Tag: tai chi

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!

We didn’t get the first frost

annebower

It’s that time of the year when we gardeners watch out for the first frost. One was predicted for our area, so we scuttled around the garden gathering all the green tomatoes we could handle, all the green peppers (even if only 2″ in diameter), covered the Swiss chard and last row of beets with sheets, and hoped for the best.

This morning when I looked out the windows I could see that my neighbor’s pasture, which is slightly below the level of my property, got frosted. But we escaped. This makes me think of all the “it could happen” things that surround us. And after our first “Fall Prevention Awareness” event, held at the Bugbee Senior Center in White River Junction, I’m still wondering if most people still take chances they shouldn’t–keeping that one pretty throw rug in place, not having a grip bar beside the shower, not having a night light in the bedroom, not getting that annual vision check, not drinking enough water. Let’s all remind each other about staying safe, please! We’re having another “Fall Prevention Awareness” event soon, this time at the Thompson Senior Center in Woodstock (Oct. 8, 10-11).

But back to the green tomatoes. There simply were too many, so I called up a neighbor and asked is she wanted some. “Oh yes,” she’d love them. We hadn’t seen each other for a while and had fun standing on her sunny porch, catching up and comparing our spaghetti sauce recipes. She’s about to turn 87, still keeps goats and chickens, still cleans other’s houses for pay, still makes endless jars of jelly, jam, and pickles to sell. How does she do it???? “It keeps me young,” she says, obviously happy she can still do all these things even if her arthritis really acts up sometimes. What a great role model!

She doesn’t do tai chi or yoga, she doesn’t meditate in any formal way, but I’m guessing that when she’s moving around the goats and chickens, that’s HER tai chi; when she’s stirring another batch of strawberry jam, that’s her meditation.

September is Fall Prevention Awareness Month

annebower

What are you doing to keep yourself safe? Have you made modifications in your home — grab bars, removal of throw rugs, better lighting, new stair railings? Have you undertaken an exercise program (or two!!)? Tai chi, Yoga, Walk with Ease, Bone Builders, Aquarobics–they’re all good. Are you doing more balance exercises during the day, like standing on one leg (maybe with a reassuring finger on a chair back or counter) or some squats? Have you had your vision and hearing tested lately? Yes–hearing can make a difference to your balance. Are you reminding yourself to be more mindful, take your time to accomplish tasks, stop hurrying here and there–this isn’t just a good fall prevention strategy, it adds to the pleasure you get doing even the smallest task. And remember too that some deep, meditative breathing can help reduce stress and tension; when you are stressed out and tense you are more likely to trip, bump into things, and fall.

As we sometimes say at this time of year: The beautiful autumn leaves fall, but we don’t have to!!

“I’m old, so what!”

annebower
A tai chi class with four participants practicing the 'wave hands in the clouds' movement, showing focus and engagement.

The August 9th edition of The Valley News carried a long article about older people teaching exercise classes. Kudos to the photographer and journalist who spent time at my Woodstock classes and did a great job. The article covers other instructors too. Above you see me with 3 students in our Beginner class, enjoying “wave hands in the clouds” together. It’s twenty years now that I’ve been teaching tai chi, and I still get a kick out of seeing the progress people make when they attend classes regularly–learning the tai chi forms, yes, but also improving their balance and awareness.

Good Trouble, Necessary Trouble

annebower

Yesterday, participating in a demonstration that celebrated the work of Congressman John Lewis and protested the autocratic policies our national government is imposing, the hot sun pounding down on us, people in passing cars waving or giving a thumbs up –and some giving a thumbs down–my heart ached for those who are suffering because of this administration.

I know some people will say it’s inappropriate for me, as a tai chi instructor, to take a public stand in this way, but tai chi has opened my heart to the needs of my fellow human beings–not only for health but for support and encouragement. And beyond that all those basic needs that for many are being destroyed, whether because of climate change policies, cuts to medicare and medicaid, cuts to departments that provide needed services in education, health, scientific research, and more.

In tai chi we often say, “yield to the incoming force and redirect.” If only there were a way to apply that to the current political situation! I am one elderly person, and there’s little I can do to change the direction of our government. Yes, I can use my disposable income to support the causes I believe in. Yes, I can act in as caring and courteous a way as possible to all I encounter. And yes, when someone presents me with a lie or piece of misinformation/disinformation or their bigotry, I can get into a bit of good, necessary trouble by saying sorry, that really doesn’t wash OR I can’t accept that OR if that’s your attitude we have nothing to say to each other. If that offends someone, so be it. A tiny bit of good and necessary trouble.