Tai Chi

“We begin with the 13 poses,” our Shifu said, and I did my level best to follow along with the rest of the class as they went through the graceful and interconnected series of moves that taken in their entirety make up the 13 poses exercise. Though my movements were neither graceful nor interconnected, from my position way in the back of the class and next to the temple’s massive incense brazier I was able to basically copy the movements of the students in front of me. But the 13 poses exercise requires circular movement, and once the group had moved past the first sequence and turned, I found my position suddenly not behind the group and looking forward but before the group with nobody to copy, making it clear to myself and all involved that the basics of the 13 poses was something I’d need before any level of mastery might be gained.”

“Mind you, my first thoughts were not “Eureka, this is what I have been looking for”! In fact I was rather daunted by everybody else’s competence and my body’s unwillingness to learn new tricks. I recall feeling quite frustrated by the slowness with which I was able to learn new moves, and I began to understand why several of my friends had started tai chi but then abandoned it. [...] While I was focussed on achieving some mastery over my limbs, however, I was surprised to discover almost immediately that I was gaining some benefits from Tai Chi. First, I noticed that my balance had improved really quite significantly.”

“Well I got to attend my first Tai Chi class today. My Sifu I believe teaches Sun family style Tai Chi. It is normally a class that is held once per week, and I usually cant attend because of my weekly wednesday morning meeting. Today i got a opening to go so I went. What a unbelievable class! I went in with sore muscles, and what not , I left class feelings almost weightless and no soreness whatsoever. My only regret is that I can't go to thsi class everyweek.”