I can feel a weather change floating around in air. In my gluten days this would trigger a headache/migraine. Now it's the feeling that something is "fuzzy", a little off base. Believe me, I'm very happy with this version.
Tai Chi class this morning. I noticed that when I am thinking my breath also travels to my head. Why are these two things connected? What if I could think AND breathe at the same time? Get the gum going and I'd be a real genius. However, back to the class. Because this is my first year in Tai Chi and I'm still learning the form, I'm very much thinking about not only what move is next, but what the move entails. All in due time. I have noticed that I am picking up when something isn't quite right and that is good. When I got home I carried on to my daily training. I noticed that my mind was very much concerned about remembering what I'm going to say in this blog. Need to turn the dial down on the mind and up with the "trust that the right thing will leap from the keyboard and onto the screen."
Kicks: I moved from the hardwood floor and onto the red mats that used to be in the Kwoon. The red mats have more sponginess and I'm thinking that will help build muscle strength and stability. Still sticking with the crane, I noticed that the inside of my left leg was doing "work" and that is good. My breathing was decent and I noticed my shoulders crawling up to my ears, so I lowered my guards a bit to help relax my shoulders and ease my breathing. Amazing how that all works. I'm noticing how much my core is engaged when moving into and staying in the crane. I did notice that I could hold the stance longer with greater ease.
Core: My core is saying that's it's been worked, not a bad thing. Today I held my crunch (front, sides, and lower) and breathed into my pelvic area while holding. Similar idea to the plank, but in a different position. To me, this felt like my core was engaged and not constricted. Not long before the shaking kicked in so this tells me this is a good exercise. While I was down on the mats, I stretched out my shoulders using both palms up and palms down. There is a difference. I also did arm raises by engaging the particular muscles (palm up and palm down) paying close attention as to how my shoulder was doing and if I heard a click, I adjusted position. I believe I was in the "enough" zone.
Forms: The biggie here is that I sat longer in the Awakening the Dragon kneeling position than what I could all week. Yay! The area just above the tops of my feet don't like to be stretched that way, but my legs are much more loose. I got the sense just to stay here and "be" for a bit. Relax and breathe, so I did. After I shifted position to sitting, I did Awakening the Dragon letting the chi take me to where I'm to go. I noticed my upper body got into the waving flow of things, which is probably what I need right now.
Speaking of forms, I am dreaming up a fan form for my left hand. As I was playing with my red bamboo fan last night, I noticed that some moves were easier with my left hand and that the fan didn't feel foreign so that is good. Dennis reminded me that I am quite ambidextrous so this might come easier than I think. True. As I playing around with the form in my head, the important decisions must be made: bamboo or steel, and what color? And yes, color does make a difference. Saw a pretty yellow fan. :)
Sherri Donohue
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