T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 76

The standard four gathered for a 34 minute set. I found this morning particularly enjoyable after listening to some instructional material on Qi Gong. Everything seemed more powerful, somehow. More to come.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 75

Charlie and I had a nice 39 minute set this morning along with a few goes with the staff. By the third set of staff, it became obvious that staff flows much better as a hard-style.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 74

After a two day break, the standard three rejoined at the Allen Center for a very pleasant 33 minute set. I noticed my stretch had increased (as it often does) after the break. We'll see how tomorrow in the HEC fairs.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 73

The standard four gathered for a nice 37 minute set. This is the last day until Monday as our space is closed up. I'm sure most of us will practice some anyway.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 72

The standard four gathered for a 36 minute set. My hips were not smooth today and the left one seems to be complaining mildly, but I think all will be well shortly.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 71

The standard four gathered for a 33 minute set today, followed by a few questions and some general conversation. I had a personal revelation today, but will wait a while to post about that here.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 70

Three of the standard four gathered for a nice 34 minute set today. After that, two remained for a quick run of the staff form.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 69

The standard four gather in HEC 110 for a lovely 34 minute rendition of the three-part Large-Frame Yang-Style form. Post form, several questions were answered regarding various positions and then Charlie and I went through the staff form a few times before calling it a day.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 68

The standard four gathered for a 37 minute set facing West. It was nice though we will likely have to close the blinds in future as two of the folks there noted that the Televisions in the workout room across the hall tend to flicker and cause a fair amount of distraction. Usually I'm able to ignore them, today especially, but I understand the students' plight.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 67

The standard four returned for a lovely 39 minute set today. Things were fairly consistent until part three where we sped up slightly but then remained fairly consistent through part 3.

Nancy stayed after and we worked up through Play Lute.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 66

The standard three gathered today for a pleasant 34 minute form. I intentionally tried to keep it a little less slow today for various reasons. Charlie was kind enough to introduce me to some additional Qi Gong. I hope to practice some of it soon.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 65

So, yesterday I said I was tempted to do a "fast" set. Today, most of the building was locked up and so we started late. We (the original standard three) executed the entire set in 21 minutes. This is about as fast as I can do the set and still hold true to the breathing. When we were done, everyone seemed pretty pleased with the change-up. We'll go back to something slower tomorrow. In the mean time, I'm tempted to win $245 Million. :-)

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 64

The standard four returned for a 45 minute set. At the first wave-hands like clouds, I actually chose to speed it up a bit as I could feel some of the others groaning internally. Charlie was holding nicely though we both felt it when we were done. We're going to try to bring it back to about 35 or 36 minutes for next time. I'm almost tempted to do a "fast" (25 to 27 minute) set just as a counter-point. We'll see. It's nice to know we can really get down and breathe.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 63

We had four today and a nice 40 minute set. Dawn joined us for the first time and indicated it was interesting to see the similarities and the differences between our Yang Large Frame and Chen Man-ch'ing's "short form".

Three were there for staff though we only did the set once. Since it was such a nice set, we decided to only go through the one time.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 62

Four to start, five to finish a 40 minute set. Charlie really slowed down today and kept all of us on track to this laudable goal. After the set, three stayed for staff with one of them a beginner. The beginner made it up through pivot, turn, chop.

Last night we had nine people and a 32 minute set. I also had an unusual experience which I will have to contemplate further before writing about.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 61

The standard four returned and executed a very nice 35 minute set followed by a little relevant conversation and a brief review of White Crane Spreads Wings and a short lesson on Brush Left Knee, Twist step. - The flow was very nice today. I was able to stay focused and centered and had only a momentary glitch at the end of part one. Everything else seemed to flow nicely.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 60

The standard four gathered for a nice 35 minute set. We sped up a bit near the beginning of part 3, or it probably would have been a 40 minute set. Never-the-less, it was about a million times better (for me) than yesterday. The flow was wonderful and other than an instance of my right foot wanting to close out of Part the Wild Horses Mane too soon, the sequence was spot-on. After the set, I worked with Nancy on section one up through White Crane Spreads Wings with refreshers on Single Whip and Lift Hands, Step Forward. We also talked a little more about empty-solid stance.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 59

The standard four gathered for a 33 minute set today. My concentration was completely off which in turn, caused the rest of my form to be off as well, though I must say, it was off even more than usual. Twice I started into a position other than what the form called for and at least once I lost balance and had to put a foot down more suddenly than what I wanted. I understand that humility is endless, but today just sucked. On a more positive note, Nancy indicated that she was glad that people other than her had "off-days," so at least the lesson wasn't wholly wasted if she took something good away with her. - I declined to further Nancy's teaching today with the explanation that I probably couldn't even teach a mosquito how how to bite, today.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 58

The standard four returned for a lovely 36 minute set. I stayed after a bit with Nancy to work on grasp birds tail and added lift hands and step forward to her repertoire. No hesitations today for me. No screw ups, no lost track syndrome. I see the value of concentrating on and focusing energy in the dan tien.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 57

The standard three returned today for a very nice 36 minute form. I'm not sure what has happened to our fourth. I'm sure she'll return if and when she's ready.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 56

It was a lonely set this morning with only myself showing up. Since everyone else was taking a break, I decided to at least reduce my time spent on the form. I executed all three parts in almost exactly 5 minutes. I think I had to pause very briefly three separate times to remember the next position, but overall, the flow was fantastic.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 55

We had four today, though Charlie found himself elsewhere. Our form lasted 31 minutes for which I stood in front for the benefit of our new person. I had only one for staff which was fine. We ran through the form a few times, he asked a few questions, I made a few suggestions. It was nice. After staff, we did some review on push-hands. This also proved very fruitful.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 54

The standard four gathered for a 35 minute form. The new person has yet to grasp the meaning of the pursuit of T'ai Chi, but this will pass one way or the other. - The set was nice, though I lost my way and had to think about the next frame a couple of times. Ah, such is life.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 53

Remember remember, the 5th of November...

We had four again today. It appears that Nancy may well become a "regular" at the morning classes. The set took us 34 minutes today, the same as yesterday. It felt good, at least to me. I stayed after for a few minutes and actually demonstrated Press and Push for Nancy. She seemed to take to the positions easily enough. If this keeps up, she'll be caught up in the evening class in no time at all.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 52

The standard three plus one were present today. The newcomer is from my evening class and has had all of two lessons. She actually did surprisingly well though she only knows the first six or seven positions. She just stuck with it and followed us all the way to the end. I think she'll be back. She certainly didn't seem to be overwhelmed by any of it.

The set took about 34 minutes today. Both Chuck and I thought it felt really fast. Maybe that means we're getting better, or maybe it just means we're becoming T'ai Chi snobs. ;-)

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 51

We were down to two today. Charlie called to let me know he couldn't make it today. We executed the set in about 31 minutes upon which it was commented that this was a very nice pace. I agree. The longer sets are very nice, too, just with a slightly different feel. The sun shining in through the one window in the room helped too, I'm sure.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 50

There must be 50 ways to do T'ai Chi...

Okay, so there are way more than 50, but still....

The standard three gathered this morning for a 35 minute set. I introduced the idea of taking a day off per week. Charlie suggested that instead of doing nothing T'ai Chi related, we could do a sitting meditation while imagining doing the form. I like this idea. I'm not sure if we should try to do it together or separately. I'm personally thinking separately, but that would just be my vote. We'll see how this develops and which day presents itself as the best day to take off. Originally I thought about Wednesday being the middle of the week but others really seem to enjoy Wednesday. I'm thinking Tuesday since I also have a normal class and an evening class that day. We'll see.

T'ai Chi at the Allen Center - Day 49

Three showed up for a 37 minute bare-hands form but only two remained for staff and push-hands. The energy was good today, I think and everyone there very much enjoyed the set. Back to Allen tomorrow.