12/28/2025
Finding a good teacher isn't always easy. Some areas are a t'ai chi ch'uan desert. And many teachers are not experts. Making the assumption you really want to learn the art, rather than just doing another exercise follow the leader class, take your time and learn properly from the beginning.
The takeaway is, find a good quality class with a legitimate teacher.
Show up to class.
Do your homework, practice outside of class.
Accept corrections without debate. Put in the class hours.
That will help you learn properly and gain the benefits of the exercise. HK
COMPARISONS ARE DIFFICULT
Harvey Kurland
In general, to be a decent high level instructor of t’ai chi ch’uan it takes about 500 to 1000 hours of class study under a legitimate teacher. A weekend workshop or two won’t do it.
Take time to let your new knowledge sink in. Learn one to two new movements per week.
Unless you already have the basic exercises mastered, it is best to take your time.
If you are more concerned about getting "through the form", take the time to let your new knowledge sink in. Learn one to two new movements per week. Unless you already have the basic exercises mastered, it is best to take your time. If you rush, you will more difficulty learning.
One master instructor suggested one should not teach until they have studied for 10 years. In contrast there are groups that give teaching certification to people who sign up for a weekend workshop, less than 20 hours of training, I witnessed one of these workshops and I saw that most of those “certificated” could not do the form they learned in the workshop on their own. In some cases they teach classes while following a video. In my opinion they are not trained enough to call themselves teachers. The workshop leader told me that they are not teachers, they are class leaders. What is the difference?
It is hard to compare a teacher from one school with one from another. In some schools a teacher may only know the short form, i.e. simplified "24" form or Cheng "37" form. Others may know the long form, weapons, Fast form, San Shou Partner form, and pushing hands. The number of forms one knows may not be meaningful either. I have observed those who just practiced and taught the short Cheng Man-ch’ing form who had exquisite skills, they had first rate pushing hands skills and did a excellent subtle form. They had a deep knowledge of the art. In contrast there are those doing long forms and those who have studied a dozen other forms, i.e., "Form Collectors", who were sloppy and technically deficient, with no real skill. Many are “Hard Stylists” who can pick up choreography easily but lack the concept of the art. One Taekwondo teacher told me he was going to take a weekend workshop that his organization gave on t’ai chi, and then would be able to teach it. I guess it helps to bring in money to his school. But he in my opinion is not a true t’ai chi teacher after a weekend workshop. In contrast I have had taekwondo, karate, aikido and jujitsu black belts who studied for several years in order to get the concepts correct. Slow karate or aikido is NOT t'ai chi ch'uan.
Each form takes time to learn and "Digest." For example one group claimed to teach a certain form, one that I studied. I noticed it did not look like the original form but rather another style. That is because they mixed study of two different forms that had very different techniques so that their form was a mishmash of both, neither on nor the other. Their error was not to learn one form correctly, then learn another. That is doable but the concept of negative learning takes place when studying two similar but different methods at the same time. One style interferes with the other. To do this first learn one, get it down, then learn another.
I don’t exclude myself from this either. I studied one form and practiced it for a year before going to another style. The second style being very different from the first and it would have been easy to mix the two up. But because I focused for a long time and over 1500 hours of homework practice and class hours on the first form, I did not have that problem. The takeaway is first study one style, get it down, then if you like, then study another form. Many top level masters who teach their own versions of t’ai chi ch’uan followed that rule.
Some don’t have patience and jump from school to school without learning the curriculum. I have had several students that learned a small part of our system, then found it frustrating to study the rest of the form. So they went off and got a weekend certification from some group and declared themselves a teacher. Being verbally glib they enticed students. One, a medical provider, took two quarters of my class then I found her teaching the basic exercises in workshops to her patients. Unfortunately she did not get very deep into the study and was just a beginner, not even yellow belt status.
In terms of other martial arts, some t’ai chi ch’uan teachers are yellow belts posing as black belts.
Studying a lot of different forms does not necessarily make one a better practitioner. More is not necessarily better. What does that mean? "Form Collectors" usually have sloppy technique in the terms of all their forms start looking alike, as mentioned previously, even if they are not supposed to. Some have good overall skill and may be good at sparring or pushing hands. But their form is lacking. Learning a system is the better method, i.e. a coherent concept based art.
In my article Guard Against the Three Faults I talk about Grandmaster Cheng Man-ch'ing saying there are three basic faults in studying t'ai-chi ch'uan. The first fault is the lack of perseverance. The second is greediness. The third is haste. All three lead to mindless and sloppy learning of t'ai-chi ch'uan.
The idea is to focus on the basic principles when doing the form. More is not necessarily better. Some people are trying to learn every form or style they come in contact with, that is an expression of greed. Some people call them "Form collectors." They are in a rush to learn, haste. But this can cause confusion and not give them time to learn the forms correctly. It is better to take your time, learn step by step and not be in a big rush. That gives you time to digest what you learn. The haste combined with greed makes a mishmash out of forms and they all start looking alike.
I have observed some teachers doing the Kuang P'ing form that looked just like the Cheng Man-ch'ing form in energy and technique. Students, who trained directly with Kuo Lien Ying, as I did, know there is major differences in the energy and technique of those forms. This combining of energies may have been done for a reason, essentially making a new style, but it may also have been due to learning two different conceptual forms without keeping the idea separate. This is an example of being greedy and learning in haste.”
There are some benefits to learning a complete coherent system where each part is related to the other, as opposed to just learning a form here, and another there, and just collecting unrelated forms or exercises. In a “System” one is moving up and gaining depth as one learns. In learning unrelated forms one is moving sideways, and maybe even conflicting in concepts as different styles may have different postures, “energy” and ways of moving. For example when judging t'ai chi ch'uan form competitions I noticed some Kuang P'ing students who looked like they were doing the Cheng Man-ch'ing form. These are two very different forms and should not look the same. But for some reason cross training systems made them look like the other form, i.e. Kuang P'ing should look like Kuang P'ing and Cheng like Cheng. While there is nothing particularly bad about that if the student has good mechanics and skill, it just should be called by another name. And that is how many new styles get formed.
Grandmaster Tchoung once told me, all styles are good as long as the techniques are done properly and held in terms of the t'ai-chi ch'uan principles. And practicing the art will have many physical benefits, even when first studying no matter if it looks good or not.
In the Seattle CTCCA/NWTCCA school, there were several students who trained with a series of other instructors and then with Tchoung. Their previous study did not give them any real skill (kung-fu). They jumped around from school to school and never spent enough time with one teacher to really let it sink in. Or their former teachers really were not experts of the art. The amount of time one spends taking classes does not necessarily mean there is any good quality learning taking place.
What is interesting is that some students had preconceived notions of what t’ai chi ch’uan was when they came to class and did not modify that notion, even in the face of a great master showing them what the art really was. It did not fit their fantasy. They did what they wanted, and it showed. Others spent more time drinking tea than training (one Canadian Teacher calls them the "Tea and Cookie crowd") and that showed too. To learn the art you need to show up to class, practice outside of class and listen to the teacher when they give corrections. That is why after thousands of students came through the Seattle School only 5 were designated as Sifu to carry on the art.
In t'ai-chi ch'uan competition some competitors have beautiful forms, others not so pretty. Others may have excellent pushing hands or applications. In the case of winning pretty competition forms, many old masters might not be considered to have pretty forms at all, but they had the real art.
As Yang Cheng-fu once said t'ai-chi ch'uan practice is for ones own benefit not for show or demonstration. If the principles are held then the form will produce a good effect, it doesn't have to be pretty.
While there is a correlation with amount of study and skill, there is not an absolute relationship between the time spent doing the art and skill. Just as there are painters who have painted all their lives and are just average, there are people who have practiced tennis, t’ai chi, or basketball all their lives and not gained any great skill, but they should have some. This is the same in all sports and arts. Some who excel just have natural talent combined with good teaching and dedicated practice. But even if they don’t excel, everyone who trains get the health benefits of the practice.
To make any other assumption is getting back to the mystification concept. Believing in a magical technique or as the master manipulator tells his mystified student, "One day when you are ready I will teach you the secret…." That is your signal to run to the door. In reality when you study long enough you will understand the subtleties and they will no longer be as magical. (If you feel a little uncomfortable now you better start looking at your teacher/student relationship and your belief system.) Magical Thinking is an issue in internal arts, due to the terms used. I discuss this in other articles.
Reasons for this magical thinking are many, such as some people having a lack of belief in the scientific method or don’t trust the modern. Others are just superstitious and they suspend disbelief. Often they do not recognize the placebo effect when it occurs. They may suspend logic, or they are just being gullible, some people are close-minded to western science and others believe anecdotal, hearsay and fabricated evidence as truth. For example I had a discussion about a peng chin (jin) with a t'ai chi teacher. I told him what I thought was going on physiologically in terms of grounding and the flow of energy/force, but it did not seem like a good answer to him. So he went to a well respected University biomechanics department to get an answer. After their analysis, he told me that they told him the same thing I that I told him. He still did not like it, I think he was looking for a magical answer for something that could be explained easily with science and logic.
Emotions and needing magical interpretations often overcome clear thinking and good judgment. Remember because you believe something, does not make it so. Opinion is not a substitute for thought and research.
Magical thinking is also what gets some students into abusive situations. If the teacher promotes the mystical thinking they may use it to manipulate students. My article on equanimity deals with this and sexual abuse by masters.
You may want it to be magical but it may be explained in more mundane ways. I maintain, if you like an art that is reason enough to do it, you don’t need to fabricate anything about it. Of then what seems like magic is just very subtle skill, sensitivity or "energies" that those who do not have that subtle knowledge cannot understand.
The Great Dachengquan Grandmaster Wang Xuanjie discussed the idea that people who don't understand the art think it is magical when it is due to hard work.
So the takeaway is, find a good quality class with a legitimate teacher. Show up to class. Do your homework, practice outside of class. Accept corrections without debate. Put in the hours. That will help you learn properly and gain the benefits of the exercise.
As Grandmaster Wang Xuanjie said, "…his skills may seem miraculous to those with poor discernment, who make a mystery of him…myths originate in ignorance, poor discernment and inexperience. A person who happens to get the essence of shadow boxing, and yet is unable to comprehend often feels mysterious about things more abstruse. When he becomes more experienced and well-informed, he will see the light and do away with all mysterious beliefs." (Dachengquan, p.29)
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