Page 7 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

myself dreading chess, miserable bef ore leaving for tour nam ents. I pl ayed
without inspiration and was invited to appear on t elevision s ho ws. I smiled.

Then when I was eighteen years old I stum bl ed upo n a little bo ok called the
Tao Te Ching, and my life took a turn. I was moved by the book’s natur al
wisdom and I started delving into other Buddhi st and Taoist phi losophi cal
texts. I recognized that being at the pi nnacl e in other peopl e’s eyes ha d no thi ng

to do with quality of life, an d I was dr awn t o the p otential for inner tranqui lity.
On October 5, 1998, I walked int o William C. C. Chen ’s Tai Chi Chua n
studio in downtown Manhattan and found myself sur rounded by pe aceful ly
concentrating men and women fl ating thr ough a cho reogr aphe d set of

movements. I was used to driven chess pl ayers cultivating tunne l vision in
order to win the big game, but now the focus was on bodi ly awarene ss, as if
there were some inner bliss that resul ted from mindf ul ly moving slowly in
strange ways.

I began taking classes and after a few weeks I found myself pr acticing the
meditative movements for hours at ho me. Given the compl icated na tur e of my
chess life, it was beautifully liberating to be learni ng in an environm ent in
which I was simply one of the beginner s—an d somethi ng felt right abo ut thi s

art. I was amazed by the way my body pul sed with life when flowing thr ough
the ancient steps, as if I were tapping i nt o a primal alignmen t.
My teacher, the world-renowned Grandm aster William C. C. Che n, spe nt
months with me in beginner classes, pat iently correcting my movement s. In a

room with fifteen new students, Chen woul d look into my eyes from twent y
feet away, quietly assume my postur e, and relax hi s elbow a half inch one way
or another. I would follow his subtle instruct ion and sudden ly my ha nd woul d
come alive with throbbing energy as if he had plugged me int o a soothi ng

electrical current. His insight into body mechan ics seemed magi cal, but
perhaps equally impressive was Chen ’s humi lity. Here was a man tho ught by
many to be the greatest living Tai Chi Master in the world, and he pa tient ly
taught first-day novices with the same loving attention he gav e hi s seni or

students.
I learned quickly, and became fascinated with the growth tha t I was
experiencing. Since I was twelve years old I had kept jour nal s of my che ss
study, making psychological observations along the way—no w I was do ing the

same with Tai Chi.