Obey My Blog

South By Southwest is here! Woohoo!

What does this have to do with Tai Chi?

Nothing!

Other than the fact that, since I am not attending on the company’s dollar this year, I can attend any panel I choose. And in order to create a better blog for you, my dear readers, I choose to attend A LOT of panels. On blogging! Yay!

On that note, if you have any feedback regarding this blog, please feel free to send me a message via my Contact Form. I welcome constructive criticism, as well as, nice thoughts.

Just try not to be mean, if you can. An irate man tailgated me halfway home from a morning sit at the Zen Center a few Saturdays ago. I laughed. Likewise, if you are mean, I may very well laugh at you, too.

So I’ll be getting my geek on starting this weekend, but NEXT weekend I am attending a workshop with Grand Master Chen Qing Zhou.

This guy is going to kick. my. ass. And I’m very much looking forward to it.

Chen Qing Zhou apparently began teaching within a year of learning Lao Jia Li Yu – the Old Form. The form that I am learning right now.

I have just learned the 34th form, Double Jump Kick (Ti Er Qi).

How am I EVER going to make it to the 75th? I think I’m going to have to wake up a lot earlier in the mornings…

I think back to when I first started learning Tai Chi and I shake my head. There is NO WAY I would have been able to teach back then! I don’t think I could teach now! Well, okay, I could probably, maybe teach some Silk Reeling, but there is so much more that I don’t know…

Over lunch this past weekend, I described to a friend of mine how I started off doing Tai Chi to help me deal with stress. Then I mentioned how I went to an (awesome) acupuncturist for a year, also because of stress. And then of course, I got into Zen. Also, in a way, to help me deal with stress (and for other reasons too, but it has definitely helped me deal with stress, that’s for sure).

Hmmm…so apparently – and this may have been obvious to everyone but me – I’ve been one stressed out chica!

(to my former roommates back in Virginia…I’m so, so sorry…)

And now for a riveting video from the Grand Master himself. Who makes these videos? I need to have a talk with them about music selection…

In Qigong class, I was again kind of out of it. I had been accumulating a whole heap of thoughts and emotions that were running amok in my head and that I could not let go of. The beginning of class felt normal and I was starting to think that perhaps I was finding solid ground again. But then on break, I noticed a woman tapping the top of her head, then her wrists, and then her temples, all while looking intently in front of her. My classmate inquired about what she was doing. It’s called EFT – Emotional Freedom Techniques®. The idea is that, if you have a problem or emotional reaction that is particularly strong, you can tap the meridian points on your body while concentrating on an affirmation. It’s similar to acupuncture, only without the needles. I don’t like to knock anyone for trying to make themselves healthier, but I was not  impressed. I was even more disheartened when the woman started talking about her website and how she did EFT for a living and could teach my classmate. How nice of her!

Now, I love acupuncture and I would never have believed it was legitimate if I hadn’t tried it myself. But I also know that belief is a powerful tool to making yourself feel better. If you believe it is going to work, it probably will! I also accept the fact that acupuncture is successful for me, because I believe in it. If I didn’t believe in it, I’d probably write it off as just another hokie new age practice. Acupuncture to me, works much like a mirror – it allows me the opportunity to slow down, reflect and chill the frick out, but it is not what makes me feel better. That is up to me. My acupuncturist is not a magician, nor does she hold the secrets of the universe, nor can she cure the impossible. That is only up to the individual, in my humble opinion…

So this is why the tapping woman kind of irritated me. I don’t want to sound mean or close-minded, but honestly, it just sounded like b.s. and I wanted to get as far away from her as possible. Not to mention it reminded me of a conversation I had had many months ago with someone I cared about immensely, but who ultimately didn’t really care a whole lot about me. That triggered a whole other chain reaction of thoughts and emotions. When class finally resumed I wanted to run from the dojo as fast as possible. I wanted to bolt. But I stayed and concentrated on the movements with more seriousness than I’d ever mustered before. Anything, I thought, to keep me from bursting into tears right here in the middle of class. The new agers would be all over me then, asking me about my feelings, and then I’d really be screwed.

When class was finally over I went home, but no longer felt like bursting into tears or dwelling on my sad thoughts. I felt good actually and that made me think, that despite all the b.s. surrounding the practice of Qigong, there is something to it that works for me. There is something there worth pursuing and wading through the silliness and all the drama that it attracts. I’ll keep at it until class ends in a few weeks and hopefully take this with me as I get back into Tai Chi.

I recently got another acupuncture treatment to celebrate my birthday. Perhaps getting poked with tiny needles is not everyone’s ideal birthday gift, but it sure is mine! I love acupuncture and I tell all my friends about how wonderful it is. All the time. It’s kind of a running joke now. If any of my friends or family start complaining about an ache or a pain I’ll get all serious and tell them, well, I think I know what would help…and they say, yes? And I reply, acupuncture! Then they roll their eyes, laugh or try to punch me. Not really, but it would be funny.

This acupuncture treatment was a little different than the rest, in that, it didn’t affect me as much as it usually does. I go to acupuncture treatments to relieve stress. I have a tendency to get completely wound up, so acupuncture helps me to relax. I mean really relax. It’s awesome. Usually after acupuncture, nothing bothers me. Somebody could come up to me with a knife and I’d probably try to shake his hand. Or talk to him about acupuncture. But this time around, I didn’t get that feeling of extreme relaxation. I took this as a good sign. Since I’ve been practicing my Qigong more (in part due to the comments on this blog – thank you!), I feel pretty relaxed most of the time. It’s really weird. I don’t feel quite so overwhelmed and I’m able to get through stressful moments with more humor and grace. It’s kind of nice!

I will never be free of stress. That’s just a given. But it’s nice to know that I can deal with it now instead of getting totally wrapped up in it all the time. I expect I will get overwhelmed in the future. I will get stressed out of course. And if that happens I will definitely go back and get another acupuncture treatment. And practice my Qigong, which, I know I will probably slack on at some point. But that’s okay. As long as I keep practicing. I love it too much to completely give it up.

Perhaps I should start practicing with David Carradine? Or get one of these outfits…