Master L once said that the real cost of training Tai Chi is the time you put into it. Not the fee you pay. Not the expenses you incur to travel. The time you put into it.

I mentioned in another post Training Advice about the training time. In this post I will elaborate a bit more.

There was a time that Master L was talking about me taking on students. He said that students should know that if they are training for health they should do it for at least an hour a day. For the more serious students, they should train for at least 2 hours.

For the first six years of my learning I was the typical lazy student. Training, but not seriously training, or training regularly. Sure, I can remember the movements, the mental instructions but beyond that I got nothing.

Then in the sixth year, I felt something, and told Master L about it. Now, Master L knew that I practiced and taught Wing Chun. He never said much about it.

However, this time Master L said that this feeling is good, a sign of a breakthrough, so I should consider putting aside everything else that I did and focus all my training in only Tai Chi.

I thought about it and decide to follow Master L’s advice. So I stopped practicing Wing Chun but I did not stop teaching. Big mistake.

After training for some time and reviewing the results, I decided that I had to stop teaching Wing Chun too. This was a financial cost as down the line the Donnie Yen Ip Man movie sparked an uptick in people looking to learn Wing Chun. However, I felt that for once I want to make a real breakthrough so there!

The first thing to do was to decide how to practice. Since the principles are in the 22 form then form practice it is.

The second thing to consider is when to train. Mornings and afternoons were out due to work. So evenings it was. This was the simple part.

The third thing was the training duration. How many hours should I put in? I heard from Master L’s son that his father trained the entire day. I assumed this to be eight hours. However, I don’t have eight hours to train so I settled for half of the time, four hours.

The fourth thing was whether I should train every day, seven days a week. Perhaps this was too ambitious so I decided on at least 5-6 days per week for starters.

The fifth thing was what time to start in the evening. If I started at 8 pm I would finish by midnight. So I try to start between 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm.

The sixth thing was how to keep time. Initially, I used music because certain albums would take up a certain time so 4-5 albums would take about 4 hours. Later I dropped the music and just trained.

The seventh thing was where to train. Initially, I trained at home. At a later stage I went up to the carpark roof level where it was dark and no one was around. In the beginning it is better to train away from onlookers. Once you can concentrate, if you feel like it you can test your focus by practicing where people are.

The eighth thing is the time actually spent training. When I said that I spent four hours to train what I meant is that for four continuous hours I would do the 22 form over and over again, non-stop. Yes, you read that right. Non-stop.

It is very tempting to stop to take a sip of water. To scratch an itch. To check social media. To check messages. However, if you really want to make that breakthrough you need to get into the flow. The only way to get into the flow for a first timer is by non-stop repetition. Even when you are mentally tired, dozing off after a day’s work, do not stop. Keep moving.

Once you have put in enough practice, you can easily get into the flow as soon as you start the practice. You will find that the mental dialogue between mind and body will wake you up instead of draining you mentally in the beginning. This is the hardest part of the practice, pushing yourself to keep going, when you really want to stop and have so many excuses to momentarily stop.

I once read somewhere that only one in a thousand students get it. I am not surprised. Master L said Tai Chi is not difficult to learn. Instead, it is the practice that is difficult.

At a later stage, instead of practicing the entire form you can also practice just one technique over and over.

Sometimes I would do Wild Horse Parts Mane many, many times in one direction. Then turn around and step back to the original position.

Alternately, do Wild Horse Parts Mane many times. Then use Play Pipa to change to Repulse Monkey and step backwards to the original starting point. Then repeat until I felt I have enough before continuing the rest of the 22 form.

The final point I want to make is to train the 22 form until it is like breathing. Why like breathing?

It is because you can’t live without breathing. So you train until you need to practice it every day, think about it everyday, sneak in that practice here and there. Then chances are high you will make that breakthrough.