Page 79 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

weekday nights when most peopl e cho se to stay ho me. Then it was jus t Che n
and one or two die-hards, a private lesson. But more often ther e were ten or so

beginners in the room, working out thei r issues , trying to smooth the ir
movements. Master Chen would stand in front of a large mirror so he coul d
observe the students while leading the class. He woul d smile and make some
little quip about the current squab bl e between hi s son and dau ght er. He was

very mortal. No fancy words. No spi ritual claims. He didn’t expect the bo wing
and scraping usually associated with Chinese martial arts—“I f I can do it, you
can do it,” was his humble message.
Chen reminded me quite powerful ly of Yur i Razuv aev, the Yoda -like

Russian chess teacher who had enco ur aged me to nur tur e my natur al voice.
Chen had the same kind of insight int o the studen t, altho ugh hi s wisdo m was
very physical. I could be doing the form in class, feel a little off, and he woul d
look at me from across the room, tilt his head, and come over. The n he woul d

imitate my posture precisely, point to a leg or a spo t on the lower ba ck whe re
there was tension, and demonstrate with hi s bo dy ho w to ease the crimp. He
was always right. Chen’s ability to mimic phy sical struct ur e do wn to the
smallest detail was amazing. He read the body like a gr eat chess pl ayer reads

the board. A huge element of Tai Chi is releasing obs truct ions so the bo dy and
mind can flow smoothly together. If ther e is tension in one pl ace, the mind
stops there, and the fluidity is broken . Chen coul d always see whe re my mind
was.

Over time, as we got to know each other, our int eractions be came
increasingly subtle. He would notice a small hi tch in my form like a
psychological wrinkle buried deeply in my sho ul der, and from across the room,
in a blink, he would look into my eyes, take on my struct ur e, make a small

adjustment, and then fall back into his own body and move on with the class. I
would follow and immediately feel released, as if somebody had take n a he avy
knot out of my back. He might glance back to check if I had no ticed, he might
not. If I was ready, I would learn. It was amazing ho w many stude nt s woul d

miss such rich moments because they were looki ng at them selves in the mirror
or impatiently checking the time. It took ful l concent ration to pi ck up each
valuable lesson, so on many levels Tai Chi class was an exercise in awarene ss.
While this method worked very well for me, it also weeded out stude nt s who

were not committed to serious pr actice. I’ve seen many emerge bo red from