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About the
Teacher |
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In many
websites, the “About Me” page is always filled with glowing accounts of who
the teacher is, who he learnt from, what lineage he’s from, what competitions
he won, or what certificates he has blah blah blah. I used to
do something like that, but somehow, it came across like I was trying to sell
something. Definitely not my style, and hence I removed it all. So you
won’t get to see a picture of me. Nah… I’m not that good-looking, haha… I thought of putting my joint photo with some of What
lineage am I from or who did I learn from? Does it really matter? Those of us
who have been around for some time will surely have come across people with
fantastic credentials but their students go away disappointed. But since
every time I get phone calls I get grilled about my credentials, I thought,
what the heck, just put it down here so I don’t have to keep repeating
myself. After all, credentials may not mean anything to me but to some
people, it does, so, here it goes... In the
Beginning… I was
plagued by ill health when young, suffering from various ailments like
frequent colds and flus, depression, severe
migraine (the type that drops you on the floor groaning and crying in pain), suspected heart murmur and what have you. Doctors
didn’t help, except to condemn me to lifelong medication. I got fed
up enough to start researching into something better and in 1996, I picked up my first Tai Chi book and tried out the
exercises inside. I started feeling better, but it was not enough and I
thought I’d better look for a proper teacher to teach me. In the
next two years, I picked up some tips here and there (and yes, I did my time
in the CCs too) and it was in 1998 that I finally met my first main teacher,
Mr Luo Yongkun. My
Teachers Mr Luo was a pioneer in the local martial arts scene. He was
a disciple of Lim Pek Yen, who in turn was a
disciple of Dong Yingjie. Mr Luo
also learnt directly with Dong Yingjie and his son
Dong Huling when the two Dongs were in KL in the
mid-1950s. (Yeah, I
know some people may not recognise the names, but for those who do, now you
know what I started out with.) Back
then, those who wish to teach Tai Chi must be certified by the Singapore
National Wushu Federation and be licensed by the Singapore Police Force. I had my piece of
paper. (Sadly, the removal of this requirement has allowed literally any Tom,
Dick and Harry to set up shop and start teaching…) Mr Luo also gave me his permission in 2001 to teach what I
learnt from him. Unfortunately,
a minor accident forced Mr Luo to retire from
active teaching and I was forced to cease lessons with him. Come
2004, I met my second main teacher, Mr Y. Wu. Mr Wu is from the Yang Jianhou – Wang Yongquan – Wei Shuren lineage. His
reputation needs no introduction. I am still training under him. Not only
that, I have interviewed some of the top masters living today, like Qiao Songmao (Leader of the Wu
Style), Chen Zhenglei (one of Four Leaders of the
Chen Style), Liu Rui (Leader of the Zhaobao Style), Chan See Meng
(Successor-Designate of the late White Crane Patriarch Chee
Kim Thong), Sim Pooh Ho (Leader of Nam Wah Pai), and so on. From them
I gained further insights into the art. Credentials
= Teaching Ability? So to
those who are wondering if I learnt from proper sources, the answer is yes. However,
learning from good teachers is no guarantee I can teach. This is why
I don’t believe that credentials = ability to teach. I am an
English teacher, by the way, with a BA in English from the (And yes,
I know about the English errors on this page! This is meant to be in a
conversational style, not academic English J) I am
confronted every day with the fact that having that piece of paper does not
translate to teaching ability. The same
applies to teaching Tai Chi and Qigong. What we
should be looking for should be the students’ results, for by the fruit we
know the tree. So do my
students achieve good results? Students’
Testimonials I’ll be
frank with you. I’ve not have had that many students, only a handful at most.
The reason, I suspect, is my fee. Every time people hear my fee, they either
don’t hang around for long or they run away. So why
then do I charge so much? Well, it used to be that I actually taught for free
or for a nominal fee, but as every human being knows, what we get for free or
at low cost, we don’t appreciate. And I got taken for granted and taken
advantage of, so one day I decided that I’ll charge at least market price,
and if no one wants to pay, so be it. I’m not doing it for a living anyway. Oops, I
digressed. Oh yeah, I’m supposed to tell you about those who have learnt from
me for at least a few months. One of
them had a physical, structural misalignment that doctors, medicine,
physiotherapy and chiropractors couldn’t help. Within one month of learning
from me, he proclaimed that he no longer had the pain that had plagued him
for years. Another
student had had a few decades of experience under another teacher, but after
only two lessons with me this student declared that she had wasted so much
time with her previous teacher. Her abilities made obvious improvements such
that the people she used to practise with noticed and started asking
questions. Not just
these, I used to put up here a list of testimonials from students about how
wonderful I am (ahem! haha…) and how much they
benefited from my lessons etc. But I took them down because it came across
like I’m trying to sell something, just like this website of another teacher
in So do my
students get results? Definitely. How
About Winning Competitions? Nope.
Zip. Nothing. I learnt
the traditional stuff which will not win any competitions which basically
emphasises looking pretty and nothing else. Then,
Do You Guarantee Results? NO! Huh…??? You see,
as an English teacher, the methods I use are time-tested and research-proven.
I have students who go from an F to an A in three months. I also have students
who still fail after learning from me for a year. When I look at it
critically, the reason has always been the same – those who failed didn’t do
what I told them to do. Exactly
the same in Tai Chi and Qigong. The
method can be the best, but if YOU
yourself don’t practise, nothing will happen. It was
exactly the same with my two teachers. Anyone who knows them knows how good
they are, but they also had their fair share of lousy students. I myself was
also one until and it was only when I practised
what they taught me that I started making progress. But what
I can guarantee is that I don’t teach crap. Also, there are teachers out
there who will hold things back from the students for fear that the students
will become better than them. I don’t do that. That’s so ridiculous and so
reflective of the teacher’s insecurity and fragile ego. A good
teacher always wants his students to overshadow him. When the students become
good, the teacher’s name will also pass on. Final
Words So,
that’s a brief intro to who I am. I leave it to you to decide if I make
sense. I don’t teach Tai Chi and Qigong for a living so I’m in no pressure to
conform or to commercialise or to compromise, and that’s such a wonderful thing. I’m
always reminded of this lady teacher at the Botanic Gardens. Every time I
visit the place I’ll see her teaching a different group of students a
different thing. Last time it was the 24-form, then it was the fan, then it
was… I can’t even recognise it! And, there was one day when I spotted her at
Bras Basah buying this huge stack of instructional VCDs. My guess is that she bought it to learn something
new to teach something new to retain her students who probably became bored
that they’re not learning anything substantial. That’s
the thing when you commercialise the art. After a while, there’s nothing more
to learn whereas for the traditional art, you basically can do the same form
over and over again but you’ll never finish plumbing it to its depths.
Hopefully, you can experience this for yourself. J Return to
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