It’s less hot today than yesterday, but I still got sweaty from today’s practice. And I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the first go-through of my tai chi form, so I did it a second time.
Today’s tai chi maneuver is the first appearance of Ward-Off Left. I don’t know if I’m going to write a new poem each time this maneuver comes up, or create a variation of the first poem based on the procedure and where it is in the form, or if I’ll just use the same old poem each time the movement comes up. Here’s today’s effort.
Shift body weight to flow down through right sole,
and move hands and arms to carry the ball
so left hand cradles and right rests on whole,
the right knee bent so the leg supports all
yet remains strong to spring into action.
Step out with the left foot, easy and slow;
plant it heel to toe, to test the traction,
so that the foot has time to check and know
the ground’s condition. Brush the sparrow’s tail,
and bring up the left hand into a guard,
with shoulder to wrist curving without fail.
Push the right hand back and down, for it’s hard
to defend backside from knee strike or kick;
from left wrist to right foot, make one strong stick.
Not as strong as yesterday’s poem or the day before, but not bad. Definitely edits are required.
[…] other piece of good news today is that the elbow position of the left hand during the first Ward Off Left is always challenging. I tend to let the elbow droop, and then correct it after the fact. I do […]
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[…] Tai Chi Y3D127: Ward Off Left […]