The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance

Tai Chi is an emblem of Chinese and Taiwanese greatness. In a way, this discipline represents their sporting and philosophical essence. The

stake. My relationship to the martial arts is rooted in nonviolence. I don’t get into fights. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I believe that our world is destroying itself with a cycle of violence begetting violence, and I don’t want to have any part in that cycle.

housecat will teach me how to move. All moments become each moment. This book is about learning and performance, but it is also about my life. Presence has taught me how to live.

This involved some technical growth, and in order to make those steps I had to recognize the relationship between anger, ego, and fear. I had to develop the habit of taking on my technical weaknesses whenever someone pushed my limits instead of falling back into a self-protective indignant pose.

I first picked up On the Road while finishing my preparation for the World Under 18 Chess Championship in Szeged, Hungary, in the summer of 1994. Jack Kerouac’s vision was like electricity in my veins. His ability to draw sheer joy from the most mundane experiences opened up the world to me. I felt oppressed by the pressures of my career, but then

I responded to heartbreak with hard work.

The fact of the matter is that there will be nothing learned from any challenge in which we don’t try our hardest. Growth comes at the point of resistance. We learn by pushing ourselves and finding what really lies at the outer reaches of our abilities.

The secret is that everything is always on the line. The more present we are at practice, the more present we will be in competition, in the boardroom, at the exam, the operating table, the big stage.

is easy to speak of nonviolence when I am in a flower garden. The real internal challenge is to maintain that fundamental perspective when confronted by hostility, aggression, and pain. The next step in my growth process would be to stay true to myself under increasingly difficult conditions.