It’s becoming the case that thirty minutes is the standard. By the end of thirty minutes of tai chi, I’m usually a little sweaty, and I’ve had chance to do an intense bit of workout (moving through water), and I feel awake and alert.
Today, this consisted of one fast-isn run-through of the form which took about 7 minutes; a longer and slower version of the form which took about thirteen minutes, Five Golden Coins which took about 5 minutes, and a standing wu chi posture exercise for five minutes. This comes from Dr. Yang’s teaching a few weeks ago: just standing in an actively-relaxed posture with the hands in the “holding a balloon against my belly” pose.
Ironically, it was the standing-still posture that raised the most sweat today. You’d think that standing still wouldn’t be so hard; but in fact it was the hardest. It was about five minutes, based on the counting 18 model that I worked with a few days ago — so it might have been four minutes and it might have been six.
Year 2 Day 355 saw me noting the popping and cracking sounds of the previous day’s stiffness working out of my joints, and thinking of the day’s practice as faultless. When I compare my attitude in that comment to my attitude today, I’m sort of surprised. I feel much more woken-up about my practice today than I did at the end of Year Two; and I’m startled by the discoveries I’ve made along the way — and getting a little teaching along the way has certainly gotten me fired up.
Year 1 Day 355 saw me on the verge of quitting, just eleven days before the end. I note how much my practice has drifted; day 355 was at the end of February; and in Year Two it was in early March, and now it’s two more days after that. So, I’ve added, what, about 10 days to my three years already. I’m already done! 🙂 . No matter. I’m going to keep going with the count I have, even if it’s wrong, because it lines up with the tai chi practice page and the tai chi poem.
