09/23/19 — Starting into week 6
Today, I was rather ill. I’d had a bad allergic reaction the night before, resulting in hives all over my body, which in turn lead to scratching, which resulted in sleeplessness. I awoke this morning shaky, slightly sick to my stomach, cold and irritable.
I almost decided to skip Tai Chi all together, and only managed to convince myself to go based on the premise that I’d made a commitment to go, and the encouraging idea that I could use it as an experiment. I wanted to answer two questions: “What is the experience of Tai Chi like when exhausted?” and, “Can Tai Chi help to improve my current condition?”
With that in mind, I went, of which I am glad, and these are my results:
If nothing else, my mood improved the moment I began moving at all. So, that, if nothing else, is a definitive advantage of doing Tai Chi, even when tired and mildly ill. This does not set apart Tai Chi from all other forms of exercise or movement, but it confirms Tai Chi as part of that family of activities which are proven to assist with mood stability and healthful attitudes.
It should also be noted that my mild nausea was gone by the time the class was over. This could be attributed to either the deep breathing which I attempt to use when doing Tai Chi or the increased amount of water I consumed as a result of the exertion, or a convenient combination of the two, at my best guess.
Which is to say, I felt much better after class than before it. I consider this result enough reason to continue to prioritize Tai Chi class, even if I’m not quite feeling up to it.
I did notice that my muscles, especially my leg muscles, wore out much quicker than usual, which in turn caused me to be harder on my knees than usual, so in the future I should be careful to watch my body more closely and go a little easier on myself, I think.
Unfortunately, due perhaps to my nature first, and my martial arts experiences second, I have an unwise tendency to push myself hard, whether I am at full capacity or not. To some extent, I just don’t want to seem weak, so I wear a blank face and act like nothing is wrong. But a wise person knows when to push hard and when to pull gently back. At any rate, I suspect that the teacher could tell. The class felt easier than usual. Either that, or I was less able to connect to the work in class, and so I accidently, as it were, allowed myself to work less.
It was very interesting to me that during the push and pull practices we did at the end of class, I began to be able to feel my opponent’s weight and balance, but not through the hands, as we’d been told to expect, but through their front foot, which lightly pressed against the side of my foot. I could quite clearly tell when my opponent lost her balance or reached the edge of their “zone” (the space in which they can exert full power without losing balance).
It surprised me, then, when I felt the teacher’s foot lift up as I was practicing with him, because contrary to my expectations, he was quite stable with his front leg straight and the toes up. It then occurred to me that that is the exact position we have learned to do three times at least in the kata, and we don’t even know much of it yet. Perhaps he’s just very practiced and the muscles necessary are quite developed? It could also be that that stance is simply surprisingly stable. I’ll have to try it myself next time and see.