Investment in Loss The author narrates his mastery of the Pus | Golden Books™

Investment in Loss

The author narrates his mastery of the Push Hands classes in his Tai Chi journey. After receiving an invitation from his master William C. Chen, Josh says that he was of two minds before he agreed to join the class. The thing is the Tai Chi beginner class he's been taking has been a practice in which he can feel peaceful and wonderful alone, after a rough patch of the Chess Championship road he's been on since his childhood.

On the other hand, he pushes himself to level up the challenge, and maintain what he has in the class in even an increased pressure with an opponent. Besides, he explains, Tai Chi is not a clash with the opponent but an art to flow and bend with their energy, which can be an interesting opportunity to master complete relaxation under intensified situations.

After he started the class, Josh writes that he was completely astonished and puzzled by how his master and the other advanced students dissolved and defied his attacks with a little effort. It took him a long journey of being tossed around and fly and smash against walls before he even knew what was happening. The idea is, as he explains, to resist an incoming attack without resisting, which sounds absurd even to speak. Unless you have experienced it, you'll probably never get it only by knowing.

He continues his classes with deeper and rigorous exercises. He explains how he kept a wide eye for every new bit of information(verbal or physical) that he didn't know before. His master is an expert at teaching that their communication was very implicit and deep, without the need for exchange of words. Other students, even if they started the class long before him, couldn't advance because they were stuck in their own ego and habit. Rather than absorbing what's around them, they'd try to prove themselves correct as they stood their grounds. They haven't given themselves a chance to invest in loss, to make mistakes, to get beaten up as they got disappointed when they do. Josh explains how he got used to the blows of one particular strong opponent. He couldn't even see let alone dodge the other's attacks that it took him months to finally to neutralize the attacks. His fear of the shots was dead as he just took them when they came.

In conclusion, Josh states that it's fundamental to have such incremental approach to learning. You'll need to make mistakes and lose before you even get to know what you're doing. You should focus on gradual progressing, by increasing pressure and challenge, in which inevitably comes a losing and getting tossed.

The Art of Learning, Josh Watzkin