model the behaviour we desire our students to exhibit.

A choice we all need to make under pressure.

Stay calm or panic.

Lost In Repetition

By Chris Leave a Comment

When I practice I occasionaly get ‘lost in repetition’ which is a bad habit.

The quality of my training suffers because my mind wanders or I’m focused on getting a certain amount of repetitions completed.

It is important that each repetition of a skill is performed correctly otherwise bad habits occur.

This is what I do to reduce the ‘lost in repetition’ effect;

Monitor what I am doing
Slow down the pace of the repetitions so as to avoid the tendency to speed through the set
Reduce the amount of repetitions if the quality is not there

It is the quality of the repetition of a skill not the quantity that will determine how much you improve.

Source: Tai Chi Tip #22