IT ISN'T THE AGE THAT MATTERS, IT'S THE MILEAGE

 by Phillip Starr

Hardly seems fair; we train our bodies, pour buckets of sweat, grit our teeth in pain...and age still catches up with us. We may be able to slow its progress a bit, but it eventually falls upon us. But then, it's better than our other option... And I think there's certain advantages to it as well. When I was younger, I was enthralled with acquiring as much strength and speed as possible. I trained like a fanatic in my quest for martial prowess. I paid scant attention to much of what my teacher tried to tell me, particularly as it pertained to taijiquan and even baguazhang.

Almost imperceptibly, the years ganged up on me until I finally realized that I'd passed the peak of my speed and strength. I set about trying to FEEL what I was doing; to feel what was going on inside as well as outside. I soon discovered many things; many principles that my teacher had tried to pound (sometimes literally) into my head when I was younger. They didn't come all at once; just a piece here and there, like pieces of a puzzle. In assembling this puzzle, I sometimes lean back and smile, remembering his words and my youthful hard-headedness that prevented me from fully grasping what he was trying to convey.

Part of the problem, of course, was that although he was quite fluent in English, he simply lacked the vocabulary that was necessary to transmit certain concepts. For instance, words like fascia, tendons, and so on weren't a part of his usual English usage. And some things he simply couldn't verbalize – in English or Chinese (which I didn't understand in those days, anyway) – because, although he could experience certain internal feelings and demonstrate them, he didn't really KNOW the “why” of it. I doubt that his teacher knew, either. For instance, the use of the iliopsoas muscle (aka. “psoas”) in executing certain postures was something they couldn't clarify because they weren't that familiar with human anatomy and how it all works together. And that's just one example; there are many more.

It would be up to me figure it out on my own, relying on what I felt (internally) and what such a feeling produced. I think he must have had a good deal of faith in me...certainly more than I did! With the passing of the years, I realized that I could no longer perform beautiful jumping kicks or twirls. I had to slow everything down several klicks – especially after having suffered a stroke in China – and slowing things down helped me to really FEEL what I was doing. I didn't have a choice; if I'd tried to move too quickly, I'd have ended up on the floor, wondering what day it was. So I slowed down and focused on feeling. And upon discovering a few things, I focused even more...

The older teachers demonstrate high levels of skill not just because they've been training for a long time, but because they've carefully examined their respective arts...if, for no other reason, than age forced them to do it! They came to understand that, in the end, great speed and strength, although important to some degree, aren't all there is. Other, very subtle things, are much more crucial to real martial arts technique.