Tag: tai chi

Revising, reviewing, improving

annebower

You know how sometimes you practice and practice your tai chi? At a certain point you become so wrapped up trying to improve, that you begin making judgments about what’s working and what isn’t, until you really can’t continue. You get all caught up inside your brain and your body doesn’t know what to do anymore!

Writing can be like that too. You create a piece of fiction, an essay, a poem. Nah, you say to yourself, it needs revision. And so you tinker with it: Move parts around, change words, add a sentence, delete another. At a certain point you throw up your hands–is it getting better or not????

In either tai chi or writing we have to walk away. Let the brain settle, let the body relax, stop being overly critical. Getting input from a trusted friend or teacher can help immensely. With tai chi, attending class brings new insights. With writing it’s a bit different. What I’ve found is that reading someone else’s work often brings new insights and helps me find new ways to write my own stuff.

Perhaps it’s the same with composing a song, painting a picture? We need input, one way or another. And yet, finally, we have to satisfy ourselves. It takes a while to trust oneself, to say–this will do–this is good–I like it just the way it is.

Garden Time

annebower

Here in Vermont almost everyone I know has a garden of some kind. It may only consist of a few containers of tomatoes, basil, and lettuce on the porch or patio. It may include some raised beds, allowing for more extensive veggies. Or, as in my case, we get right down in the dirt among rows of kale, cabbage, beets, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, celeriac, and the like. My partner Jim ran an organic vegetable farm in earlier days and has taught me so much about how things germinate and grow. He still enjoys starting plants from seed. Right now we have a flat of new lettuces, kohlrabi, cauliflower and broccoli sitting in the sun provided by the big south facing window.

A garden is blissful and yet it’s often both a struggle against critters and a struggle with our own aging bodies. We try to outdo the bugs, using only sprays that are organically acceptable. But that struggle with our aches and pains? There’s no spray for that. We set up lawn chairs in convenient locations, keep our water bottles beside them, and take breaks that way. When it’s too hot, the breaks occur indoors.

For me, stretching in between tasks and varying my posture makes a huge difference. Sometimes I weed walking along with a tall hoe, sometimes I’m crawling around like a cat with a hand hoe, both knees on the ground. Other times it’s one knee on the ground, one bent leg with foot on the ground. The dirt and I are good friends.

And as you might guess, taking tai chi breaks really helps. Working in the garden can feel like WORK, while tai chi feels like PLAY. The garden produces food (and a few flowers too). Tai chi produces deep relaxation, meditation, a sense of grace and power.

Immersion experiences

annebower

There’s something to be said for dabbling–putting your toes in the water, so to speak. We all benefit from trying things out or giving our energy to a practice for a while without major commitment. We learn, we grow, and then go on to something else.

But diving into a practice deeply provides a very different kind of experience. Last week I spent five packed days with writers and writing instructors at a retreat in Maine. Each morning our major workshop, where eight of us considered 5,000 words of each other’s writing, met from 10-1 under the leadership of an accomplished teacher. After a break we had our choice of “craft workshops” where the focus might be on creating dramatic tension in poetry, best practices for paragraphs, basic rules for publishing in the USA, and other choices too. Evenings were given over to readings–some from the faculty, some in which we students could share our efforts. The full effect was stimulating, inspiring, and supportive. Now that I’m home again my hope is to keep the writing mojo going and not lose the benefits gained from this time away.

If you have an opportunity to immerse yourself in an experience like that–grab it. Maybe it will be in the arts or a business interest or tai chi?

A different kind of graceful motion

annebower

Below you will find a video–but it’s not of people doing tai chi or dancing, it’s the grace and power of a machine. At our house we’re having a new septic system installed. First there was the construction fellow on his big tractor digging holes, moving huge stones, then off the machine and cutting brush with a chain saw, back on the machine to move more dirt, and finally, clear a path for the truck that would deliver the septic tank and pumping station that goes with it.

Before clicking on the video, please turn down the sound on your device–the delivery truck’s motor makes a racket.

What most impressed me was the slow, gradual movement of the machinery, with the operator carefully using his handheld device to direct the whole operation. The video is just over 4 minutes long. You certainly don’t have to watch it all (I find it kinda mesmerizing). I’m putting it here to remind us all that grace comes in many forms.

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.

Fermented foods

annebower

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

annebower

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

annebower

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

annebower

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?

annebower

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!