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Tai Chi Wednesday With Winston Price

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Making Your Life Easier on Yourself: Positive Framing

Sometimes the only thing needed to remove stress is a change of perspective.  Many times great mental and emotional stress is placed on a situation because of the mindset of the parties involved.  In my training of students in Tai Chi Chuan, I have come to find the lesson of “What is Winning?” as one of the hardest for people to grasp.  When training students there seems to be a grand necessity to win; however, when I ask my students what it means to them to win and I then ask them to match-up the ideas of winning they have with the ideals I have told them are held in the practice and study of Tai Chi Chuan, the students have a great inability to soundly match their ideas with the ideals that are being taught to them.  In that instant, the instant they realize that there is a major discrepancy of realities, I have come to find that students either end up leaving class shortly their after or they redirect their energies to better understanding what it actually means to win in the context of the Tai Chi Chuan.  Normally this paradigm shift happens in two situations: during practice of the solo- form and during practice with a partner or partners.

While training the solo-form some novice students get bored with repeating patterned sequences.  While training, many novices become progressively less attentive to the form of each posture and the transitions in the progression, and in many other cases they simply stop doing the exercise all together and they either start to do something else or do nothing at all.  I approach each situation differently depending on the student; however, the message is always the same: “You seem bored”.  I ask them to not think of the process as doing work to get to the next point.  I ask them to focus directly on what it is they are doing without worry or stress over what it is they do not know and/or have not been presented.   I tell the students once they are completely comfortable with what they are currently doing they open up the opportunity to progress to the next point without strain or stress.  I point out they never get comfortable with where they are because they are so strenuously focusing on the next point that it causes unnecessary mental and emotional stress.  Worrying over the unknown ruins the progress of the known and the present.  So even if they can do the postures shown, their unease, their worry and stress over the unknown, causes negative effects on their current situation and closes any opportunity for efficient progress.  If they change the way they perceive their current situation; if they focus directly on the positive growth that can be gained from where they are and what they are currently attempting to accomplish, they will naturally progress to the next level with ease and not stress.

To the point of working with people doing partner work, and seeing students having negative issues with their progressions, I have noticed many points as an instructor where I see the opportunity to help students gain a better understanding of changing their outlook to evoke positive growth.  When monitoring partner work, one way I have come to find, with those that allow me the opportunity to engage them, for a change in perspective is when I see someone who comes to the state function of a drill shown; however, their actions are completely inefficient.  What I have gleaned is that many students inefficiently force an issue to get to the state function of a drill given. What has a tendency to happen in these situations is one of the participants, or multiple participants, begins a battle to struggle overly muscularly to gain advantages of position.  This is never the point of any of the partner drills in Tai Chi Chuan. What I have come to find through instructing is that participant(s) get more involved in the idea of competing to win as oppose to studying and practicing to gain proper skill.  What happens is the will to defeat and compete overrides the nature of the teachings Tai Chi Chuan provides, of which include minimal effort to produce the maximum product to a total positive gain throughout all point of a situation.  The participants that decide to progress a negative framework as their base to produce the state function frame the encounter as a battle with a definite winner and loser.  This mindset has the tendency to breed inefficient skill and inefficient technique with high occurrence.   Giving tactile examples in these circumstances to the participants who are struggling through the drill progressions is one of the most efficient ways I have come to find to start the change of their paradigm.  I allow each participant to do what they did during the drill; however, I allow them to do it with me so they can feel the difference, so they can feel the different types of energies put forth to reach the desired state function.  I tell the participants that I do not frame the encounter as a battle; I do not see the situation as something I have to conquer.  I do not believe that there is a point of winning or a point of losing.  Everything that is done is a point from which I can efficiently study and properly learn.  So in essence I am always gaining.

Having the mindset of not caring of winning or losing throughout my training, not focusing on defeating someone as a point of victory versus shame, opens the opportunity for me to gain the skill of gaining advantages without the product of stress or strain.  Freeing myself from the confines of portraying those around me as combatants, as negative beings, allows me the opportunity to see and focus on multiple and more efficient ways of dealing with situations.

To me life should never be about winning or losing.  When properly done, living should always produce positive gains.  To me life is about taking every opportunity and framing it as such that there is never a stress or a strain on my physical, emotional, mental and spiritual self; so that no matter what I do I allow for the positive and natural occurrence of the opportunity of prospering efficiently to always produce itself and always to take efficient advantage when efficient opportunities present themselves.  In my training, study and instructing of the Tai Chi Chuan, I have come to find that removing the need to defeat to win, removing the worry and stress of the unknown, and replacing it with the positive mindset of efficiently taking advantage of situations leads to one having greater opportunities for positive natures and opportunities to occur.  It is up to us to always take efficient advantage of positive natures and opportunities. It is up to us to remove ourselves from our habits that affect us negatively.   It is up to us to place ourselves in positive frameworks we produce so that we are able to take efficient advantages of conditions when they present themselves.

For more information Winston’s his martial arts academy please visit Internal Magnification.  

Winston Price, Executive Producer, has over a decade and a half of marketing, advertising and public relations experience. He began his business career in 1995 and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. Winston also is a master martial artist and personal trainer with over 2 decades of knowledge and experience. Winston runs his own school, Internal Magnification Martial Arts, where he focuses on helping people reach their personal goals of health and fitness via At-Home personal training with martial foci of Taekwondo, Tai Chi Ch’uan, Hapkido and Ba Gua Zhang. As an executive producer for VoiceAmerica, Winston utilizes his skills in business and personal training to help new and existing hosts maximize their opportunity with the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network by supporting his hosts with the business and personal aspects of creating and developing their show. Winston believes that each host brings their own flavor to the Network. By properly coaching and motivating his hosts, they are able to produce THEIR show with THEIR style and THEIR passion being at the forefront of every broadcast.

 

Tai Chi Wednesday with Winston Price

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“Well, It’s Better Than Nothing.” – Training Yourself to Fail

What sparked this post is the saying, “Well, it’s better than nothing”.  This saying is an excuse used to make one feel better about failing.  This is one of the worst things to actually believe.  The meaning of this phrase is that one did something to the positive affect of the actions completed.  But does that really even make good sense?  Think about it this way; is taking out the trash halfway to the proper spot of placement better than nothing?  Is turning in unfinished, below minimum work better than nothing?  Doing a below minimum job is never better than doing nothing.  When an action is completed ask yourself if what you did is something that if you consistently did things in that manner would raise you to your goals efficiently?  The answer to that is always “no”.  The reason I assert this is that when you look at the phrase, “Well, it’s better than nothing”, from a mental health point-of-view, what one does when they believe in this ideology is they minimize their failure to properly prepare and execute the necessary/wanted action.  This minimization accesses one’s ability to believe a non-truth that can lead to the understanding that what they did was good, causing them to allow this happening to reoccur without fault or negative consequence.  People fail to realize that this form of thinking lends itself to producing less than mediocre results.  They fail to realize that it is okay to harshly criticize one’s self for failing if it leads to a healthy realization that their lack of preparation is what they need to focus on in the future.  Telling yourself that you did a passable job when you fail is harmful for your overall health and development.  Rationally and critically managing and maintaining your well-being, thought processes and preparation tactics is healthy; it leads to positive and efficient growth.

Don’t believe lies that allow you to take failure lightly.  When training in Tai Chi Chuan, an instance that I encounter when studying, training and teaching is that people believe that because Tai Chi Chuan, in general, is practiced slowly, relative to other martial arts, there is very little necessity to diligently train and study.  Many practitioners go to class thinking that if they can just follow along with the instructor that they will efficiently grow and develop proper skill.  They believe that going to class is just enough and that is all that is necessary.  To them, showing up to class is good enough and being able to follow along without properly focused thought is better than nothing.  To them, they believe that if they can mimic the movements it is the same as them mastering the movement.  Something that I tell them is, just because you can read the words on a page it does not denote that you understand what you just read.  Proper study needs to take place.  There is a respect for what it is you are doing that has to be present.  There must be a standard you place on yourself, that if you fall below that standard you discipline yourself appropriately.  Do not train with the idea of just coming in is good enough.  Make sure you are always challenging yourself.  Make sure you always hold yourself to appropriate standards that allow you to develop efficiently.  If it is not challenging, it is not changing.  And to me, that is one of the grandest pieces of evidence that the message of “Well, it’s better than nothing” is a false message of progress.

People do not state, “Well, it’s better than nothing” if what they did was something that actually challenged them.  This is something that is stated when there was no challenge because of a lack of preparation and due diligence.  I do believe that doing something that betters yourself is better than doing nothing to better yourself; however, rationalizing failure as success is never better than doing nothing.  In the stead of saying and thinking that something that brought no productive challenge and no productive growth actually begat positive change, what one should do is face the fact that they failed due to  their own inadequacies and challenge their self to execute more effectively in the future.

There are times that I set aside to practice my Tai Chi Chuan forms, and there are times that I do not properly prepare and spend less time on the forms than I had planned.  In these cases I have self-disciplinary actions that I take.  One thing that I do is note that what I just did was a failure.  I recognize the fact that I did do something; however, I note that even though I did many good things it was not enough to call what I did a success.  I liken it to taking a quiz or an exam.  If one gets 4 out of 10 questions correct, and each question is worth one point, they still failed.  No pats on the back for failure.  Another thing that I do in my self-disciplinary action is remove time from things, that for the most part, are leisure activities and add that time to the time that I schedule for future training; making even more time for training in the future.  Doing so, adding time to future training/ studying sessions, allows me to do the repetitions that I missed during my failure.  Once again, likening this to taking a test or quiz, make time for more study in the future to be able to sufficiently review what was missed.  Too often the miscued message of “Well it’s better than nothing” leads to the idea of, “Well now that I know that I missed it, I’ll get it right the next time”, and then people don’t study what they missed.  They just move on to the next time, not adding extra time to study what it was they missed.  When they fail again they are surprised that they missed the same question again. 

Just showing up is not good enough.  Doing something is not always better than doing nothing.  When you fail, when you falter, you have to do even more work than what you previously planned to catch-up, and then even more work to properly and positivity progress.  If you rationalize failure as success you will train yourself to fail.   Don’t train yourself to fail.          

For more information Winston’s his martial arts academy please visit Internal Magnification.  

Winston Price, Executive Producer, has over a decade and a half of marketing, advertising and public relations experience. He began his business career in 1995 and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. Winston also is a master martial artist and personal trainer with over 2 decades of knowledge and experience. Winston runs his own school, Internal Magnification Martial Arts, where he focuses on helping people reach their personal goals of health and fitness via At-Home personal training with martial foci of Taekwondo, Tai Chi Ch’uan, Hapkido and Ba Gua Zhang. As an executive producer for VoiceAmerica, Winston utilizes his skills in business and personal training to help new and existing hosts maximize their opportunity with the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network by supporting his hosts with the business and personal aspects of creating and developing their show. Winston believes that each host brings their own flavor to the Network. By properly coaching and motivating his hosts, they are able to produce THEIR show with THEIR style and THEIR passion being at the forefront of every broadcast.  

 

Tai Chi Wednesday with Winston Price

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Truest and Dumbest Statement Ever: We All Have the Same 24 Hours in a Day

If you don’t know, there is a saying, “We all have the same 24 hours in a day”.  This statement is absolutely true, to a point.  Some people have access to more of the 24 hours than others.  Depending on a person’s station, capability and access to certain resources the 24 hours of peoples’ days are different.  So yes we all have 24 hours to work with each day.  Most people of Earth spend all of their lives on the planet; and unless you believe certain myths that are out there, time has never stopped for anyone.  When making statements to people make sure that you are putting yourself in their shoes.  One thing that can happen when you are stating certain things is that, even though you believe you are coming from the most urbane of places, and you say a statement with no negative intent; sometimes it is what you say that is extremely offensive, because what you say is noted as what you believe, and even though you think you understand something, someone, or a situation, what you say can prove completely different. 

When you tell someone something make sure you are truly noting who they are.  Do your best to look at their station, their capability and their access to resources.  I move you to read Kenneth Burke’s Grammar of Motives. Kenneth Burke established an acute method termed Dramatism. The base of Dramatism is the notion of motive: the causes why people do the things they do. Burke believed that all of life was drama and we may discover the motives of people by looking for their particular type of stimulus in action and discourse. Burke generated a “Pentad,” which are five questions to ask of any discourse to begin rooting out the motive: Act, Scene, Agent, Agency and Purpose. The Act is the actual action or inaction.  The Scene is the environment, both literal and figurative, of which the action or inaction took place.  The Agent is the person or persons doing the action, or inaction.  The Agency is how the agent acts, or does not act, and by what means they do so.  The Purpose is why the agent acts.  Now here is where things get tricky for some.  Instead of ignorantly answering the questions of what is the (add part of pentad here), actually ask the person or persons involved and believe them when they answer.  It is okay to note their answer; if something they say or do contradicts what they formerly stated, make sure to let them know of this discrepancy.  Call them out on it, as it were.  In doing so, you will be better able to understand a situation and know surely if anything of relevant note needs attention.

So, make sure to note a person.  Secure an accurate understanding of their station.  A person’s station consists of their age, their educational state (i.e. schooling years, working years, and field experiences), their socioeconomic standing and their system of moral values.  Understand of what they are actually capable.  Take into high regard their actual mental and physical dimensions, and their emotional and spiritual understanding of their Self.  Make sure to realize that not all people have equal access to resources and adjust your framework accordingly.   Some people may physically be closer or further away from a resource.  Some may not have knowledge of resources.   Also, others may not understand that there is even a necessity for/of a particular resource.

It is unreasonable to assert that just because one person can do something then others are equally as able to do so, and so, they should thereby go with the standard noted.  Solely because a standard is efficient for one does not necessitate the particular efficiency for all others.  It is unreasonable to assert that just because one person knows something then others should have this knowledge as well and believe as deeply as the one that holds said knowledge.  It is unreasonable to assert that just because you feel or believe something then others should feel and believe as you do.   It is unreasonable to assert that just because you act or measure reality a certain way then others should act that way as well. 

We all have the same 24 in a day, and we all have opportunities to do and not do things; we all make our own choices, hopefully.  It is unreasonable to believe that someone notably different from you should do everything the way you do and be the way you are.  Actually learn about someone, their systems and way of thinking before you categorize things in your reality around them.  When making statements there are times we inadvertently negatively judge others.  Don’t only watch how you say something; note what it is you are actually saying.

 

For more information Winston’s his martial arts academy please visit Internal Magnification.  

Winston Price, Executive Producer, has over a decade and a half of marketing, advertising and public relations experience. He began his business career in 1995 and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. Winston also is a master martial artist and personal trainer with over 2 decades of knowledge and experience. Winston runs his own school, Internal Magnification Martial Arts, where he focuses on helping people reach their personal goals of health and fitness via At-Home personal training with martial foci of Taekwondo, Tai Chi Ch’uan, Hapkido and Ba Gua Zhang. As an executive producer for VoiceAmerica, Winston utilizes his skills in business and personal training to help new and existing hosts maximize their opportunity with the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network by supporting his hosts with the business and personal aspects of creating and developing their show. Winston believes that each host brings their own flavor to the Network. By properly coaching and motivating his hosts, they are able to produce THEIR show with THEIR style and THEIR passion being at the forefront of every broadcast.  

Tai Chi Wednesday With Winston Price

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Just Make the Shape: Just Go

Relax and let go.  This is one of the most direct lessons I have ever learned through my training in Tai Chi Chuan.  Also, it is the hardest.  There are many things that we do to our lives that make situations more difficult than what they really are because we add more to the process of doing it, whatever it is, than is necessary.  One part of being an active instructor is that you are constantly and consistently reminded of your own journey by what your students say and bring up during their training.  As of the most resent, I had a student state, “… but that is completely counterintuitive”.   My reply was, “I know it is for you, that is why we need to change your prospective on what is and what is not necessary”.  Through my training I came to realize that there are many things that I do that keep me from reaching the products I set forth to gain.  There are two lessons that I had to learn that taught me the same thing.  The first was the lesson of Just Go and the second was the lesson of Just Make the Shape.  There are state functions in which we deal when doing the martial arts.  There are many varying ways to reach these state functions, postures; however, what differs between practitioners is the way they reach these postures, state functions.  When doing solo form, drills, san shou and tui shou with my instructors they would make a comment of, “Just make the shape, you’re using too much”, or, “Just go, don’t hesitate or restrict yourself”.  I for the longest time I never understood what they meant, I understood the words they were saying however I did not comprehend the meaning of the words.  I thought I was doing exactly what they were doing.  I would look at the state function; I would note the postures and the positions.   I would take note of the feet, the hips, the shoulders, the breathing, and all the things I was supposed to look at when doing the form, set or drill.  Visually things were spot on, yet I was still not correct in my actions.  One day while doing form sets and drilling with my tai chi chuan instructor; he said something to me that pulled everything together.  What he stated wove a thread through everything up to that point in my training in the differing forms that to this day I still practice.  There were many instructors saying the exact same thing to me, message wise, and now that I look at it they could not have made what they were saying any simpler.  What brought it all together for me was this saying, “Don’t let your back foot hold you back”.  My mind was figuratively blown.  “Don’t let your back foot hold you back” was what I heard, what I felt was a release, an openness, an expanse.  We were doing a punching drill where one would take a step forward and send mass and momentum in the form of a punch to a targeted area.  While doing this with my instructor he noted things I was doing and corrected them, then he stated that I was not making proper impact because I was not allowing my body to completely commit to the technique.  He stated that my back leg was holding me back and that I should allow it to move freely as it wants not as I think, as I thought myself, it should.  What went through my head at that time was, “Don’t let your back leg hold you back, just go and make the shape.  Relax and let go.”  At that moment I actually froze from the awakening.  I was momentarily unable to move due to the processes occurring in my mind.  Then I let go … and just went.

I had to change my perspective on what I was doing.  I had to let go of trying to produce a certain outcome.  I had to free myself from the knowledge I had allowed myself to learn, and realize that what I learned was not taught to me; however, it was what I improperly thought was right and what I added to the formula; and realize that what I added was unnecessary and causing major disruptions.   I had to relax; stop doing all the unnecessary things that were causing stress, strain and inefficient action.  I had to let go; I had to forgive myself for doing so many things to myself that produced pain and agony upon myself, I had to release everything about me that was allowing me not to move forward.  At that point I realized that ever since the beginning of my training I had been given the proper instruction to be the most efficient.  All I had to do was do it.  Just go; make the shape.

Our embarrassment is our own.  It is what we have taught ourselves. Our embarrassment is what we learned to shame ourselves; to punish ourselves.  Our embarrassment is what we decide for ourselves to be ashamed of in our lives.  Our desire to be seen as pristine, perfect, proper and exact has been learned by us and our embarrassment gives this learned nature the ability to hold us back from fully committing to life.  How often do we not do things that feel good, feel right and we know we would love because of the possibility of embarrassment?   Our own anxiety of being embarrassed is a learned ailment as well. We place on ourselves great obstructions in our lives.   How much fun of life is lost because of an image we believe we need to uphold?  There are things that we know would bring nothing but joy and pleasure to our lives.  There are times that we stop those things from existing in our reality because we train ourselves to live without them, to be embarrassed by the act or actions, and place the difficulty of shame in our own lives because of our self-taught embarrassment that would not stand if we did not learn or train ourselves to be embarrassed in the first place.  We stop ourselves from doing whatever it is because we hold ourselves back.  We become our own back leg holding us back.   We become our own pain, our own struggle.  We need to realize that we are the cause of our own embarrassment so that we can move to the realization that we will be the cause of that impediment being removed. 

Learn to stop holding yourself back because of misguided, irrational and unfounded notions of reality.  Remove the impediments you’ve placed in your life.  Relax and let go so that you are able to realize what shape you want your life to be.   Then all you have to do is just go and make the shape.

 

For more information Winston’s his martial arts academy please visit Internal Magnification.  

Winston Price, Executive Producer, has over a decade and a half of marketing, advertising and public relations experience. He began his business career in 1995 and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. Winston also is a master martial artist and personal trainer with over 2 decades of knowledge and experience. Winston runs his own school, Internal Magnification Martial Arts, where he focuses on helping people reach their personal goals of health and fitness via At-Home personal training with martial foci of Taekwondo, Tai Chi Ch’uan, Hapkido and Ba Gua Zhang. As an executive producer for VoiceAmerica, Winston utilizes his skills in business and personal training to help new and existing hosts maximize their opportunity with the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network by supporting his hosts with the business and personal aspects of creating and developing their show. Winston believes that each host brings their own flavor to the Network. By properly coaching and motivating his hosts, they are able to produce THEIR show with THEIR style and THEIR passion being at the forefront of every broadcast.  

 

 

Tai Chi Wednesday With Winston Price

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Tai Chi Wednesday With Winston Price

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If You Want to Ask Appropriate Questions: Go Do the Form Properly Under the Scrutiny of the Scientific Method

There are no stupid questions; however, there are completely misinformed practitioners that have been taught properly however negate to practice what they have been taught.  One of two things have a tendency to come up from the misinformed that should know better: they either come up with completely irrelevant questions, or they continue to venture with their misunderstandings and produce a completely off product.  What has a propensity to get in the way of positive progress is hubris.  Hubris is associated with hyperbolic egotism or sureness.  Hubris often designates a deficit in commerce with actuality and an overestimation of one’s own skill and aptitude, actions, or competences.  There is a necessity in the practice of Tai Chi Chuan to objectively observe one’s self and one’s environment so that they are able to properly question the nature of happenings.  Proper questions accompanied with rational introspection and objective observations are critical in proper practice and study of Tai Chi Chuan in hopes of leading to suitable suppositions that when are adequately tested will lead to well developed, and sound, models and principles.  Here is a tip on asking proper questions: make sure to have an accurate observation first, suggest a tangible reasoning, test that reasoning and then challenge the outcome; after which ask your question(s) based on your findings, and also with your questions bring rational possible answers.  Now to do this well you must first accurately understand of what it is you are questioning.  So base your questions from reasonable and sensible observations.  Use your form practice like a laboratory and apply the Scientific Method to your approach in your study of the martial arts.  Form ideas and questions; not so that you are always proven right, more so, so that you grow sound skills and clean developed accounts in which to continue your study.  Properly do your form and formulate ideas and questions not for the fame or skill; do it for the research and knowledge, so that later you will be able to give accurate accounts and hopefully add substantially to the knowledge base of awareness and understanding.

So, first be the objective observer.  Be able to note without skewed vision what is actually happening and going on with the environment of which you are a part.  Use all of your senses to develop an accurate account of what is going on around you.  Clearly and cleanly witness what is happening and what has happened.  Attend mindfully and without bias.  Absorb fully what is to be accounted.  Do not allow your hubris to taint the material and maters of your observations.  In being an objective observer you will be able to study unsoiled data.  After you have apposite records, note them and ask questions.  Ask the What, Why, and How of the situation(s) you witnessed. Inquire about what it is, why it is and how it was developed, and how it effects of what it is a part.  Do your research, do your form.  Really dig into the background of what it is you wish to understand.  Note the current and past conceptions of what it is you have noted. Research, do your form, and then research more, objectively so that you become familiar with all of the relevant and unbiased data gathered.  After this is done then you are ready to construct a hypothesis.

A hypothesis is a tentative postulation prepared in order to extract and test its coherent or pragmatic significances.  Suppositions of ideas of what might, could, should, or not happen given the relevant and impartial data gathered.  Generating sound hypothesizes is a great way to begin to study what one has observed.  Actually studying involves testing hypothesizes in differing environments and situations.  Majorly what is necessary is a control setting so that there will be a standard of which against a measurement can be taken.  That control is the form done properly, cleanly following the instruction given and taught by your instructor without deviation.

After proper testing has taken place, examine your information and develop a deduction.  Post your deductions; properly communicate your results to your peers.   Tell the people around you what you believe you have found and what questions you may have because of the study you did.  This is going to allow for outside feedback from the community.  Being able to allow your information to be scrutinized and picked apart is critical.  Are you able to take criticism and judgment; are you able to rebut without insulting or being insulted?  Are you able to see your validity and faults without wavering emotion?  Are you able to observe and start the process over again to either refine or move forward in your research and development without hesitation or haste? 

So, unfolding the metaphor of this post; be able to critically study yourself and the situations of which you are a part.  In the practice of doing the solo form of whatever Tai Chi Chuan system you do, or whatever you do by yourself, make sure to have the purpose of learning how to study and develop the skill and capability to honestly and analytically study yourself without shame, without embarrassment and without hubris so that you can gain the skill of objectively interacting with your environment.

For more information Winston’s his martial arts academy please visit Internal Magnification.  

Winston Price, Executive Producer, has over a decade and a half of marketing, advertising and public relations experience. He began his business career in 1995 and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. Winston also is a master martial artist and personal trainer with over 2 decades of knowledge and experience. Winston runs his own school, Internal Magnification Martial Arts, where he focuses on helping people reach their personal goals of health and fitness via At-Home personal training with martial foci of Taekwondo, Tai Chi Ch’uan, Hapkido and Ba Gua Zhang. As an executive producer for VoiceAmerica, Winston utilizes his skills in business and personal training to help new and existing hosts maximize their opportunity with the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network by supporting his hosts with the business and personal aspects of creating and developing their show. Winston believes that each host brings their own flavor to the Network. By properly coaching and motivating his hosts, they are able to produce THEIR show with THEIR style and THEIR passion being at the forefront of every broadcast.  

 

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Check Yourself: Be a Good Partner

One of the concepts that I consistently promote when doing any type of partner work is the idea of giving only what you are willing to receive.  This is something that I have come to find people easily place directly on the physical attributes of partner work.  And that’s a good thing, don’t get me wrong.  Understanding how much to give in the physical realm is of the utmost importance when doing partner work in Tai Chi Chuan, or any martial art for that matter.  Knowing the level at which one should drill, practice and play is extremely beneficial in the development of proper and appropriate skill.  The root of my message when telling people to only give what they are willing to receive is: listen to your partner, understand yourself, and how you and your actions effect the environment of which you are a part.   A more specific account of the message of this article is: be mad at yourself not your partner if your partner doesn’t want to work with you.  So often partner work is unproductive because one or more persons in the partnership either have no interest or lose interest in actually listening to what the other(s) want to gain from the relationship/partnership. 

Now before I get into two of the most common reasons for a of lack of caring for being with/working with a partner, I want to bring up a common fault that seems to be something that drives partnerships into deeper negative holes than it actually helps.  What people are commonly told is that when they have a problem with a partnership/relationship is that they and their partner are not communicating.  I believe that to always be a false statement.  What and how it should be stated if one wants to focus on the word communication is they the problems that have are bred from what is being communicated.   We as conscious being are always communicating and receiving communiqué.  Communication is to convey information, the problems we commonly face in relationships/partnerships happen because there is a lack of understanding, not because communication isn’t happening.  I have come to find that once people start working on gaining better understanding of what others want and of what they actually want; communication between parties becomes less strained.  So point, stop working on communicating for the sake of communication possibly not happening.  Communication is always happening.  Start working on the messages we convey.  Start understanding that communication is made of many pieces: messages and messaging, sender, receiver, situation, context, relevance and understanding.

So, back to it; two of the most common reasons for a lack of caring are that one party is ignorant and/or the other party feels ignored.  In Tai Chi Chuan partner work there are many fun martial applications that can be learned.  A large reason for partner work is to gain an understanding of the concepts that had been previously thought.  One of those concepts is gaining awareness of and being able to control one’s environment in a positive manor.  The concept of environmental awareness contain the models of you aid in creating the environment, and the sum of your past acts dictate the present and future of your environment.  When looking at and/or through a strained relationship, first look at and/or through yourself.  Have you actually been listening to your partner and doing what they want to do and not just what you want to do?  Have you spoken up and stated to the other parties that you believe you have not been given equal part and play, and have specific examples of why you believe it so?  Do you put as much effort into the partnership/relationship as you expect from the others of which you are a part?  Do you hold yourself to the same standards you hold the rest of your team?  Do you often ask others for their thoughts and fact-based opinions and change yourself and ways accordingly?  Are you as fervent in bringing practical solutions as you are at bringing up problems?   These are all question you need to ask of yourself, note the answers and properly adjust to what you want.  Maybe you really don’t care about the other(s) so understanding them honestly does not matter to you, in which case you need to understand what type of environment you are creating.  Maybe you actually do care about what is going on; however, you keep a closed mouth and never voice your feelings or opinions on matters properly and appropriately.  Maybe you think you don’t care; however, you really do.  Maybe you think you do care because it is what you have been educated to think is proper and right; what you should think, feel and do, however the actual fact is that you don’t care and you want out because the partnership is a waste of your time.  Our actual wants don’t always line up with what we are taught we need.  You need to know why you are compelled to stay in a situation and if you really want to be in that situation; and then act accordingly.

So, moral of the story: Be the partner you want to work with and partner with those that show they want to be a positive and productive partner with and for you.

For more information Winston’s his martial arts academy please visit Internal Magnification.  

Winston Price, Executive Producer, has over a decade and a half of marketing, advertising and public relations experience. He began his business career in 1995 and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. Winston also is a master martial artist and personal trainer with over 2 decades of knowledge and experience. Winston runs his own school, Internal Magnification Martial Arts, where he focuses on helping people reach their personal goals of health and fitness via At-Home personal training with martial foci of Taekwondo, Tai Chi Ch’uan, Hapkido and Ba Gua Zhang. As an executive producer for VoiceAmerica, Winston utilizes his skills in business and personal training to help new and existing hosts maximize their opportunity with the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network by supporting his hosts with the business and personal aspects of creating and developing their show. Winston believes that each host brings their own flavor to the Network. By properly coaching and motivating his hosts, they are able to produce THEIR show with THEIR style and THEIR passion being at the forefront of every broadcast.  

 

Tai Chi Wednesday With WINSTON PRICE

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It is Okay: Giving Back What You Receive … Know Before You Go.

In Tai Chi Chuan there is a practice of called Tui Shou (推手).  Tui Shou is commonly called Push Hands or Sensing Hands in the English speaking martial arts realms.  There are many different stylistic approaches to this exercise; however, one of the central foci is to be able to calmly understand what is given and when it is appropriate to give it back.  In my training I have come to find that many instructors teach the idea of learning how to react to things given to them.  They train and train to allow their bodies to respond with a reaction to what comes to them, as to direct something that was not natural to becoming something of a second nature to the reacting party.  For me that is a good first step.  When given something it is good to learn proper reactions.  Hopefully in learning those proper reactions one would find all of the inappropriate ways the one naturally reacts to situations and learn no to do them.  Understanding one’s natural inappropriate reactionary responses is something that I focus on in training.  While in the process of learning reactions, what I believed is missed is people learning how to act, not responding because of the stimuli around them; however, understanding what is going on and having the ability to not allow their environment to control their person. When I train I look for things that are both actions and reactions and I do my best to properly be, not just respond.  I believe that when doing the Tui Shou exercise too many focus on reaction and never move to maintaining proper actions.

Okay.  So here is what I mean by making actions and not reactions.  A reaction is a response to a stimulus; it is also defined as a reverse or an opposing action. An action is defined as the state or process of acting or doing; something done, such as an act or deed; movement or posture during some physical activity.  So, reactions are a type of action, a response to a stimulus.  An action is what is done; it does not necessarily have to be in response to something.  For me, what I have learned from my teachings and lessons in Tui Shou, there are times in which it is appropriate to react and times when all you should do is act.

Many times in life I believe people are too focused on reacting instead of acting regardless of the situation.  Too many people are so focused on everything coming at them and reacting to what they think is going on that they miss so many other things that are actually happening.  In many cases these people become overly negatively stressed.  Their hyper-focus causes more pain and suffering than necessary.  Instead of relaxing and gaining an understanding of what is actually going on, they react quickly.  Think about how many times you have moved to a quick judgment, you reacted to a stimulus, and you were totally wrong about what was going on with the situation and it put you in a place where you then became the focus of negativity because your reaction caused negativity.   In learning Tui Shou I was taught not to take every opening given.  Let many openings pass by and gain an understanding of what is going on and what will happen is, if one gains a proper understanding, is that one will fill less of a necessitation and more of willingness to yield and at the proper moment contribute to supply an appropriate product to the situation and not because of the situation; acting as oppose to reacting.

So, main point; know before you go.  Don’t be a mindless responder to stimuli around you.  You are not an inanimate object.   You are a conscious being with agency.  Maintain relaxed control of yourself so that your environment doesn’t control you; you control you.

 

For more information Winston’s his martial arts academy please visit Internal Magnification.  

Winston Price, Executive Producer, has over a decade and a half of marketing, advertising and public relations experience. He began his business career in 1995 and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. Winston also is a master martial artist and personal trainer with over 2 decades of knowledge and experience. Winston runs his own school, Internal Magnification Martial Arts, where he focuses on helping people reach their personal goals of health and fitness via At-Home personal training with martial foci of Taekwondo, Tai Chi Ch’uan, Hapkido and Ba Gua Zhang. As an executive producer for VoiceAmerica, Winston utilizes his skills in business and personal training to help new and existing hosts maximize their opportunity with the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network by supporting his hosts with the business and personal aspects of creating and developing their show. Winston believes that each host brings their own flavor to the Network. By properly coaching and motivating his hosts, they are able to produce THEIR show with THEIR style and THEIR passion being at the forefront of every broadcast.  

 

 

Tai Chi Wednesday With Winston Price

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Tai Chi Wednesday With Winston Price

#11 Taichi Wdenesday

A Bagua Moment

To me there is a set of triplet sisters in the Chinese internal martial arts systems.  They are: Tai Chi Ch’uan (太極拳), Ba Gua Zhang (八卦掌), and Xing Yi Quan (形意拳).  From my understanding, what I have developed over my time training is that Tai Chi Ch’uan can signify the center of the circle/sphere, Ba Gua Zhang is the circle/sphere and Xing Yi Quan is the line through the circle/sphere.  I bring these forms up because I will speak on Ba Gua Zhang (八卦掌), the Eight Trigram Palm, during our Tai Chi Wednesday sessions.

This hopefully will bring light to subjects from a different angle.  There are terms used in Tai Chi Ch’uan that are similar to terms that are used in Ba Gua Zhang; however, because of the attitude of the forms one can derive many different meanings when using the forms as filters for the word.  Find different Tai Chi and Ba Gua martial artist and say these four words: Opening, Closing, Expanding, and Contracting.  You are going to get a wonderful array of answers.  Some will group the words as Opening and Closing vs. Expanding and Contracting.  Some will equate Opening with Expanding and Closing with Contracting.  Some with have 8 complete different definition four for the Tai Chi Ch’uan martial artists and four for the Ba Gua Zhang martial artists.

So, lesson one form this Ba Gua Moment: Something to one can be similar to or completely different to another.

Make sure that when you walk the circle of your day, and you encounter the many peoples and situations of your day, that you comprehend that your actions can be viewed differently depending on who interoperates them.  You can ask one person a question, and what may happen is that they believe that you are harassing them, you believe that you are openly and genuinely looking to be educated on a matter, and a third person that is not a direct part of the conversation as you two flirting.  Note what you say, when you say it and why you say it.  Think before you speak, not only of your words.  Think of all of the ways what you say can be taken because of connotation and context.  Thank of others and how they are before you speak to them.  I’ve never understood my people would logically tell someone that is being vehemently hysterical to clam-down.  Sure it is meant to calm them down; however, is that really correct change that needs to happen?  Maybe they are calming down and they just need a moment to release.  One of the last things one should to is interrupt someone when they are accessing their true feelings.  Also, note I stated that it is one of the last things not that it shouldn’t be done.

In Ba Gua Zhang there is a practice of holding a posture and walking in a circle while holding that posture.  This is called “Walking Circle”.  When walking circle one thing to note are all of the angles that are passed while walking and how the body (yours and/or and interlocutor’s) acts when at certain angles and in certain states.  I believe that we should endeavor to mentally walk circle to understand different situation before they happen.  Note possible outcomes without worry and without haste.  Always trying to positively grow our sphere of understanding so that when situations do arrive that we are prepared to change and cut the appropriate angles to grace fully guided ourselves, and possibly others, to a positive and fruitful outcome. 

For more information Winston’s his martial arts academy please visit Internal Magnification.  

Winston Price, Executive Producer, has over a decade and a half of marketing, advertising and public relations experience. He began his business career in 1995 and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. Winston also is a master martial artist and personal trainer with over 2 decades of knowledge and experience. Winston runs his own school, Internal Magnification Martial Arts, where he focuses on helping people reach their personal goals of health and fitness via At-Home personal training with martial foci of Taekwondo, Tai Chi Ch’uan, Hapkido and Ba Gua Zhang. As an executive producer for VoiceAmerica, Winston utilizes his skills in business and personal training to help new and existing hosts maximize their opportunity with the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network by supporting his hosts with the business and personal aspects of creating and developing their show. Winston believes that each host brings their own flavor to the Network. By properly coaching and motivating his hosts, they are able to produce THEIR show with THEIR style and THEIR passion being at the forefront of every broadcast.  

 

Tai Chi Wednesday with WINSTON PRICE

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#9 Tai Chi Wednesday

Internal Movement: Moving While Seeming Still

Here is one thing I rather enjoy hearing when I do my form: “Why do you stop and pause when you do your form”? My response is always to thank them first and then tell them that I never stop moving.  There are movements and adjustments that if done correctly cannot be seen. After I verbally answer their question I ask them if they will allow physical contact between us so that I can allow them actually feel the motion that they visually cannot see. Then I put my hands on them and then they move, with very little to no visual moment from my part. They always come back with a “stronger” stance/posture, either at the own volition or at my opening to communicate; and then they are moved again. And this is where many people enter into an understanding of what is meant by Internal Martial Art; and hopefully after entering they gain an accurate and practical understanding of what is meant by someone defining something as an Internal Martial. Getting into what is an Internal vs. External martial Art is something that will not be discussed in this post; that will come at a later date and more than likely not in a Tai Chi Wednesday post. So, keep a lookout for other Martial Arts posts by me. Anyway, back to the topic of staying in motion while seeming visually still. There are weight adjustments via activation of or relaxation of sinew; tendons, muscles etc. that the human eye cannot see if done properly. Consciously connected sympathetic masked adjustments give the illusion of no movement when movement is present. 

Now take this understanding in your life. There are things that if you let them allow themselves to work themselves out will turn out just fine if you don’t “visually” get involve. When you have a problem with someone you don’t always have to talk it out with them. View the situation and see what adjustments you can make to alter the situation to a total positive outcome for all parties and then do it. There has to be no fanfare, fuss, pomp and circumstance, or ceremony involved. Now to be able to do this you must be able to see and find all the faults that you have in the situation. You have to be honest with yourself for all of the obstacles and problems you added to a situation to make it as bad as it had gotten. You have to be able to forgive yourself for being so wrong and negative as well. You must have the desire, not just the moral understanding, to want things to become positive for all sides. Then you will be able to remove the obstacles that you placed in the way. Note: it takes more time to take away obstacles than it does to put them in place, so be ready to do lots of work and don’t expect the product of your actions to come quick, if at all. Once you remove your obstacles; without bringing light to the fact that you did, the next step is to note in all the shared obstacles that you placed. Shared obstacles are those that are there not by full fault of you; however, they would not be there without you. Connect to those obstacles, make the adjustments necessary, and then wait. All you can take care of are the things for which you have any fault. You have to know how to let go and when to let go. You have to learn patience and acceptance. If you honestly removed all of your obstacles for which you had total fault and you made proper adjustments to remove what you are at partial fault, all you have to do is wait. 

Connect and wait. You know you’ve done something properly when everything works out in your favor and people don’t see you do anything at all.

 

For more information Winston’s his martial arts academy please visit Internal Magnification.  

Winston Price, Executive Producer, has over a decade and a half of marketing, advertising and public relations experience. He began his business career in 1995 and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. Winston also is a master martial artist and personal trainer with over 2 decades of knowledge and experience. Winston runs his own school, Internal Magnification Martial Arts, where he focuses on helping people reach their personal goals of health and fitness via At-Home personal training with martial foci of Taekwondo, Tai Chi Ch’uan, Hapkido and Ba Gua Zhang. As an executive producer for VoiceAmerica, Winston utilizes his skills in business and personal training to help new and existing hosts maximize their opportunity with the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network by supporting his hosts with the business and personal aspects of creating and developing their show. Winston believes that each host brings their own flavor to the Network. By properly coaching and motivating his hosts, they are able to produce THEIR show with THEIR style and THEIR passion being at the forefront of every broadcast.  

 

Tai Chi Wednesday: With WINSTON PRICE

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Tai Chi Wednesday: With WINSTON PRICE

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Mind the Gap

Why do we train Tai Chi Ch’uan at such a low rate of speed?  The answer I give is the answer given by Grand Master Wm C.C. Chen, “We move so slowly because we only allow ourselves to be moved by the forces and pressures around us.  When we do form by ourselves all we have is the wind and gravity to move us”. If you haven’t guessed it by now, I want to look at speed and focus in this post.

There is another answer that is given when people ask why Tai Chi Ch’uan is done at such a low rate of speed.  That answer details that the form is done slowly because there are so many different movements to consider, from the position of the toes to the alignment of the spine and skull.  Now not that it isn’t true; however, in my studies, I have found that true for every martial art not just Tai Chi Ch’uan.  And also, it brings up a good point.  There are so many things going on at any given point in time while doing a form, any form, that we have to mind what is going on at all times or it is possible that something will be missed while doing a form and we may miss a step.   Where you are standing is just as important as where you are going.  If you are unsure if the footing around you is stable or not then you have no solid foundation of knowledge that can lead you to a fully solid and developed step. 

“Mind the Gap”, watch your step; this is a saying that I take to heart when doing the Yang Styled Tai Chi Ch’uan form I was taught.  “Watch your feet” is how I define it.  Throughout my training I have come to find that a vast majority of the people starting out in the martial arts, and many others that have been doing it for years, concern themselves far too much with hand, kicking, trapping, locking and throwing  techniques.  They look at the flare and flash that they see with hand movements, kicking, and jumps and rolls, and want to do that first.  It always strikes new students of mine when I say, “If you have a problem with any technique you want to do, look at your feet first and see what they are doing before, during and after the technique; after that, look at your leg positions, then hips, then spine and skull, then your chest and back, and then your arms and hands.  No matter how good everything else is, if you have bad feet the technique will be bad”.  This is, sometimes, their first entry to understanding that speed and focus go hand-and-hand when training.  There is nothing wrong with doing a technique quickly, as long as you do everything well while doing it quick.  If not, relax; slow down your thought process so that you can better focus on the task at hand.  Also note, just because you do something quickly doesn’t mean you can do it well, and the same goes for going slowly.  So many people get too into the slow movements and lose the development gained by understanding movements at a quicker pace. Note how I use the term quick and not fast; timing is just as, if not more so, important than what many call being fast.  You can be as fast as you want, without proper timing you are less likely to land where you want.

So main point of the day, Mind the Gap; watch your feet, understand where your focus needs to be to lay solid steps, and generate an appropriately focused pace, in doing so you will gain a greater understanding of how to increase your efficiency, in life and in the martial arts.

 For more information Winston’s his martial arts academy please visit Internal Magnification.  

Winston Price, Executive Producer, has over a decade and a half of marketing, advertising and public relations experience. He began his business career in 1995 and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. Winston also is a master martial artist and personal trainer with over 2 decades of knowledge and experience. Winston runs his own school, Internal Magnification Martial Arts, where he focuses on helping people reach their personal goals of health and fitness via At-Home personal training with martial foci of Taekwondo, Tai Chi Ch’uan, Hapkido and Ba Gua Zhang. As an executive producer for VoiceAmerica, Winston utilizes his skills in business and personal training to help new and existing hosts maximize their opportunity with the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network by supporting his hosts with the business and personal aspects of creating and developing their show. Winston believes that each host brings their own flavor to the Network. By properly coaching and motivating his hosts, they are able to produce THEIR show with THEIR style and THEIR passion being at the forefront of every broadcast.

 

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