Water Tiger T'ai Chi

09/19/2026

Perhaps ye were expectin’ a differ’nt post tuhday, but Water Tiger’s bin boarded and have surrendered tuh dah call of piratitude …

Ahoy dere , mateys, scallywags, landlubbers, and really bad eggs! Duh Day of Days has – once agin - dropped anchor! Ye better be up tuh yer crow’s nest wit pirattitude - ARRRRRR!

In case ye need remindin’, Water Tiger always be sayin’ tuh ne'er trust uh T'ai Chi Player dat don't talk like uh pirate! We need be givin’ a nod tuh Mr. Miyagi fer dat one `cause he once said: “Ne’er be trustin’ a spiritual leader who ain’t wit duh dancin’.”

Dis be a lit’le sometin’ fer ye if ye don’t be knowin’ how pirates be knowin’ dey be pirates: Dey think, derefer dey ARRRR!

Artwork: “Jolly Roger Pirate Flag” by InkOutNinja

09/18/2026

If you know Water Tiger, you’re more than likely to be familiar with “The Art of the Wu-Wei Shovel”. Well, when it comes to Dr. Swenson moving into finding opportunities to train “shifting the weight and turning the waist” he starts with “snow and dirt shoveling” (32). He then lists “one student who drives spikes for the railroad” and then pivots to “woodcutting and splitting with an axe and heavy splitting maul” (ibid).

He continues with details:

“Like T’ai Chi players, many of the old loggers in Minnesota smile at the forceful, arm-driven, linear [movements] of the inexperienced …

“Using T’ai Chi principles, the weight shift and waist turning allows even the heaviest axe or maul to be swung without effort of the arms, thereby avoiding fatigue. As the falls in an arc and strikes, rather than letting stick, the body rolls it out to the side and repeats the circle.

“One can chop for hours without fatigue or injury to the joints” (ibid).

He finishes his exploration of this type of found practice by pointing out that there may be some truth to the stories we sometimes hear or read regarding how the old masters could fight for hours with heavy weapons.

Back to another found practice tomorrow that would’ve been at home as part of Tom Forsythe’s “Variety is the Spice of Life”.

- Tom Forsythe, “Variety is the Spice of Life”, “Inside Kung-Fu”, March 1996, 63-5.

- David X. Swenson, Ph.D, “Any Time Can Be a Good Time for Practice”, October 2001, 32-3.

09/17/2026

"A club hurts the flesh, but evil words hurt the bone." – Chinese Proverb, quoted in Matthew Polly’s “American Shaolin”.

- Matthew Polly, “American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch; An Odyssey in the New China” (New York, NY: Gotham Books, 2007), np.

BEING SUPPORTIVE

One of my Taiji classmates, who’s a grandfather, finally did the front splits.

I still can’t do them, but I was happy for him. The other students, however, teased him: “Teacher’s pet!” “Show off!” “You’re just trying to make us look bad!”

I really hate that.

Mind you, most of the other students are grandparents too. You would think they’d know better. Or more to the point, I hope they didn’t raise their children and grandchildren that way.

I went to an all-boys high school. It was the worst of male society: competitive, belligerent, and derisive. The faculty was no better. My art teacher regarded a bad painting as an indication of moral failure and lack of will. My French teacher considered anyone who couldn’t become fluent to be lazy (Each time I see a French word, I’m still mentally apologizing to Madame Milliete.) My master was even harsher. I already knew what the reaction was going to be after every attempt: I was no good.

I’ve never treated a child that way. I’ve never treated a student that way. I help and encourage my Taiji classmates. I detest martial arts classes where the senior students mock, bully, and knock down beginning students.

I once read that it takes forty years to get good at Taijiquan. Some of us are still trying. If a person is going to persevere for such a long time, it sure would help for their classmates to be supportive and for the senior students to be nurturing.

Nothing comes for free. Teasing without kindness or affirmation can leave more lasting damage than getting punched and kicked.

09/17/2026

A few of the anecdotes in Dr. David Swenson’s “Any Time Can Be a Good Time for Practice” seem like they could’ve been a part of Tom Forsythe’s “Variety is the Spice of Life”. Today’s share is one of those. It also requires this:

“Danger, Will Robinson, danger!”

While we understand the why of today’s share from Dr. Swenson, our lawyers tell us that we shouldn’t, in any way whatsoever, recommend it.

“T’ai Chi” magazine identifies Dr. Swenson as teaching in Duluth, MN (USA). So, in a northern state known as “The Land of 10,000 Lakes”, it makes sense that he and his students held some of their winter classes on “sheer polished ice”. He shares:

“When doing the forms on ice, one must relax completely and sink; any tension will quickly fatigue the legs, and lateral pushing with the legs results in sliding and a fall.

“Following this practice, many students mention how they are able to retain their balance on icy sidewalks during the season. In later practice, they have nicely developed rooting” (32).

Tomorrow, we will return to more “living a T’ai Chi infused life” types of found practice from Dr. Swenson.

- Tom Forsythe, “Variety is the Spice of Life”, “Inside Kung-Fu”, March 1996, 63-5.

- David X. Swenson, Ph.D, “Any Time Can Be a Good Time for Practice”, October 2001, 32-3.

09/16/2026

We left off Dr. Swenson’s anecdote yesterday at the point when only three of 12 students had passed their teacher’s test of walking across the studio and opening its door. Needless to say, the students were confused as to the why of both the success of some and the failure of others. Their teacher asked them to watch and describe what they saw as “he went first to the door, reached forward with his hand grasping the handle, pulled it back with his arm swinging the door wide, then stepped through.

“Next, he approached the door until his hand by his side reached the handle, then loosely looped his relaxed hand through the door pull and shifted his weight onto his back leg using the weight of his body to effortlessly open the door.

“He then turned his waist, which swung the door aside as he stepped through” (32).

This is one of the instances when Water Tiger might ask the students, “Are you living a T’ai Chi infused life?” In other words, do you maintain the T’ai Chi principles of mindful body dynamics, structure, whole body movement, etc., when you’re out in the world? If not, you’re missing practice opportunities and losing all the possibilities to which the art of T’ai Chi Ch’uan “opens the door”. (sorry about that)

Expanding on the idea on the morrow - with a major caveat.

- David X. Swenson, Ph.D, “Any Time Can Be a Good Time for Practice”, October 2001, 32-3.

09/15/2026

As Dr. David Swenson’s “Any Time Can Be a Good Time for Practice” continues, he addresses how two of his teachers, T. T. Liang and Jou Tsung Hwa, would sometimes comment on the importance of incorporating practice into one’s everyday life, but wouldn’t address how to do so. However, an earlier teacher, Gary Stier, did. Many of you will find the story familiar as it is another Water Tiger has oft brought onto the mat, in the room, and through the remote environment – with some taking of dramatic license.

The anecdote begins with a nod to how “Sifu Stier” had been giving weekly homework assignments for a number of months and then “he announced he would be giving [the students] a test.” Dr. Swenson adds, “Although we rehearsed the form endlessly and read and reread the classics, we were unprepared for his test.

“At our next class session, after doing our forms together, he simply asked each of us to leave the room, then return. This seemed direct enough. We walked across the dance studio room where we practiced, pulled the heavy door open, and walked into the hallway. After we had all returned, he indicated that all but three of the dozen students had failed the test” (32).

Tomorrow, we will share the why of the mass failure.

- David X. Swenson, Ph.D, “Any Time Can Be a Good Time for Practice”, October 2001, 32-3.

09/14/2026

A few days ago, we wrapped our focus Peter Neri’s “The Perils of Booking T’ai Chi Time” and now we’re moving on to Dr. David X. Swenson’s “Any Time Can Be a Good Time for Practice”. Both were what we would consider our primary handouts. Even though they came to us seven years apart from one another, they were normally always handed out together once Water Tiger moved to and was re-established on Long Island, NY (USA), in November 2001.

As we mentioned at the start of the previous focus, they were both part of a group of articles we’d give to studio students after they had remained in Water Tiger’s studio program for six months. While the list of articles started shorter, it had remained at 18 for quite a few years before we went dark in May of this year.

Dr. Swenson begins his two-page article speaking to how his 30 years as a T’ai Chi student had led to reflection about the many excuses for not practicing:

“It is no different for many of my students, who lament, “How can I practice forms every day when I have a job, school, family, (fill in the blank). Yet, we are admonished to practice regularly, and even several times a day when possible” (32).

- David X. Swenson, Ph.D, “Any Time Can Be a Good Time for Practice”, October 2001, 32-3.

09/13/2026

Here’s the second of our recent bookmark discoveries. We really like this one because not only do we have a wonderful image of our namesake, but we also have “Tiger Facts” on the flipside.

09/12/2026

We’ve said it before: As collectors of books, we are also collectors of bookmarks.

We were digging through that collection of bookmarks recently – looking for a particular bookmark with a particular quote, which we didn’t find – and stumbled across a couple graced with our namesake. Here’s the first one. It’s a beautiful wooden bookmark that seems more like a piece of art.

09/11/2026

For the day that is …

''We saw a national unity bend. We learned that unity is the one thing that must never break. Unity is what makes us who we are - America at its best. To me, that's the central lesson of September 11 - that at our most vulnerable, the push-and-pull of all that makes us human, in the battle for the soul of America, unity is our greatest strength.''

President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
Friday, September 10, 2021
White House National Address