Listening to the Body: Embracing Modern Approaches in Ancient Arts

Within the world of Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Nei Gong, and Ba Gua Zhang, there are lots of traditional styles and lineages that exist.

And having trained in authentic Qi Gong, Nei Gong, and Ba Gua Zhang since 2010 and taught professionally since 2016, I understand the importance of maintaining the authenticity of your lineage.

It's from this position of understanding and respect for the traditions that I've sometimes found it cringe-worthy to see people on the internet modify or fuse these arts and market them under their traditional names.

When I’d see someone seemingly just swing their arms around and label it Tai Chi, devoid of any authentic connection, it was hard to stomach.

But hearing a personal experience of a new client recently, led me to having a profound epiphany.

This person, plagued by various physical ailments, got tremendous value from a fairly popular online Tai Chi youtube page.

To me, sure, this account seemed to be 'Tai Chi-ish'.

Their method took Tai Chi movements and made them more accessible to the masses, without delving deep into the principles and alignments of the art, which in my understandting is what makes the internal arts unique.

But with these videos, the focus was less on correct form and internal alignments, and more on simplistic follow-along routines.

Now, even though I might have criticized this before, hearing about its value firsthand changed my perspective.

My client, after following along with these videos for the past few months, felt real relief for a few hours after he’d practice. But then, on a friend's recommendation to switch to a more 'authentic' teacher, he began to experience discomfort and lost that sense of relief.

I told him, "Forget what your friend said. Your body is the most honest critic. Listen to it."

My client's main goal wasn’t about attaining mastery as a martial artist, it’s just to live with more comfort and improve his quality of life. So, while the teachings might not be 100% traditional, what truly matters is the persons intentions, goals, and how they resonate with the practice.

I've come to realize that much of the criticism towards more accessible teaching styles might stem from a place of competition.

As skilled practitioners, especially those from renowned lineages like the one I come from, in my humble opinion, we need to rise above such sentiments.

Embracing different methods will not only enrich our understanding but also help us attract students genuinely meant for our teachings.

With all of that benign said and just to be clear, I do not condone people taking a few classes or workshops and then going out and trying to teach the masses. But when a dedicated practitioner chooses to modify what they’ve learned, I’ve come full circle and can see the value.