Tag: learning

Changes and opportunities in The Year of the Horse

annebower

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.

BaFa Wubu

annebower

The newest official tai chi form from China is designed for small spaces and only takes about 3 minutes to perform once you know it. Created in 2018, it is now being taught in many places around the world. It’s fun–combining moves from the 3 major tai chi families: Chen, Yang, and Sun. The first half is performed without moving the feet, although the torso and arms are very active. The second half uses the same motions but in a different order and includes stepping and weight shifting. BaFa means 8 energies–that is, different ways of directing your energy. Wubu means 5 directions–forward, backward, to the left, to the right, and up. I’m enjoying learning this form and look forward to teaching it one day.

There’s always more to learn, whether you’re adventuring into something brand new or deepening your understanding of something you already “know.” Both kinds of growth are good for the body and mind, and I do believe learning is one of the things that makes us humans happy!