Tai Chi . . .
I am grateful for Tai Chi.
When I started a little more than a year ago, I sort of knew what to expect. I had taken a Tai Chi class forever ago (back in the 1990s) but had not kept it up. I've always had an interest in meditation, yoga, and Tai Chi. I do meditate now from time to time. The only yoga I can do reasonably well is Peggy Cappy's Yoga for the Rest of Us (she's brilliant!). Tai Chi seems to be the thing that I do now and do consistently.
Over the years I would periodically do a search for a Tai Chi class near me, but never found anything closer than at least half an hour away and a ride on the expressway away. But last year, my search turned up a little karate studio two towns over. It's very close and it offered a Tai Chi class on Tuesday nights from 8 to 9. This is late for me. I usually am in bed by 9 to get up at 5, but I decided to call. That was August of 2016. I've been going faithfully ever since. Very little deters me - Tuesday is Tai Chi night. And seriously, you have to know that I really want to do something if I'm doing it that late on a "school night." :-D
I've learned Yang Short form (as taught by Cheng Man Ching), and now I'm learning Tai Chi Sword. Eventually I'll be learning Tai Chi Fan. But for now, my focus is on sword and on keeping up regular form. Last night, Sensei tasked me with making my own journal of notes and movements in each of the forms I'm learning (both Short Yang, and Sword). This is going to be a challenge. I was behind the door when they passed out artistic talent . . . drawing figures in the shapes of each form to cement movements for myself - I do not see that happening. But! I have a solution! I'm going to find pictures that demonstrate the movements and use them in my notes! Clever girl! :-)
Another chilly morning here in Chicagoland - frost in my yard. Here's a view from my deck - sometimes I practice Tai Chi on the deck :-)
A Red Twig (shrub) in focus in the foreground - and in the back on the left, FINALLY my maple tree is turning red! It's only a few years old - one of the trees I got when I lost my stand of Blue Spruce to cytospora canker - and I specifically got one that would turn red. I thought it was called Red Emperor, but I think that's the name of the Japanese maple I have out front :-D (it's the one that now serves as the background to this blog :-) ). The skinny lighter green in the middle is a Catalpa tree that grew from a bare root twig. The darker blobs across the back are arbor vitaes. There are five of them - I keep hoping they are going to take off and provide me some sound break again (the trains run in the ravine behind), but they are slow growing and have been fodder for the rabbits the past few winters. My cousin came over and put chicken wire around the bases to stop what we could, and I wrapped the maple trunk because the deer were chewing on it! The rest is scrub brush/shrubs. Oh - on the right - the yellow leaves - that's part of the canopy of my Red Bud, another of the replacement trees. I'm so happy that my maple has finally put on an autumn show! I love all the colors in my yard :-)
A blast from the past for you today (seems I do that a lot, lately . . . ). One of the most innovative American bands to come out of the 60s. One of my older Canadian cousins knew the guitar player growing up!
When I started a little more than a year ago, I sort of knew what to expect. I had taken a Tai Chi class forever ago (back in the 1990s) but had not kept it up. I've always had an interest in meditation, yoga, and Tai Chi. I do meditate now from time to time. The only yoga I can do reasonably well is Peggy Cappy's Yoga for the Rest of Us (she's brilliant!). Tai Chi seems to be the thing that I do now and do consistently.
Over the years I would periodically do a search for a Tai Chi class near me, but never found anything closer than at least half an hour away and a ride on the expressway away. But last year, my search turned up a little karate studio two towns over. It's very close and it offered a Tai Chi class on Tuesday nights from 8 to 9. This is late for me. I usually am in bed by 9 to get up at 5, but I decided to call. That was August of 2016. I've been going faithfully ever since. Very little deters me - Tuesday is Tai Chi night. And seriously, you have to know that I really want to do something if I'm doing it that late on a "school night." :-D
I've learned Yang Short form (as taught by Cheng Man Ching), and now I'm learning Tai Chi Sword. Eventually I'll be learning Tai Chi Fan. But for now, my focus is on sword and on keeping up regular form. Last night, Sensei tasked me with making my own journal of notes and movements in each of the forms I'm learning (both Short Yang, and Sword). This is going to be a challenge. I was behind the door when they passed out artistic talent . . . drawing figures in the shapes of each form to cement movements for myself - I do not see that happening. But! I have a solution! I'm going to find pictures that demonstrate the movements and use them in my notes! Clever girl! :-)
Another chilly morning here in Chicagoland - frost in my yard. Here's a view from my deck - sometimes I practice Tai Chi on the deck :-)
A Red Twig (shrub) in focus in the foreground - and in the back on the left, FINALLY my maple tree is turning red! It's only a few years old - one of the trees I got when I lost my stand of Blue Spruce to cytospora canker - and I specifically got one that would turn red. I thought it was called Red Emperor, but I think that's the name of the Japanese maple I have out front :-D (it's the one that now serves as the background to this blog :-) ). The skinny lighter green in the middle is a Catalpa tree that grew from a bare root twig. The darker blobs across the back are arbor vitaes. There are five of them - I keep hoping they are going to take off and provide me some sound break again (the trains run in the ravine behind), but they are slow growing and have been fodder for the rabbits the past few winters. My cousin came over and put chicken wire around the bases to stop what we could, and I wrapped the maple trunk because the deer were chewing on it! The rest is scrub brush/shrubs. Oh - on the right - the yellow leaves - that's part of the canopy of my Red Bud, another of the replacement trees. I'm so happy that my maple has finally put on an autumn show! I love all the colors in my yard :-)
A blast from the past for you today (seems I do that a lot, lately . . . ). One of the most innovative American bands to come out of the 60s. One of my older Canadian cousins knew the guitar player growing up!
Comments
You've got lots of pretty color!