random thoughts – Day 2,158 (Thursday) – balanced

For months, I’ve seen a notice about a weekly tai chi class in town on Thursdays at 1:00 and thought I should check it out. I had taken one or two tai chi classes when I lived in Tennessee but there were a lot of other activities going on including roller derby, photography, belly dance, and stained glass making, and tai chi didn't make it onto the permanent schedule.

For months since moving, every month I would see tai chi in the newsletter available at the mail boxes, and week after week, I would forget about the class. Last week, it was noted in my day planner but I forgot to check the planner when thinking about what I might do during the day and it was 1:45 when I remembered the class.

This week went much better. On Wednesday, I used the technological tools available and set an alarm in my cell phone for noon, with a note to get ready for tai chi. Today, the alarm went off and I made sure I was attired in something I could move in. Waze was consulted for the route, which is an easy breezy 2.5 miles and eight minutes from home.

At the center where the class is, I met a lady in the vestibule. She didn’t know where to go, and I had never been in the building, so I wasn’t much help. We got into amateur detective mode and started walking around. It turned out the classroom was on the first floor, but the entrance from the street side of the building is the lobby level and reaching the first floor requires going up one level. The parking lot has another entrance that goes directly to the first floor, and now we know that helpful nugget for the future.

Balanced.

There were several people waiting for class when we arrived in the correct room. My new pal Jane and I sat at a table and the lady who later sat next to Jane turned out to be one of her high school classmates. Everyone was friendly. The instructor came over to introduce herself, recognizing that Jane and I were first timers, in between chatting with the established regulars.

The class was fun. There were 15 students in stocking feet on a hardwood dance floor surrounded by carpeting. The class instructor led us through a gentle warm up of breathing and arm, torso, and hip movements. Then we moved into a formalized series of slow movements involving weight shifts and arm movements with directional changes that required a bit of balance. Before I knew it, an hour had gone by and we were calm, centered, grounded, and done. It was fun. I will definitely go back.