the Tai Chi......

.....is going rather well.

At first I was doing okay, then we started learning a couple of new moves per session, instead of just one and I just wasn't getting the hang of it. (I wasn't the only one). I'd have my feet in the wrong position so I'd lose my balance and wobble like a jelly, or I'd be watching the feet positions for the new move and not know what the hands were supposed to be doing. Then I'd learn the feet,  so try to watch where the hands were supposed to be when the teacher was going through that move while at the same time moving on to another new move....aarrrgh!

Anyway, there came a day where I could barely move since I'd had a small fall** a couple of days earlier, so I sat out for most of the lesson and just watched. At the next class I was so far behind!

I keep telling myself I'll practise at home, then I don't. I do run through the movements in my head, but clearly that's not enough. Actual physical movement must happen too. Okay, I'll do it.
I actually find it quite energising so first thing after getting out of bed will be the time. 

I decided to find the youtube video of the same stuff we were learning and watch at home, then watch while trying to copy the moves.
It went like this....watch, stop video, back to start, watch while doing, stop video, back to start, watch again and so on until I'd made it to the point where our current teaching had got to.
With that, plus two classes a week, I'm managing to pick up the movements better.

In the beginning we'd been told that Tai Chi also helps with mental concentration. Well that's certainly true.
If you don't concentrate, you don't learn. 

I'd gotten out of the concentrating habit while working, my job was mind-numbingly boring for me, so my mind wandered.
Often and far away.

Ta Chi has helped me learn to concentrate again.
Which doesn't mean that I can write better stories on Fridays, it just means that I'm able to write and watch TV at the same time.  Like I used to. Woo-Hoo!

So we've learned a set of seventeen moves so far. I've heard (today) that when a public display of our brand of Tai Chi is done, those seventeen moves are what people watching will see. We're working now on keeping in time with each other.
Why?
Because there is to be a display and it looks much prettier when everybody turns or bends at the same time.
The display is to be at a fund-raiser fair (held in a couple of weeks) at a park which is two bus rides and a decent walk away from where I live.  I may not go.  Weather will be a big consideration, as will my back and neck. Too much aching and I'll be staying home lying down.

** I'd been down on my knees checking the bottom row in a book shelf, scooted backwards to get a better view, then stood up and crashed my bum straight into a corner of a coffee table/TV unit, causing me to lose my balance and drop right back to my knees. My left butt cheek was an amazing shade of purple for a week. The bruise didn't bother me, but the jarring to the spine caused a couple of weeks stiffness. 
Gotta be more careful!


****it's voting day! don't forget to vote!**** Aussies only....

Comments

  1. Ouch.

    Love that you are finding it beneficial. Tai Chi is something I have been considering for a while, and you are spurring me on. Enough? We will see.

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  2. I'm sorry for the fall. That's what I relate to. Stub my toe and go down like a felled tree. Except thanks to training, I only went to my knees last time. Things are looking up.
    I wouldn't go that far to perform either. Sounds like a day off to me.

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  3. AH poor bum all black and blue I know what that is like, It all seems to be doing you good
    Merle...........

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  4. Aussies only get to vote in your elections? Doggone it. We get dead people and foreigners voting here all the time. :)

    I hope you feel a LOT better soon!

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  5. Elephant's Child; there are many different styles of Tai Chi. If you have time and can find a class near enough give it a try. Usually there is a trial first class which is free.

    Joanne; I was being so careful! If only I had scooted back to original position before standing up...

    Merle; not to worry, it is back to normal now.

    Happy Elf Christine; I'm sorry, I should clarify, it is all people living in Australia. All Australian citizens wherever they have come from. No dead people allowed.

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  6. My doctor suggested it to me but referred me straight to those YouTube vids. . and I still couldn't learn it. I figure any movement is good movement...

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  7. Ouch - that bruised bum sounds painful. I have a dodgy knee that sometimes deigns to fail at inopportune moments, so I sympathise. I haven't had a really spectacular fall for a couple of years now - last time was on an icy footpath when I foolishly went out without ice cleats on my shoes. I took a step then a microsecond later I was admiring the blue sky while the neighbours watched me through their kitchen window while eating their breakfast. Who needs early morning tv when a crazy Aussie lives in the area? Fortunately I only hit my head, which was empty at the time :-)

    I'm glad that you are finding the Tai Chi helpful for both co-ordination and concentration. I figure anything that helps is a good thing.

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  8. Hold on! I can't type from down here! I tried some of those moves...and down here I am!

    A friend of mine swears by Tai Chi...she's been doing it for almost 30 years now, I think.

    I would probably land flat on my face...or back if I tried; and as I live alone, I wouldn't try doing it alone. And I'm not a group/club person...I'll do it in my mind. :)

    You take it easy though...take it steady.

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  9. I think you're doing really well with Tai Chi, River. Keep going, it'll be of good benefit.
    Sorry to read about your mishap. I've had a few of those, my own fault for not being careful enough - but I paid the price in swelling and bruises. Not fun. Take care.

    You had me worried that I missed voting, but heard nothing about it here. I looked it up and saw that it was for South Australia and Tassie. Phew.

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  10. I really, truly love Tai Chi. I did it hard-core for 7 years..... then moved to Florida and did it about 4 more years. I thought I'd never forget the forms but I recently wanted to start it again (after many years) and yipes, I did forget it. But I've started doing the tai chi ruler. I used to do that too but I still had films and a book and my ruler and there are only 8 forms of that. Well, at least of the one I'm doing.
    You are wise to be doing Tai Chi. It is so very beneficial. It's difficult to learn again on my own so I'll just stick with the ruler for now.
    Be careful where you back up. Ha Sorry about the black and blue and sore spot.

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  11. Congrats on doing so well with the Tai Chi. I tried it once but I'm hopelessly uncoordinated. Hope your bruises and aches and pains clear up in time so you can be part of the demonstration.

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  12. Ouch from me too. What a lovely walk, thank you for taking us along. Am going to check out a class now that we are back from our travels

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  13. I've always been fascinated by Tai Chi and would love to try it. Without knowing much about it, I would imagine it is beneficial in slowing your movements and thoughts, instilling discipline, and of course physical benefits. If you don't injure yourself that is!
    Hope you're on the mend.

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  14. Kymbo; it is hard to learn from you tube videos. Your best chance is to take a series of classes so you can be taught a step at a time. Once you get a feel for what the moves are, it is easier to see what they do on the videos and copy them.

    Marie; the bum wasn't at all painful, plenty of padding to absorb a shock, but the spine got jarred and that was worse in terms of stiffness and inability to move. I have a dicky knee too, okay 99% of the time, then buckling under me unexpectedly.
    So nice of you to put on an early morning show for your neighbours.....

    Lee; ha ha!! Are you up off the floor now? I'm not a group/social person either, I saw this mainly as a way to get off my bum a couple of times a week and maybe regain a little flexibility and balance.

    Vicki; I intend to keep going because I paid for it, but also because I'm enjoying it.
    I thought the voting was national.

    Manzanita; there are many forms of Tai Chi, so I'm wondering which one you did. I'm doing the Taoist form, because that's what is close to me so I can walk there and back. I've never heard of the tai chi ruler. Can you let me know more about that? Maybe you could do a post on it.

    Delores; the demonstration is in a couple of weeks, I'm in two minds about going. I want to, but the aches etc are permanent and if I wake up to one of those days where holding myself upright hurts too much then I won't be going. Thankfully I don't have those days too often, but they're random and don't appear to be related to anything physical I may have been doing.

    Gillie; I walk along there twice a week for the Tai Chi and sometimes just for the heck of it.

    Jackie K; long since mended, thank you. Tai Chi is a slow and gentle form of exercise with none of the rushing, stretching or lunging often seen in aerobics or those get fit videos.

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  15. I hope you eventually get there with your Tai Chi. Phil and I just couldn't connect with it for some reason. I even bought a video but, like you, I had to keep turning it off, rewinding etc so decided it was definitely not for me. I couldn't do it now as I can only stand for a few minutes at a time. I believe, though, it is very good for you, as is yoga of course.
    Phil does things like you do and ends up having a tumble at times. Fortunately I think he has learned his lesson. Hope that bruise goes soon and your back is OK. That is worrying.

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  16. Mimsie; I found a video on youtube which is quite helpful and there's no rewinding, just click on the stop button and start over. But still annoying to have to keep stopping and starting. Today's lesson was harder, new moves in different directions and I discovered my left hip doesn't want to move that way! I just did the best I could.

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