Tai Chi, Day 45. I got up at 5:15 am to do my form, and resolved to breath as I did yesterday. Made the form last twenty minutes, using at least two breaths on every posture. Got a light sweat going, and my hands feel charged. It’s easier to wake up now, but my body really wants to work out and it’s hard to sleep in any more. On the other hand, going to bed on time, especially on the weekends, is hard.

Breaking Snake Creeps and the kicks into multiple positions is a real killer, especially windmill kick. It will pay off in the long run, but man, it’s hard right now.

I keep finding the footwork gives me problems. My foot will be pointing one way when it should be pointing another, and I find I need to think about foot placement several postures in advance of the problem.

In general, I move with a lot more confidence (and I look better in the mirror — running and tai chi and fencing, three sports per day — mom would be proud!) but this has some small disadvantages. A couple of kids decided I was a good ‘target’ in the dining hall, and resolved to poke at me. Throwing him was no problem; convincing him to stop, was. He came at me again during study hall, and again right after study hall. It wasn’t malicious — and it wasn’t even an attempt to test my knowledge of tai chi… I’ve been doing my work in private, so he couldn’t know. I think it’s just that when you reach a certain level, playful attacks come at you to see what you do. I think I failed: if the point of tai chi is to teach you how to fight, but also how to avoid fighting, then I should have realized earlier than when he came after me that this is what he would do. First lesson in tactics? Failure. In any case, apparently he thinks he’s a fencer now, instead of a wrestler. I’m going to have a word with his coach this morning, and suggest that he be a target dummy in practice today, to reinforce the lessons of yesterday.

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