Like a Child

We often say to our students, when we are teaching them to balance, shift weight and use the (Kwa) squat to power their movement, "watch a toddler walking and picking up objects and you'll understand that your body knows how to do this - you've just forgotten the technique".

Then when I recently read "Tai Chi" by Cheng Man-ch'ing and Robert W. Smith, I was remindered that this philosophy is rooted in the Classics, and I can do no better than to quote from this great book:

"Observe a child. Note how he breathes - not high in the chest but low in the adomen. See, too, how he meets an accident - relaxed and with no apprehension in his mind. You may charge this off to ignorance, but, this not withstanding, the child more often than not emerges from accidents unscathed. So perhaps the experience / intelligence clogging the adult's mind and causing his body to stiffen is really not such an asset after all. Let the child grasp your finger and try to retract it. Difficult, isn't it? The grasp is firm but not frenzied; there is true energy involved. finally, watch how a child stands - straight but not stiff. We can truly learn from children.

Tai Chi believes that progress can be made only if one becomes like a child."