Attention to Detail

Now that winter is breathing its (hopefully) last breaths, I decided it's time to get up and, yanno, move around a little. 

Past winters in my life have been filled with exercise - skating, snow-shoeing, long walks after dinner, etc. This winter has been depressingly inactive, and I'm starting to feel pangs of guilt about it. Sure, I could blame it on those long stretches of bitterly-cold weather we've had, the way that even the temperate days have been super windy, blah blah blah. But the fact of the matter is that I have chosen the warm comfort of a sofa cushion over arduous outdoor activity for the last few months. 

Yep, I been all lazy-like. Real lazy-like. But, I can change.

I decided to ease myself back into the world of the non-inert by trying something new: tai chi chuan. (Of course, by "new" I mean new to me, since this stuff WAY pre-dates anything Jane Fonda ever did a leotard.) I bought the Tai Chi for Beginners DVD and let it sit comfortably on top of my dresser for about a week. To find its center.

Two days ago I took off the wrapper. To let it breathe.

Tonight I tried it for the first time.

It is deceptively difficult. 

It looks like you're just waving your arms around slowly in big circles, but it requires an amazing amount of concentration. You're not only following directions as to which way to turn your palms, when to inhale, when to exhale, and how to place your feet on the ground - you're also expected to keep the tip of your tongue on your palate the whole time. Yes, this is a workout that is a stickler for detail.

And I loved it.

All the focusing on the big and tiny movements of the body make it impossible for the noise in the brain to be heard. It's like a little twenty-minute vacation from that heap of mental clutter that's rattling around in my head, and I felt a tiny surge of accomplishment when I finally figured out a move to the point where I could relax into it. 

I moved my hands like clouds, hugged a giant tree, parted a wild horse's mane, and did something - I forget what - to a crane. This is just the kind of hokey crap that usually sends me packing, but there was something about this that just worked. Maybe it was the stand of aspens the instructor was filmed in front of. Or the natural lighting. Or just the fact that I really needed it. 

A single whip is not what you get on your latte at Starbuck's

It's what this guy is doing.