About a year ago, my sister, Sue, asked if I was interested in joining her in practicing tai chi every week with two of her friends. I'd never done tai chi before in my life, in fact I didn't really know what tai chi was. All I knew was that it was some kind of exercise or dance that was done in slow motion. But since it was winter and I knew I should be more active, I agreed to go with her.
Let me say here that I'm not the "gym" type... and the exercises I do enjoy are walking, swimming and belly dancing. I am not athletic and tend to be rather clumsy and bumbling. The idea of something disciplined like tai chi was completely new for me.
The weekly practices were held in Diane's basement. That first night Diane, Sue and Sharon patiently taught me the "tai chi walk"... a series of angled steps, short and long, forward and back. Then they added the first hand movement, "parting the wild horse's mane". I was clumsy and off balance as I tried the moves. They looked so easy! But they actually required a lot of concentration and control. By the end of our practice I felt energized, loose and limber, and completely relaxed. The morning after, I felt even better, with a spring in my step and a mental alertness I'd not felt in quite a long time. It was a little bit like that dewey-faced glow and inner radiance one feels after an erotic interlude. I was hooked! I've been going back ever since.
Tai Chi IS a martial art, and it uses many of the same slaps, punches, kicks and blocks. The difference is that it's done slowly, gently, with fluid low-impact motions. In tai chi, each movement flows into the next. The entire body is always in motion, with the movements performed gently and at uniform speed. Most of the movements are modeled after animals who are especially adept at defending themselves in the wild with wit, strategy and agility.
I wanted to master the routine we did each week, called "The 24 Forms". It can be done almost anywhere by almost anyone, no matter what age or physical condition. The health benefits are many. It takes five minutes to complete the entire routine. And it is said that it takes a lifetime to "master" it. In China, a "master" has attained at least thirty years of instruction in the discipline and art of tai chi.
(In thirty years I will be 82. Hmmmmmmm.... )
This month I began my formal tai chi training, given by Xiaoping Xu, MD, PhD with her accomplished, elderly mother, here in our Woodridge park district. Instruction is held in a wonderful room that overlooks our little Lake Harriet. In our class are men and women, of all ages and all levels of experience. Dr. Xu exudes grace and calmness as she softly guides us, move by move. She tells us that even if we do it wrong, it's still better than not doing it at all. And to watch HER do the "24 Forms" is like observing a spun cocoon of silk, threads slowly unfurling.
Could that one day be me?
Come what may, with my clumsy chunk of a body, I'll continue with tai chi because I enjoy it enormously and love how I feel after I've done it. Dr. Xu's mother, who speaks only a few words of English, smiles broadly when she sees me and taps her finger on my forehead, right between the eyes as she tells me "Heng Hao" which means "very good" in Chinese. I thank her... in my pitiful attempt at Chinese, saying "Shie shie" (pronounced see see) as I smile back. And each time she does it I wonder... what does it mean? All that tapping between the eyes! She doesn't do it to the others. Not sure, but really, it doesn't matter. Language barrier or not, I understand a smile...
Zai Jian! (That's goodbye!)
Let me say here that I'm not the "gym" type... and the exercises I do enjoy are walking, swimming and belly dancing. I am not athletic and tend to be rather clumsy and bumbling. The idea of something disciplined like tai chi was completely new for me.
The weekly practices were held in Diane's basement. That first night Diane, Sue and Sharon patiently taught me the "tai chi walk"... a series of angled steps, short and long, forward and back. Then they added the first hand movement, "parting the wild horse's mane". I was clumsy and off balance as I tried the moves. They looked so easy! But they actually required a lot of concentration and control. By the end of our practice I felt energized, loose and limber, and completely relaxed. The morning after, I felt even better, with a spring in my step and a mental alertness I'd not felt in quite a long time. It was a little bit like that dewey-faced glow and inner radiance one feels after an erotic interlude. I was hooked! I've been going back ever since.
Tai Chi IS a martial art, and it uses many of the same slaps, punches, kicks and blocks. The difference is that it's done slowly, gently, with fluid low-impact motions. In tai chi, each movement flows into the next. The entire body is always in motion, with the movements performed gently and at uniform speed. Most of the movements are modeled after animals who are especially adept at defending themselves in the wild with wit, strategy and agility.
I wanted to master the routine we did each week, called "The 24 Forms". It can be done almost anywhere by almost anyone, no matter what age or physical condition. The health benefits are many. It takes five minutes to complete the entire routine. And it is said that it takes a lifetime to "master" it. In China, a "master" has attained at least thirty years of instruction in the discipline and art of tai chi.
(In thirty years I will be 82. Hmmmmmmm.... )
This month I began my formal tai chi training, given by Xiaoping Xu, MD, PhD with her accomplished, elderly mother, here in our Woodridge park district. Instruction is held in a wonderful room that overlooks our little Lake Harriet. In our class are men and women, of all ages and all levels of experience. Dr. Xu exudes grace and calmness as she softly guides us, move by move. She tells us that even if we do it wrong, it's still better than not doing it at all. And to watch HER do the "24 Forms" is like observing a spun cocoon of silk, threads slowly unfurling.
Could that one day be me?
Come what may, with my clumsy chunk of a body, I'll continue with tai chi because I enjoy it enormously and love how I feel after I've done it. Dr. Xu's mother, who speaks only a few words of English, smiles broadly when she sees me and taps her finger on my forehead, right between the eyes as she tells me "Heng Hao" which means "very good" in Chinese. I thank her... in my pitiful attempt at Chinese, saying "Shie shie" (pronounced see see) as I smile back. And each time she does it I wonder... what does it mean? All that tapping between the eyes! She doesn't do it to the others. Not sure, but really, it doesn't matter. Language barrier or not, I understand a smile...
Zai Jian! (That's goodbye!)
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