openness Archives | Faulk TaiChi

Listening

January 21, 2017 By Arlene Faulk

Is listening becoming a lost art?

Generally, we think of listening with our ears. Does that sound like a strange statement? Think about it. More and more conversations are transacted via email or text or twitter. We may occasionally listen to a live speaker but many of us rely on reading sound bites or short news stores on our computer or phone. I don’t think we can really listen through the written word. Nuances, inflections, tone are difficult to pick up on a screen and maybe more likely to be misinterpreted.

Really listening and hearing another person requires focus and being open, open to what he or she has to say. There is another aspect of listening that is as important as readiness to hear spoken words – listening to our bodies. Many years ago I learned an important lesson from an exercise instructor in New York City. “Your body doesn’t lie,” she announced in class one day. I thought and thought about that. Dealing with some severe physical challenges at the time, I realized that I used my mind to say “It’s not so bad,” “I can get through this” I wasn’t really listening to my body because I didn’t really know how to do it. When I started to listen, through work with a professional acupuncturist, I started to take time out for rest, started a Tai Chi class. Tai Chi helps me quiet my chattering mind, empty out the thoughts, be in the moment, be a better listener.

It’s only when we can focus on the moment that we can quiet our mind and open up to listen, to our body and I also believe, to words of other people. It takes openness to listen, from an open mind that is willing and ready to listen.

If you are like me, it may be helpful to think what you might do, what you might let go of, to be in the moment, to really listen. What is your body telling you? How might you really listen and hear what someone else is saying out loud to you? You may find that listening in conversation, being open to others is related to how your body feels.

Sharing Energy

June 2, 2015 By Arlene Faulk

What a wonderful afternoon on Sunday as my students and those from Enso Tai Chi shared our energy in a special workshop. Attentive, relaxed, positive, flowing, congenial, open, eager, smiling – words that come to mind to describe the feeling in the room.

It is always so energizing to gather like-minded people, in an atmosphere of learning, generating positive Qi (energy)- going inside with breathing, focusing our minds on moving energy in a relaxed, balanced way. I enjoyed the give and take, the easy flow of teaching with Chris Cinnamon, the openness of all the students, the willingness to share and allow whatever was to happen, just happen.

I shared an important comment that Grandmaster Yang Jun said in the International Tai Chi Chu’an Symposium I attended last year — “Tai Chi is about understanding energy, not about learning moves.” Yes, we need to use our minds to learn a specific move with our body, but that’s just the shell. The key is learning to get in touch, feel, move our energy with our minds. This group got it. Knew it. Felt it. At times the energy was palpable.

How special it is to take time to be, to focus our minds on our energy and end up being in the moment. How special it is to share that moment with people whom we meet for the first time, as Tai Chi friends. We share a special connection from the onset – wanting to share energy and find the moment, individually and together.

“Never Cease to Learn”

June 30, 2012 By Arlene Faulk

More reflections from my Tai Chi workshop in Olive Branch, Mississippi:

“Anyone who teaches may never cease to learn,” Dr. Paul Lam said in the midst of the week. At that time, I was loving being a student, soaking in the knowledge and experience the teachers were sharing. My major responsibility was to be attentive, to be an eager student. Not a teacher.

Learning new things has and continues to be very appealing to me. The old adage that the more you know, the more you know what you don’t know rings truer every year. And, in this workshop I wanted new insights about the principles of Tai Chi and I wanted to learn a new Yang style form, the 24, which I’ve wanted to learn for a number of years. I wasn’t focused on being a teacher in that moment, but Dr. Lam’s comment caused me to stop and think. Many of us are teachers and have the honor of teaching Tai Chi, acknowledging great respect for the masters who shared their wisdom over the centuries in their families, and more recently outside of their families to the general public.

I love learning, and as a teacher, greatly enjoy learning from my students. I can honestly say that I learn something new in every class I teach. I gain insights on students’ learning, interpreting words, watching movements, all in different ways. Preparing for a class, for a private session, for a demonstration, for a workshop, requires thinking, researching, talking with other teachers — learning from a variety of sources. And the best is to watch students, listen to their questions and comments during class and sometimes before/after a class. The student’s brain cells, the body’s reaction are in motion, along with the teacher’s.

It occurs to me that students can be great teachers for the teacher and in some respects we are all teachers, even if it’s not an official title. Mothers, fathers, and other family members are teachers; children teach their parents and guardians; office managers teach us; friends teach us.

The key, I think, to be a good teacher is to have an open mind, an attitude of compassion and learning. Teachers may have experience, knowledge and skills to impart, but it’s not a one-way street. The students in our classes, in our homes, on the basketball court, in the retirement homes all have something to teach us. Let us be willing to consider many who intersect in our lives as teachers and “never cease to learn.”