Alrighty… time for all the keyboard warriors to stand up and face the piper. What are your top taiji training distractions? What are those things that keep you from getting in more training time? Maybe you have great self-control and it’s easy for you to stay centered and focus, but I admit, for myself, it’s difficult.
For me, all of my training is done solo. This means there is no one to watch over my shoulder and tell me to train. There is no one to really compare myself against in a classroom setting. There is only me and only I really know how much time and effort I put into the training. Ultimately, it’s quite difficult to stay motivated.
I can easily say my top training distraction is …. THE COMPUTER. I can always find a reason to get on the computer. The allure of reading blogs, surfing forums, or justing mess around with my blog design is quite powerful and often draws me into it’s grasp. To get in some decent traing, I either have to do it during lunch at work or in a completely different room in the house. If at home, I find it easy to train in my bedroom in the dark.
Another distraction for me is watching and/or reading about taiji. I can pop in a taiji demonstration video and watch it for hours, critiquing all the alignment issues, shifting issues, whatever issues that keep distracted from training myself. At times, it’s easier to become an “armchair warrior” in the confines of my own world.
4 comments
Comments feed for this article
August 3, 2006 at 6:35 pm
internalartsia
Here are various approaches.
1. Get a teacher who gives you assignments, or sets goals for you to achieve.
2. Set times, for various activities. Set alarms, if necessary, when it is time for the next activity, (such as Taiji at 7:30, the get up from the computer and practice for the alotted time.
3. Set a number of repetitions for the form, to be performed, no matter what, rain or shine, early or late, tired or sick, travelling or home, etc. Do your 500 circles, and ten repetions of Lao Jia, and hour of standing, or whatever, like a good addiction. You will find the practice gets more and more addictive, rewarding, and enjoyable every day.
4. Get a practice partner, or several.
5. Depending on your nature, early bird or nocturnal, you might do Taiji early first thing in the AM,or late at night, when no one else is around, and the silence is most enriching of the experience.
6. Find the ideal spot, a park or whatever, and go every day, at the same time.
August 3, 2006 at 9:22 pm
wujimon
Great points, IA. I think the key for me is set time and set location. However, I will be keeping your other points in the back burner.
Funny you should mention goals, as it closely aligns with my post about goals for myself.
August 4, 2006 at 3:15 am
zenmindsword
Once upon a time
In taiji la la land
A system we learned
But somehow
When it came to practice
The motivation was never strong
Excuses here
And excuses there
Looking back now
I realized why
Its because
Just playing the form
By basically going thru moves
Is a boring exercise
Especially when done
Many, many times
Goals I can set
But never keep
And I keep resolving
And I keep resolving
Resolutions are
But a bunch of words
The day I learned
A form where I had
To seek the mind
Never had boredom
Struck and in fact
It has become
An obsession
And thus I practice
Every day whenever
A moment I have
Goals and motivations
No longer needed
And I practice and hell
If 10 years had not gone by
August 4, 2006 at 4:23 am
wujimon » Two Weeks of No Taiji!
[...] Forgive me father, for I have sinnned. It has been two weeks since my last taiji training session. I have no real reasons, just excuses. The weather is too hot, and I am easily distracted. I want to be better. I want to be a better taiji practitioner. I spread the taiji gospel to all those who I think could benefit from taiji, yet I do not practice myself. I feel like a fraud, father. Please forgive me. Tell me the penance so I may repent. [...]