Tai Chi - finally

March 26 – I finally made it to the Tai Chi class today. They seemed very amused & interested to see me there. The instructor & several of the women were really nice & spoke with me & asked if I knew tai chi. They said they would work with me & that there was another Westerner who had just been with the class a few weeks also. There were only 2 classes left in this session and they would not make me pay for these, but wanted me to pre-pay for the next session.

There were about 50 people at the class, men & women with a wide range of ages. I went in the back as they had instructed. They started by teaching a new segment of the routine, so it went very slowly & I could follow. The instructor kept singling me out though & saying “the new student in the back will want to do this or that”. I felt like I was distracting from the rest of the class. Then I was asked to come to the front row so she could watch me more closely. After learning (going through about 4 times slowly, which was not enough for me to actually learn it) the next segment they went through the entire routine thus far. This was the 5th class in a 6 class series, so I had missed a great deal. I was instructed to stand to the side & watch as they went through the full routine with music. I felt like a young school child being told where to stand & what to do.

The group went through the series several times & the other Westerner & I and about 3 others were taken to the back where we were worked with on the new segment. I began to realize that tai chi is more about dance than exercise. It is good exercise, but the focus is on doing the routine and having you hands & fingers & feet in just the right positions. Tai chi is a specific routine that consists of 6 segments. I think the whole thing takes about 30 minutes or maybe longer. It is very slow and ritualized. It is beautiful to watch. For some reason it was hurting my knee and I found it very confusing. I guess I just wasn’t into spending 2 hours learning a slow motion dance routine. I was having trouble focusing & staying interested. They were so wonderful in working with me and giving me personal attention, but I have to admit that I just couldn’t get into it. The other Western woman was doing very well & said she was very confused the first class also. That made me feel better, but with all the visitors we are about to have I’m sure I will not have the time to focus on this & practice the routine like I’d need to. At least I tried it & can say it just wasn’t for me.