Tai Chi and the Importance of Practicing Alone

These days, students of Tai Chi (and other martial arts for that matter) have often become overly dependent upon their teachers. They look to them as a child would look to its mother, expecting him or her to lead them not only to the gate, but also through it and beyond – to hold their hand all the way, to think, speak, and act for them, and in the end many become parrots of their teacher, never truly understanding what they practice and the meaning of what the do.

The fact of the matter is that mastery requires going beyond the student-teacher relationship. It requires time spent on one’s own, practicing, acting, discovering alone. This last statement, however, may seem counterintuitive when it comes to martial arts. Martial arts is never a one man show. Conflict requires two or more people, and fighting (as well as making peace), is in a strange way, a social phenomenon.

Despite this fact, there are very important reasons to take time to practice alone.

In the first place, Tai Chi is one of those arts which can be practiced anytime and almost anywhere. Just take a walk outside and begin. Further, you don’t always have access to a group. Perhaps you have moved to an isolated location and it is difficult to find people to practice with. Perhaps you are traveling constantly for your job or in a new job you have to work during hours which are inconsistent with class times.

More often than not, if you are entirely dependent upon any one teacher or group, you will probably give up and stop practicing after a few months. You certainly can’t expect to progress in Tai Chi unless you have already established the habit of practicing on your own.

The above reasons are however superficial. For even if you have all the bests conditions, the best teachers, and the availability and time to attend class each day, it is still essential to take some time to practice on your own. When in a group, we are a part of a society of people. We confront distractions, interests, discussion, desire.

When alone, we become one with the universe. Society and its rambling movement ceases. We encounter silence and our awareness expands both more deeply within the self and further beyond. It is in such moments, where the self confronts existence that we become more attuned to the rhythm of nature and to our own inner life.

Our movement suddenly becomes unshackled and free. We begin to understand the sense of the Dao – passing away and creating. The heart of Tai Chi requires developing this sense of timing, of nature’s time, for only in this way, spontaneously moving within nature, will we be able to truly realize Tai Chi as a martial art. Mastery requires a retreat into the mountain. It is wisdom to understand that our mountain lies in the peace of a moment’s solitude.