T'ai Chih

I used to exercise to Jane Fonda every morning. I followed her for years. She had a lot of energy. That got to be too much jumping for my joints so then I went to mall walking. I walked 2 miles at Northtown mall 5 days a week and walked more on the weekends. That is too hard on the joints now too. I dabbled in yoga for a couple years but there are many positions that I just can't do anymore. So I started T'ai Chih. I've borrowed a T'ai Chih tape from the library and I've been following a 20 minutes set of exercises almost every day. The beginning of the tape has explanations followed by Arizona scenery followed by a hot young Native American flautist. Explanation, scenery, hot flute player. Explanation, scenery, hot flute player. I skip through all that and just do the exercises. T'ai Chih involves shifting your weight from one foot to the other, rocking back and forth, and moving your arms slowly. Sometimes you move your arms like you're tracing the edges of a 3 foot platter in front of your chest. Sometimes you trace the edges of a bass drum in front of you. Sometimes you carry an imaginary silver ball of energy clockwise in front of you. You move slowly and think about giving and receiving from the universe; going up into the mountain and down into the valley; and trusting that the universe will meet all your needs in time. When I do T'ai Chih, I don't really feel like I'm exercising. I'm not getting my heart rate into the target range. I'm not out of breath. I don't even sweat. But when I am finished, I FEEL like I have exercised. I feel like I can breathe more deeply and I feel more flexible. If only I could watch the handsome flautist do the exercises instead of the lady in the orange sweat suit.