Tai Chi for Non-Dummies

Tai Chi is good for you.
Right?

Isn't that what everyone says?
And if everyone says it,
doesn't that make it true?

Well,
no.

And Tai Chi could be good for you
and it could be a nice way of doing
something better than sitting around
on your couch
and it could be a way of obsessing
one more time
with "getting it right"
and thus hurting your spirit
while perhaps improving your body.

So: what would the intelligent way be
to go about learning and practicing and enjoying
Tai Chi?

What would be a way of Tai Chi-ing,
if that is a word,
which it now is,
tai chi-ing yourself to improvement in
body, mind, spirit and breath
and
brain?

Well, for readers of my various blogs,
it will come as no surprise that I will
recommend a Tai Chi that blends in the awareness
and playfulness and experimentation
and discovery of the Feldenkrais Method
and my own take on that
which I call, Wake Up Feldenkrais.

And how would this look?
Well, best to come to classes,
on Saturday mornings at 9:30 AM and Thursday at 5:30 PM.

But here's a hint:
Tai Chi
is about moving the weight intelligently
and gracefully from foot to foot.
All the hand stuff is nice
and a way to pay attention to two legs
and two arms at the same time.

What's in between?
The spine.

Find two or three tai chi moves,
really learn the feet and pelvis
and arms and hands.

And then:
let the pelvis move in the opposite
of "supposed to."

Let the hands move in the direction the
head isn't moving?

Let the weight sometimes shift the same
way the pelvis is moving,
sometimes the oppostie.

This is a lot harder to describe than
to do.

and so: begin
to experiment and learn:
when am i learning
and when am i just being
a mechanical robot?

This could be
an amazing learning.