The tai chi classes are progressing, though at this point I feel like a centipede--I can walk just fine until I stop to think about what all those feet are doing. Our instructor tries to soothe our frazzled spirits by assuring us that it takes at least three classes along with daily repetition to learn the most basic of moves, but I still feel like an idiot each time I look up and everyone else has their hand in a perfect bird's beak, while my hand is somewhere off in the ozone.
*sigh* But I'm not giving up! It's good for me, I do feel better afterwards, and it's improving my balance already. I can feel myself shifting positions when I'm just standing around, straightening my back, relaxing my spine, centering my feet. And it is good for research. When I'm blocking out a fight scene, I'll be better able to describe how someone wards off a blow or shifts away from attack.
Oddly enough, I joked about "wax on, wax off", but there's a lot of truth to that scene from Karate Kid. You repeat basic motions over and over until your body has them memorized and your responses become automatic. That's my goal with these classes--to become so comfortable with it that just like that centipede, I'm not thinking about what my feet are doing and I'm moving all 100 of them in perfect rhythm.
*sigh* But I'm not giving up! It's good for me, I do feel better afterwards, and it's improving my balance already. I can feel myself shifting positions when I'm just standing around, straightening my back, relaxing my spine, centering my feet. And it is good for research. When I'm blocking out a fight scene, I'll be better able to describe how someone wards off a blow or shifts away from attack.
Oddly enough, I joked about "wax on, wax off", but there's a lot of truth to that scene from Karate Kid. You repeat basic motions over and over until your body has them memorized and your responses become automatic. That's my goal with these classes--to become so comfortable with it that just like that centipede, I'm not thinking about what my feet are doing and I'm moving all 100 of them in perfect rhythm.
Comments