Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Relax and Enjoy Tai Chi!
Student essay by Inge Lewis
The classes today were interesting for me because some of the things Sifu said may have started showing little rootlets in my mind. I had a totally unexpected, thoroughly miraculous encounter during the day that preoccupied me long after it was over. I can’t say that I was paying attention in Tai Chi class, but I was wrapped in a form of glow that something so wonderful could happen to me.
So, when the senior students were leading us through some Qi Gong exercises, Sifu said, “Doing these exercises correctly is worth about 20%, and the mental, spiritual, and emotional attitude is worth 80%.” So, instead of concentrating, like I normally do, on trying to reach some physical perfection that exists in my mind, I relaxed and enjoyed the movements I was capable of, without worrying about my vanity. After Qi Gong, we all worked on form. Again, the same mental, emotional, spiritual attitude pervaded. I stopped being deadly serious about doing everything exactly the way Sifu showed me. The result was that I was more relaxed, even when I wobbled horribly. I slowed down all the movements and found myself enjoying them with delight. I was actually more focused on extending my ability on getting my limbs, micro-millimeter at a time, further towards the correct stance. When first the right foot (the polio affected side) cramped, I’d hold the cat stance just a few seconds longer, before setting the foot down. In the second class, push hands, the same attitude persisted. The big change for me, since we were doing active stepping, was that when my left leg (the one not affected by polio) started cramping, I’d try for a few more moves before calling for a break. Normally, I would wait until somebody called time. The fact that all senior students supported me when I said I needed a break, without discussion or recrimination, made me all the more determined to try again, without worrying about whether the cramp was really over or not. Two things: (a) non-judgmental attitude of Sifu and the senior students; and (b) to have my judgment of my capabilities respected on any given day, is what keeps me going back to class, week after week. But the big lesson for me today was what a difference my own emotional, spiritual, and mental attitude made. “Relax and enjoy” has taken on an entirely new meaning. What fun!