Page 96 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

This concept of Making Smaller Circles has been a critical component of my
learning process in chess and the martial arts. In bo th fi ds, pl ayers tend to ge t

attached to fancy techniques and fail to recogni ze that subt le int erna lization
and refinement is much more impo rtant than the quan tity of what is learne d. I
think it was this understanding that won me my first Push Hands Nationa l
Championship in November 2000, after jus t two years of Tai Chi study. Sur ely

many of my opponents knew more about Tai Chi than I did, but I was very
good at what I did know. I had conden sed my body mechan ics int o a po tent
state, while most of my opponents had large, elegant, and relatively impr actical
repertoires. The fact is that when ther e is intense compet ition, tho se who

succeed have slightly more honed ski lls than the rest. It is rarely a mysterious
technique that drives us to the top, but rather a profound mastery of wha t may
well be a basic skill set. Depth beats br eadt h any day of the week, be caus e it
opens a channel for the intangible, unco ns cious , creative compo ne nt s of our

hidden potential.

I. For example: shifting weight by releasing the hip joints; ever-deepening relaxation; the coordination of
mind, breath, and body; awareness of internal energies; winding up to deliver a strike; coiling incoming
force down into the ground; rooting; emptying one part of the body while energizing another.