Death and taxes may be certain, but I believe
Author: annebower
Former academic, tai chi instructor since 2005, tai chi trainer since 2014, writer
Artists Amaze
Mid-April 2026. When the world is too much, art is a lifeline. We are lucky to have the Hood Art Museum nearby, with a large permanent collection and brilliantly curated changing exhibits. And it’s free! Yesterday a friend and I spent two hours there and once again I was overcome by the combination of deep skill and powerful imagination that goes into a piece of art. This is what we are capable of as human beings–this dedication to a practice, be it painting or sculpture, beadwork, quilting, basketry, ceramics, photography or some other form. To become good at whichever art, years of learning and practice, right? To have the imagination to foresee what you want or can make and then give yourself to it, let it take you into the making, trusting the process. Wow, right? And the patience–oh my god–the patience to put all that effort into one piece and trust yourself that it will add up to something.
Wherever you live, please do give yourself the pleasure of visual arts–at a gallery or museum. Even at Farmers’ Markets you find craftspeople displaying and selling their wares, and some of them are magnificently skillful.
Well, you say, no art can compare to nature. So don’t compare them! Nature’s wonders are multiple, magnificent, awesome, even overwhelming sometimes. Love it.
Two Announcements
I really should post more but get so occupied with other things that it skips my mind. HOWEVER, as April starts there are two things I REALLY want you to know about.
Saturday, April 25, 10-11:30. World Tai Chi & Qigong Day Celebration at the bandstand in Lyman Park, White River Junction. Join tai chi instructors Anne Bower and Kathy Tracy for fun experiences with both tai chi and qigong. No experience required. Bring friends and family of any age. We’ll have healthy snacks, some snazzy demonstrations, and lots of information about how tai chi can benefit your health.
A New Way You can Help Older Vermonters—–Tai Chi Vermont, Inc. is looking for people with exercise and healthcare-related experience who would like to become instructors of Bafa Wubu, a simplified tai chi form recently created in China but making headlines here. During two one-day trainings we can help you build on your prior experience (yoga, other tai chi forms, dance, etc.) and learn safe and effective ways to teach this intriguing form.
Perhaps you’ve heard about Bafa Wubu—it translates as eight methods/five directions or eight energies/five directions. There are lots of Bafa Wubu videos on YouTube.
Like other Tai Chi forms, Bafa Wubu has multiple benefits, especially for older folks, including improved balance, fall prevention, and coordination, greater focus and memory, posture and alignment, and a reduction in both mental and physical stress.
Certification training for the first half of Bafa Wubu takes place May 15. A follow-up training for the second half will occur on July 24. Our location is St. John’s church in Randolph, VT. Register quickly to reserve your space. Support for the training fees may be available. Training leader: Ellie Hayes and Zhen Wolffe.
To learn more, visit Tai Chi Vermont’s website: www.taichivermont.org
Changes and opportunities in The Year of the Horse
We had fun at our Lunar New Year parties in White River Junction and Woodstock. Other tai chi instructors led similar events in Montpelier, Springfield, Castleton, etc. We always enjoy this special time when we can bring together beginner and advanced students and newcomers as well. The Year of the Horse portends change, personal and community-wide too.
Change it is! I’ve just been updated my “classes” page on this website and am looking foward to fewer classes via Zoom and more time to spend in person with tai chi learners. Change is hard but often rewarding, so I encourage us all to accept the inevitable, go with the flow, continue learning one way or another.
I’m also excited to create more time to work on my novel, “Her Last Cookbook.” It’s a love story, a food story, a bit of an historical novel, but overall forms a late life coming of age story for Miriam Bernstein. She’s having to contend with heart disease, the pandemic, changes at her restaurant (Geometry) too. Drafts of her newest cookbook are part of the novel. If all goes well, the novel should be available in a bit over a year.
A strange little poem
As many of you know, poetry calls out to me often. I love reading other’s poetry, both older work and newer. At times I find the urge to write unstoppable and so a poem, or something like a poem emerges. Here’s one I wrote a while back. The exercise bike is still with me. On this snowy day, seems like it’s time for a ride!
Ode to a Faulty Exercise Bike
Go ahead—sit there, empty and dull
your fancy electronics failed
waiting, always patient,
for someone to pedal you lively,
to click the screen buttons for
higher or lower resistance,
give you that imaginary ride
across shadowed Appalachian Trail,
Tuscany’s leafy byways,
through Acadia’s crags and folds,
down the long slopes of the Poconos,
or weaving in and out the shoppers
along Henry Street in Dublin. You
wait,
so quiet, so plastic
so metal, pulsing out guilt and need
begging me, come,
let’s share our imperfection
Fermented foods
Nutritionists tell us that fermented foods are really good for the gut, so if you haven’t tried any, now would be a good time to adventure into these flavors. Fermentation is a simple process–the food item (cabbage to make sauerkraut, cucumbers for pickles, carrots, cauliflower, greenbeans for pickled veggies)–is mixed with salt and water and then the magic happens. Sometimes herbs like caraway or dill are added.
Of course lots of other things are fermented–real vinegar, yogurt, and when you think about it, hard cheeses and real salamis too. Beer and wine are ferments as well, but of course we don’t want to consume too much of them.
Now I’m not a nutritionist, and I’m not saying that fermented foods will improve your tai chi! But just like getting into tai chi took some bravery and determination, trying a new food does too. Take a chance, try something new. Especially in the drear winter days, sparking your meals with new flavors could be wonderful.
Me? I love anything pickled. My kids call me “the Queen of Condiments.”
New Year’s Resolution
If you are reading this, you already have an interest in tai chi or perhaps practice it. Well and good! You know how much it helps you. How about spreading the word, encouraging others to give it a try? You will be doing others a favor this way.
Of course, tai chi isn’t everyone’s favorite. But we all need activities in our lives that give us the joy of learning new things, social interaction, and physicality. Perhaps your choice is dancing, singing, yoga,making music, participating in a walking group that explores new trails. Whatever it may be, I sure hope you are enjoying it and benefiting from it. The great thing about tai chi is that even though it’s slow and gentle, the movements gradually train your body for better balance and coordination, your stress abates, and you feel more focused.
The organization to which I belong, Tai Chi Vermont, trains and mentors tai chi instructors. We have about 100 certified instructors throughout the state. If you want to contact oneof them and see what classes they are offering, simply go to the website and click on: “find a class”: www.taichivermont.org
Here’s to a Healthy New Year for you!!
Health–the greatest gift
Here we are in the holiday season, giving ourselves and others the pleasure of special ceremonies, gifts, feasts, time together. As I was wrapping presents to send off to family I wished I could include a bundle of health! But of course, that’s impossible. No one can give anyone else health.
And yet. . . . I’m leaving some blank space there so you can think about this. What is it we each can do to make life healthier for others? As I type this, various thoughts float into my mind–
When I take care of my own health, I’m more able to be helpful to others.
When I prepare healthy meals for those at my table, their health may benefit.
When I teach tai chi, people in my classes gain multiple health benefits. Mostly I teach as a volunteer at the Senior Centers and I know many of you provide considerable volunteerism too.
When I contribute to organizations like Doctors without Borders, World Central Kitchen, the ACLU, I increase (in a very small way) the health and safety of people I don’t even know.
When I read good books, watch interesting (or even silly movies), observe art in galleries or museums, go to the theatre, concerts, and other performances, I see human imagination and skill at its best, inspired by others to encourage creativity in myself and others. Surely that is part of health too.
All those entries focus on what I think and do. What about you? Send along your comments and I’ll try to post them.
Thank you for reading these posts, using the videos on this website, taking tai chi classes, and inspiring me by what YOU do to take care of your health and the health of others.
Yield to the incoming force and redirect
That old tai chi saying originates with the martial beginnings of tai chi and a way of reacting to an offensive fighting movement. But it applies so well to the kinds of troubles any of us encounter in our daily lives: a dispute with a neighbor, an overwhelming sense of fear about things like climate change or wars overseas or changes in our own government.
I bet you have a way of applying this phrase. I find it such a good reminder!
Shorter days, longer tai chi, something else?
Now that the days provide less light, now that we’ll be indoors more, it’s time to figure out the indoor activities that will keep our minds and bodies happy. Blessings on those of you who are dedicated skiers, snow-shoers, or intrepid hikers who brave subzero temps and wind. Yes, I enjoy walking our dirt road on a sunny winter day when the wind behaves, sure to use the yaktraks (or other grippers) when weather demands it. But why not make a winter project out of what you’ll do indoors? Keep a journal of what you do for yourself each day and you’ll find greater satisfaction at sticking with whatever routines you devise. Maybe you lift some weights, use stretchy rubber bands, do stair steps, use videos online for yoga, zumba, or other exercises. Maybe you take a class by Zoom (tai chi, yoga, other). Perhaps you have a stationery bike or treadmill and decide to regularly use it–say 3 or 4 times a week.
Maybe, like me, you decide this is a good time to really practice tai chi. Remember all those videos I have on the website for you? Use them? Or go to youtube and find others you like and play with those. ALL tai chi works your balance, provides a gentle way to strengthen your legs and improve your coordination, calm your mind, and lift your spirit.
Certainly going to a gym or swimming pool is a great option, so long as the drive feels safe, and you find the cost affordable.
It’s recommended that we get at least 30 minutes of reasonably vigorous exercise a day. The best exercise, as we are told, is the one YOU WILL ACTUALLY DO. I hope you can find entertaining ways to stay active. Good luck!