I’m home, but due to a houseguest I did taichi in the kitchen this morning. It’s not an ideal environment at the moment — there’s a couple of big boxes, and a scroll saw in the spaces where I’d normally do my tai chi, and as a result I didn’t have nearly the same space as I usually do for doing the form. Also, a while ago, my friend Andi commented on the importance of routines. I forgot the form for a couple of minutes and got lost partway through, and had to start over. I’m really not used to having to do tai chi in the kitchen. Environment is important — I think we tend to forget that we tend to forget what we’re doing, if we’re in a different space than usual. I know many people who can’t do yoga at home because they don’t remember the postures outside the yoga studio; and kids can’t remember their katas outside of the dojo. I wonder if this is the same sort of thing?
If it is, it’s likely to be helpful to me in the long run to do tai chi in places other than the same room or same lawn, day after day. On the other hand, I’m looking forward to being in a routine for a little while. I’ve been on the road or away from home for much of August, and I’m expecting the start of pre-school meetings today to be a useful beginning to another school year. Expect posts about school and teaching to resume soon, as I get back into the work of teaching for another year.
