Peter Herman: Curiculum

Course Content

General Comments

The courses are divided into the Beginner's Course and the Advanced Course. Each class meets one hour a week, on Tuesday evenings. The location of the courses are at the Concept School in Westtown, Pennsylvania. A student can dress comfortably, usually wearing sneakers or soft shoes, sweats, or shorts and a loose comfortable shirt or tee shirt.

It is not necessary that you have any prior knowledge of martial arts.

I have found that the students needing to learn Tai Chi Chuan the most have difficulty "finding time to learn". This is usually a result of type "A" personalities who are stressed out, doing too many things, and can't seem to find the "stop button" in their lives. A successful student realizes this, and makes the time and committment to learn Tai Chi Chuan.

In Cheng Man-Ching's Advanced T'ai-Chi Form Instructions compiled and translated by Douglas Wile, Great Grandmaster Cheng Man-Ching discusses the three faults of students. The first fault is lack of perserverance. He writes:"If one approaches the study of this art (tai chi) without perseverance, not only is it a waste of time, but one emerges empty-handed from a mountain of treasures."

The second fault is greediness. If a posture or two is taught during a lesson, then practiced and understood, progress is accomplished. If more than one or two postures are taught, or if the lesson is not practiced, "confusion is inevitable".

The third fault is haste. "Try to remember that as water flows it naturally cuts a channel, and that things cannot be forced". To hastily learn the art of tai chi chuan, one builds a foundation on sand. It will eventually collapse. Learn the art slowly and it will make perfect sense.

If a student can eliminate these faults "then the profit will be infinite".

Beginner's Course

Tai Chi Chuan is introduced to the student. William C.C. Chen's 60 Movement form is taught, usually one or two movements a week. The student is expected to practice each movement and continues to add movements each week. Push hands, Chi Kung exercises, yin and yang,and philosophy are also introduced to the beginner. The principles of Tai Chi Chuan are given and as each movement is taught, the priciples are demonstrated by example.

Corrections and Advanced Course

Students that complete the form will be advanced to this class. Here, the form is refined, movements are "fine-tuned" or corrected, push-hands, chi kung, principles, yin and yang, and philosophy are studied on a deeper level. In the advanced class, the form is used to practice specific principles of Tai Chi Chuan.