T'ai Chi Class

Locations and Schedules

Policies and Guidlines


  All plans are tentative and depend on the weather and other contingencies.

  I will make an effort to post the final schedule before 3:00 PM on the day of the class.

  Please read and follow the communicable disease policy below and student guidelines at the end of this page.



Class Communicable Disease Policy:

  1. Don’t participate in the in-person classes unless you are free of symptoms of any communicable disease,
  and have been for the CDC prescribed number of days.

  2. Don’t participate in the in-person classes unless you have received a full course of Covid 19 vaccinations and boosters.

  3. If you have tested postive for Covid, don't attend any class until you have passed CDC guidelines return to normal activity.

  4. A request by your practice partner that you use hand sanitizer or a mask should be honored gracefully.

  As of June 6, 2024 my understanding is that the CDC Guidelines are to avoid contact and strenuous activity for five days following the last appearance of symptoms.
  I consider a positive test to be a symptom regardless of how you feel.
  I request that you test on the day you plan to return from a Covid related absence.

  Thank you in advance for your cooperation.




All Students:


  I am considering adding a class day on Zoom with a focus on practice and form correction. This class would be under the auspices of the New Haven Tai Chi Study Group. This would provide two meetings a week for any member of the New Haven group. Non-Members would be assessed a per class fee (to be decided). Tuesdays or Wednesdays seem the most likely choices. The time has not been decided.

If you are interested, please email me at: ldcomerford@gmail.com





Mondays: Hastings on Hudson:


  I have resigned the position of Senior Instructor. I will be present most Mondays to share what I know from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.

  In case of bad weather or other contingencies, I'll post my decision about attending class before 3:00 PM on Monday so please keep checking.

  I plan to attend class on Monday February 10 (2/10).



  Please contact Will willmorr@yahoo.com about dues and classes.




Fridays: New Haven:


  Classes will be held on Zoom on Friday February 7 (2/7)


  Two Zoom classes will be held:
   5:00 to 6:00 PM (for students who are learning the Tai Chi form, all students are welcome to attend)
   6:00 to 7:00 PM (for all students who have completed the form).



  Use the invitation below:

Invitation

  or the link and passcode, below, for this meeting:

https://zoom.us/j/82053303281
Passcode: 583945
  In case of bad weather or other contingencies, I'll post the final decision about class before 3:00 PM on Friday so please keep checking.

  Please contact Pamela pamelalaregina@gmail.com about dues and Beginners Classes.





Private Classes:


  If you are interested in private classes either in person or on Zoom, email me at: ldcomerford@gmail.com




Student Guidelines


  1. We are a traditional school. We are not selling commodified Tai Chi.

    Tai Chi is a life long study. T'ai Chi class is a community of people who have found the value of this practice in their life. It is not a pill. You can't buy it. You can practice inorder to find it. Adaptations of T'ai Chi can be found in lots of schools. We have found the enduring value of practice in Cheng Man-Ching's teaching so we try to preserve that.

  2. While you learn the form, please try to make it to every class. Please let us know if you are going to be absent.

    If you miss a class, we can adapt. Everyone needs to hear the details more than once. Multiple absences will slow the class down and can make adapting to absences a problem for the rest of the class.

  3. Inform the instructor of your physical limitations and please be forgiving if the instructor doesn't remember from week to week.

    Exceeding your limitations leads to injury. Injury leads to time lost, increased tension or dropping out.

  4. Wear comfortable, loose fitting clothing for form. "Kung fu shoes" (Chinese Slippers) or shoes with only moderate grip are recommended.

    Tai Chi practice requires freedom of movement. Pushing hands is a fundamental skill but it can be uncomfortable for some people. If you are averse to touch, some form of body armor is recommended. Using shoes with a moderate grip is meant to avoid slipping while also avoiding injuries like twisted knees.

  5. Pay attention to internal sensations.

    This is the beginning of "know yourself". When you practice Tai Chi as mindfulness meditation, it is the key to living aware, not on automatic pilot.

  6. Please ask questions. Tolerate uncertainty rather than accepting an over-simplified "truth". If you feel what you are being told contradicts sense or other teachers, raise the question.

    There is a saying ing Tai Chi: "If one asks, ten want to know." Best of all, sometimes questions open a perspective nobody has seen before.

  7. Do not teach either in class or outside of class unless you have been given formal permission. Refer fellow students' questions to the class instructor.

    In a traditional school of any martial art teaching without permission is the height of discourtesy and disrespect.

  8. Do not practice other arts or schools of Tai Chi either in class or the lead up to class. Warmups, stretching and yoga postures are acceptable.

    Tai Chi is unique. There are very few systems that teach "sung" and take "wu wei" seriously. It's difficult enough to grasp without introducing confusion.

  9. When doing form in class synchronize your movement to other people. Don't do your form in a bubble.

    This is the practice that begins developing the skill of "Know the other." If you do your own thing you miss the chance to begin this part of your study.

  10. Please treat your fellow students with kindness and respect.

    As a member of a study group, particularly in the beginning, individual progress is nurtured by the progress of the group.

  11. Please keep your dues up to date.

    We have to pay rent and other expenses to keep the school open.





Pushing Hands Training Guidelines

  1. Push Hands is training, not a contest.

    Pushing hands is a form of physical and mental training. It is intended to replace the common reflex to resist being pushed with an effective method of relaxing, absorbing and guiding a push. It is intended to replace reliance on upper body strength with reliance on posture coupled with leg and hip movement. To accomplish this it relies on the quality of “rootedness”, a resilient relationship to the ground and “listening”, and an awareness of the timing and direction of an incoming push.

  2. Push Hands is a strenuous activity.

    Do not practice if you have any medical problem that is exacerbated by strenuous activity. Stop practice if you have pain or become tired.

  3. Agreement between players about the level of their play is important.

    If one person wants to saw wood and the other wants a higher level, undesirable results can happen. In general the more experienced or skillful player should adapt their practice to accomodate the less experienced or skillful player. Using a shallower or shorter stance is one way to do this.

  4. A request to Push Hands can be refused and no explanation is required.

    Push Hands can be terminated at any time and no explanation is required. Before beginning push hands both players should reach an understanding about the level of push hands that will be practiced. If one person is, for example, able to “saw wood” and no more, then the more advanced player should agree to meet them at their level or below. Bullying can’t be tolerated.

  5. Push Hands should provide benefit to both players.

    At each stage in development of Push Hands skill both participants can benefit. This is of particular importance in early push hands training. When one practice partner gives the correct type and quality of push the other practice partner can experience performing real (as opposed to ritual) neutralization. The partner providing the push gets to experience being neutralized and learns how to avoid over extending and so becoming vulnerable.

  6. If Form and Push Hands are different, one or both are incorrect.

    Push Hands and Form constitute a complete T’ai Chi practice. One may study T’ai Chi Sword or T’ai Chi Lance for their pedagogic and physical value after the push hands concept of neutralization has been understood and to some degree accomplished. When this happens the practitioner will find a new level of meaning in the form practice because each movement between postures will be experienced as containing a “neutralization” and each self-correction of a posture error will be experienced as containing a “recovery” from the initial effect of a push.

  7. Push Hands isn't a replacement for Form Practice.

    Push Hands and Form constitute a complete T’ai Chi practice. The form allows a practitioner to "know themselves" while the push hands allows the practitioner to "know the other." Knowing the other is accomplished by feeling the effect the other has on the practitioner. Without the form, push hands degenerates into wrestling.

  8. Discern when you should move your feet.

    In commonly practiced push hands, a movement of either foot under the impetus of the practice partner (or as some would have it, “opponent”) is considered a defeat. Our practice is training, not a contest. Discerning the moment and situation in which receiving a push requires you to move your foot rather than lose your upright body posture is an important part of training.

  9. Do not change speed to seize an "oportunity."

    Push Hands is done in slow motion for the same reasons the form is done in slow motion. It allows study of internal sensation and release of tension. Moving faster is trying to win, not trying to listen and neutralize.

  10. Do not give in to the impulse to treat push hands as "reps."

    Each movement is taken as the first time its been done. You never put your foot in the same river twice. This is needed for listening skill (Ting Jing) to grow.



  I have an observation that I think is important. At the Tai Chi Association and at Shr Jung school, when people were pushing hands they were often laughing. I've aways thought the laughter came from new and unexpected self knowledge.

Copyright


Liam Comerford


September 23, 2017



about Liam Comerford


E-mail me at: ldcomerford@gmail.com