And I don’t mean in the sense of “I don’t want to do tai chi today.” No, I mean, literally cold. I woke up around 7:30 and went outside in just a t-shirt and pants, and did tai chi out on the lawn. And my feet are now exceptionally cold. I think we may have had a bit of a frost last night, and the result is that the grass is wet and cold, but the air is relatively warm.
It’s hard to do your best work, when your form demands that your feet be in touch with the ground, and your feet don’t want to be in touch with the ground. It was not the best practice; I was much focused on how cold my toes were. But I think this is sort of the point. The more we practice, in the more different kinds of environments and conditions, the more broad our definition of ‘normal conditions’ becomes. And the more functional we become.
So yes, my toes are cold. And someday perhaps they’ll be too hot from doing tai chi on a beach in midsummer. But this is how we get better — by broadening the range of conditions and environments in which we can function.
