| Interview
The Joy of Tai Chi
– interviewed by Instructor Lis
When Mel talks about her Tai Chi experience, her eyes
sparkle with enthusiasm and she smiles constantly. It’s obvious she
loves the practice.
Back in mid 2001, as a beginner attending her first
lesson, she never thought she would become so addicted. However, right
from that introductory class, she was hooked.
“I thought I might do a couple of terms and then move
on,” she said. “Now I can’t imagine stopping.”
Tai Chi provided exactly the balance of stress relief,
relaxation and challenge she was seeking when she put Tai Chi and yoga
on the top of her list of things to do.
Yoga hadn’t been a success. “My body was stiff which
meant I couldn’t do the postures properly so everything hurt. Then I
was stressed out about not being able to do it as well as hurting, so I
ended up more stressed at the end of the class than at the start.”
Of course the same problems with stiffness made Tai Chi
difficult at first but Mel could see
a goal — learning the sequence and
moving correctly — so she was challenged rather then stressed by her
physical inadequacies.
Realising that
perfection wasn’t an issue was a relief. She could try to copy the
movements and if her version wasn’t as accurate as Chief Instructor
Brett’s it didn’t matter. The main achievement for Mel was removing
herself from work related pressure. While she’s doing Tai Chi,
everything else recedes.
At first she found some of the movements difficult, her
main problem being balance. Gradually
she discovered she could stand
without touching her circling leg to the floor for the full 8 forward
and reverse hip rotations in the warm-ups.
When she started,
she could only manage 1 or 2 — a major improvement. Changes such as
this give her great pleasure as do sudden realisations about the way she
moves her body in the form.
Mel said, “This year I felt more of what I think Brett
and Fontane mean about the feeling of Tai Chi. I suddenly understand
about relaxing the abdomen and I thought ‘Wow!’ It makes everything
feel different. There’s a great satisfaction when something clicks.
The trouble is I think I’ve got that bit right and then I
lose the plot and mess up the next movement because I get excited about
getting something right.”
The hardest aspect for Mel was slowing herself down
physically and mentally to the tempo required for Tai Chi. “It’s the
hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I tend to do everything fast.
I talk fast, move fast, work fast. Up until recently, I was always
ahead by a few movements unless I watched Brett all the time. Now I
don’t have to watch him.
Bit by bit I’ve
made myself slow down.
The Qigong practice was horrendous when we used to do the
‘Embracing the Tree’ stance. I prefer the moving exercises we do now.
I’ve done the Hun Yuan Qigong course and I really like that set of
movements. I practise some of them regularly. The San Ti exercise that
the Refinement classes practise is excruciating. Anything where we
stand without moving really hurts my feet. I suppose I’m not strong
enough.”
Mel has to be careful of her neck but knows the Silk
Reeling Exercises are beneficial for her back. One of the reasons she
wanted to try Tai Chi was to fix the clicking noises in her knees which
she knew were caused by lack of exercise and mobility. As a public
servant, she sits in meetings or at her desk for the greater part of her
workday. Exercise wasn’t the main motivator for starting classes but
she does enjoy that aspect. She walks and does some weight training.
Mel has also learned the Tai Chi Bang (Stick) and the 32
Cannon Fist Form (taught to the advanced students). She likes trying
the different courses on offer by the Tai Chi Academy and thinks the
variety of choice is excellent.
“The workshop sessions are a really good occasion to meet
other students and chat about learning. I like the way all the students
help each other learn. There’s an amazing variety of ages and
occupations in the student body. It’s terrific.
The other thing I’ve realised over a period of time is
that the differences among instructors is something I can draw on. I
used to be thrown by variations in style or movement, the emphasis, but
now I look at what that instructor is doing and think ‘I’ll try it that
way.’ Sometimes it clicks with me, other times it doesn’t but I’ve
learned to get over the differences and learn something from each
person. I have confidence in my own movements now. I don’t rely on the
instructor for every little movement so I can focus more on what I am
doing and more importantly, feeling.”
(This is an actual
interview, but the name
has
been changed for reasons of
privacy.)
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