a memorable phrase I heard within;Tai Chi
Fall of '95, I took this as a class near Swarthmore.
rigid, like a branch, breaks. bending like a grass blade weathers the wind.
Run by a balding white guy who underwent a post-60s spiritual transformation to become "Eo Omwake" and now runs a Tai Chi/Karate center in a strip mall in Chadds Ford, PA.Tai Chi LinksStanding around with middle aged women in turquoise sweat suits and yellow socks, balding overweight white guys flaunting their designer Tai Chi shoes, I'm so glad to be learning something that seems so wise, and at the same time lamenting a loss of context. We hear stuff like, "the monks used to spend two years on this posture alone" and somehow I am to feel empowered - thanks to the wonders of cultural appropriation, Tai Chi's been reduced to a drive-through science? I can buy a video tape and learn it at my own pace, in my own home.
But the bottom line,
I love how it makes me feel. My joints poppin', measured breath, muscles free, it is one of the first exercises I have taken ownership of in my life.Rya and I used to do this together - it's almost better than sex. She found a great link: Five Phases of Personal Evolution.
Nowadays I just do the Qi-Gong, the simple non-martial exercise warm up for Tai Chi. Easy to remember, short, connective.
mea corpus | life |
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