| Around Christmas, 2007, I began feeling | | | | opportunity to drive home the same lesson that |
| palpitations in my chest. I thought it was just | | | | the cardiologist drove home to me in that hospital |
| stress from my job. After a few months, I saw | | | | room in Tampa nearly two years ago. I made the |
| a doctor and he immediately realized I had atrial | | | | following points to the student: |
| fibrillation -- my heart had developed extra | | | | 1. You've got to do outside research and reading, |
| electrical pathways that caused it to flutter and | | | | and stop using me as the sole source of your |
| beat wildly. | | | | information. A quick Google search can turn up a |
| I had two choices -- take blood thinners the rest | | | | lot of information about the eight main energies |
| of my life to avoid a stroke or clot, or undergo | | | | and just about any other question you have. You |
| "laser ablation," where they go into veins in your | | | | don't need me to hand it to you in writing. There |
| groin, send lasers and a camera up into your | | | | are also some excellent books on Chen tai chi |
| heart, and burn spots to stop the extra electrical | | | | that everyone should read, including the books by |
| activity. | | | | David Gaffney and Jan Silberstorff. |
| I wanted to be back to normal, so I opted for | | | | 2. When I have attended classes with my |
| the laser ablation. | | | | teachers, and when I've been able to spend time |
| It was a surreal experience after being healthy | | | | with people like Chen Xiaoxing, or attend |
| and fit my entire life. After the procedure, it was | | | | workshops with folks like Mike Sigman, Chen |
| clear within a day or two that it hadn't worked. | | | | Xiaowang, Ren Guangyi and others, I have written |
| My heart was still beating strangely -- part of it | | | | pages and pages of notes. I spent a thousand |
| was fluttering instead of beating normally. | | | | dollars one weekend travelling to San Francisco |
| I returned to see the cardiologist a week later. He | | | | for a private day of training with Chen Xiaoxing |
| came into the room and looked at my charts. | | | | and my teacher at the time, Mark Wasson. I was |
| "What dose of coumadin (blood thinner) are you | | | | given personal feedback and coaching from each. |
| on?" he asked. | | | | On the plane ride home, I wrote pages of notes, |
| Hmmm. I just got the prescription a week ago | | | | going back over each movement in Laojia Yilu and |
| and hadn't paid attention. I just took it and didn't | | | | recalling the corrections that were made and the |
| ask questions. | | | | advice given. |
| "I don't know," I replied. | | | | 3. At workshops by the masters, you'll see some |
| He looked at me sternly. "Why don't you know?" | | | | people run to their notebooks during breaks and |
| he barked. "You have GOT to take responsibility | | | | write down notes to remind them of what |
| for your own treatment." | | | | they've learned so they retain it after the |
| I was surprised, and for a few seconds I was a | | | | workshop. |
| little steamed. | | | | 4. You have GOT to take responsibility for your |
| And then I realized he was right. | | | | own training. After each class, write down notes. |
| From that moment forward, I can tell you how | | | | You should write notes about the feedback and |
| much I'm taking of each medication. And often, | | | | corrections you've received. Write down |
| I've called the doctors to tell them what needed | | | | techniques and body mechanics. Practice from |
| to be done, what medicine I needed, and why. | | | | your notes. And don't depend on anyone to |
| They've almost always agreed. | | | | spoon-feed you everything. |
| In fact, I know what's happening with my body | | | | 5. If there is ANYTHING in the curriculum you're |
| and my medicine so well, I have caught nurses | | | | fuzzy on or haven't practiced enough to be able |
| when they made mistakes. I got online and | | | | to recall it instantly in physical expression, bring it |
| researched the side-effects of the medicines I | | | | up and ask if the instructor will go over it again |
| was prescribed and sometimes had to call the | | | | with you. There's really no excuse at all for a |
| doctors to tell them I didn't want to take a | | | | student not to be able to recall everything in |
| particular medicine that I didn't trust. | | | | earlier levels right now if asked to perform it. |
| In the space of 7 months I had three laser | | | | 6. Break up all the curriculum you know into lists |
| ablations, and that set off a chain of side-effects | | | | that you can get through -- a little bit each day. |
| that included pneumonia, coughing up blood, and | | | | This includes forms, applications, self-defense, |
| the closing of my left pulmonary veins, leaving me | | | | push hands, silk-reeling exercises, chin-na -- and |
| basically without a working left lung. | | | | try to get through all the curriculum at least once |
| So what does this have to do with martial arts? | | | | a week. For students of mine, this represents a |
| A kung-fu student once complained to me that I | | | | lot of material by the time they earn a black sash. |
| hadn't given him written material to answer some | | | | Perhaps you can't get through it all in a week. |
| basic questions about Chen tai chi, and I hadn't | | | | Perhaps it's every eight days. The point is -- you |
| written out some techniques for him. We had | | | | should practice everything often enough to be |
| gone over these same techniques just two days | | | | able to recall it instantly. |
| earlier. One of the questions he wanted me to | | | | You won't become the martial artist you want to |
| write out the answer for was, "What are the | | | | be until you take control -- and take responsibility |
| eight main energies of Tai Chi?" | | | | -- for your knowledge. |
| As a teacher, this presented me with an | | | | |