For a peak performance, your mind needs to be calm and your body well warmed up.
Even the most experienced star performers prepare themselves to go on stage. Long-lasting star performers rehearse regularly. They are disciplined and so they maintain their stamina. Lasting success is never by chance. Long-lasting stars develop real consistency in their outstanding performances.
Some performers really stand out because they have star quality and command the audience’s rapt attention. Actually, we all have the potential to develop star quality, but most people simply do not know how to bring out their innate strength and beauty.
Scientists can now assist athletes to put on a star performance for a very important match or race, but some individuals do have more star quality in their DNA than others. Scientists have studied top athletes and they have found that there is a genetic aspect to coming up with winning performances. Some athletes can train really hard and yet never make it to the top echelons of their sport because of genetic limitations. Whereas, if someone has the right genetic make- up, and then trains really hard, they can go further and further- or faster and faster!
I do not know whether your genes mean that you will naturally be a star Infinite Tai Chi performer, but I can tell you how to reach your own peak performance. First, you need to train hard on a daily basis for quite some time, but of course, you also need to know how to rest and relax. Second, it can be really helpful to go over a peak performance in your mind before you perform physically. See yourself performing brilliantly all the way through your routine and do not allow your mind to entertain any fears or doubts about your performance. Top athletes now utilise all kinds of psychology and mind tricks to improve their performances, but above all they really have to believe that they can win.
I have now watched so many infinite Tai Chi students go through their final assessments, but only a very few have demonstrated real star quality. Star students all have two qualities in common- exceptional talent and exceptionally high motivation to do well. However, some students have had some martial arts, dance or yoga training before they come on the course and this does help them to move gracefully after a relatively short time. Other students, who are basically starting from scratch, may need longer than three years to cultivate the grace and strength required to reach teacher standard in Infinite Tai Chi.
You need to be highly dedicated and motivated to become really good at Infinite Tai Chi. A lot of people claim that they want to do something, but they never actually get up and start to do it because they lack real motivation. They are either too laid back, or too fearful to start the ball rolling.
Fear can be a very powerful motivator in life. Human beings have an instinctive drive to move away from danger and so fear can sometimes motivate us to work very hard. But I find it is much more relaxing, and even more powerful, to be motivated by love. If you are motivated by love when you perform ITC & Chi Kung, you will look so much more relaxed and graceful than if you are basically motivated by fear of failure. When you say to yourself ‘What if I fail?’ you will inevitably look tense and constrained.
Whenever I perform in front of an audience, I make sure that I am motivated by love for all those watching me, otherwise I will believe that my audience are judging me and that may make me fearful. So I strongly advise you that each time before you perform ITC & Chi Kung in front of any kind of audience, you should raise your vibrations and send love energy out to each and every one of those watching you. Connect to your audience with love and this will assist you to be a real star performer.
Of course, we are all afraid of being judged, but if we are wise, we will practise being motivated by love for our audience, or our clients, or customers. Salesmen who love their customers, and really want to serve them well, are so much more successful than salesmen who are motivated primarily by fear of failure.
We all tend to suffer from stage fright before a big performance, but we can override stage fright, and in any case it does not have to be negative. We can utilise the energy of stage fright and turn it into fuel for intense focus and excitement. You cannot be too relaxed or bored when you perform, or your audience will sense your lack of excitement. Some veteran performers actually welcome a bit of stage fright because they know that they can transform the energy of fear into a very positive, vibrant energy. Whereas, if a performer is too cocky, or over-confident, they tend to be prone to making careless mistakes.
I love to train light workers to have real star quality. What is the point in training students to be just so-so? Human beings need to see stars in all walks of life to inspire them. We have to climb to the very top of the mountain of human potential and then shine out at the top like a beacon. But to achieve this, you will need good physical health and strong vibrant energy, as well as a calm, fearless mind. Some very talented individuals never become stars in their chosen field of work because they are too fearful to stick their necks out!
The secret of an outstanding performance is the cultivation of an abundance of chi. ITC & Chi Kung is innately strong and beautiful and these qualities should just shine out as you are performing. Great Infinite Arts performers are as strong as a great mountain and flow as gracefully as a sparkling river. They also exude a radiance that shines forth like a bright star to uplift their audience.
Please always aim to be a star when you perform ITC & iChi Kung. This world is hungry for true stars because so many people’s lives are so flat. The sheer power and grace of an outstanding performance can wow an audience. Watching any kind of star performance can make us feel so alive that we will remember it for life. Bruce Lee, for example, used to wow cinema goers with his power, skill and star quality, and so we still remember him decades after he died.
Whenever I perform ITC or iChi Kung in front of any kind of audience, I always aim to give a peak performance. I warm my body up so that I pump up my physical vitality and then I usually do a short meditation to calm my mind. Then I focus on sending unconditional love to all of my audience so that love energy shines forth from every cell in my being. I make sure that I perform exceptionally well, whatever I am doing in life. My aim is to leave a very positive trail, or signature, wherever I go. I now even love performing in challenging circumstances because I love challenges that push me to grow.
A peak performance has to have heart in it. So it is always a good idea to meditate before you perform, because during a meditation, you can open your heart to unconditional love and light so that they will shine through you when you start to perform.
Your mind is very powerful and creative. But a lot of people have developed a very negative mindset and do not believe that they can become outstanding in their chosen field. You have to cultivate a very strong belief in yourself, as well as learning to trust Life Itself, to become a star. Keep seeing yourself as performing to the very best of your ability, without worrying about how others will see you or judge you. Do not allow fear to invade your thoughts. Dwell in love and your body has to do likewise.
Your body always experiences whatever your mind tells it to experience, although you may not yet fully believe this. The programmes that you hold in your mind run your whole life. When I watch someone performing Infinite Arts, I can clearly see what programmes they are holding in their mind, for example a belief that ‘nobody loves me’ or ‘I am unattractive’. Programmes like these can actually make someone’s ITC form and Chi Kung look unattractive and off-putting. So you have to learn how to delete some of your negative programming in order to perform well. But please understand that there are no failures on this course. Some students, particularly older students, just tend to take longer than three years to achieve teacher level qualities. The longest anyone has taken is 5 years.