Tai Chi Escapades

I started Tai Chi. I'm so used to jumping into a new class and just moving around- getting my bearings- bluffing my way through what I don't know. Not so in Tai Chi. Our instructor is trained in Tai Chi but hasn't taught it much. He was a bit uncomfortable in front of us. He taught us the first move: Stand like this, feet apart, arms loose, head straight, imagine you are holding an egg in each armpit. Then we stood and stood. And stood. He circled our group, making minute adjustments here and there. "This is IT?" I thought, waiting for the next instruction to come. I need to move and jump around and burn calories and and and...  Here is the next move, hold your hands in front of your body as if you're holding a ball. Hold your hands like this. Angle your thumbs like this.  We stood and stood and stood and-- It made me laugh at myself- my own discomfort at having to stand still, doing nothing. Thinking. Breathing. Blinking. Holding. I got the impression that bees were buzzing inside my mouth, humming against my lips. My arms shook. It was early in the morning, 7am. I think my ears were ringing.

I think I learned something about learning.

We'll see how I do this Thursday with the two "moves" I memorized.