Did you know that tai chi is part of the martial arts world? No, really? Yes, indeed! It wasn’t developed for old people in the Palm Springs but rather as a form of protection for monks. As I’m typing this I realize that I haven’t verified any of this like a good librarian…
Ok, dudes I looked it up. There is a chart and everything!!! So, the history of tai chi is complicated and fuzzy-going back thousands of years can do that for history. But, let’s just say its more than old people exercise and move on shall we?
Last week, I did a week trial membership at my mom’s fitness center. She has been paying but not going for at least a year now so I told her I would go and we could do things together. And, kudos to her, we did 2 spinning classes, the treadmill and an ever so brief trek onto the elliptical machine. The last day of my week she wanted to go to the tai chi class that is offered on saturday mornings so we went to weight watchers (another place she has been avoiding) and then to tai chi.
I tend to get nervous going into new situations where I don’t know what to expect so I was a little uncertain as we waiting for the class to start. We waited in the room with one other guy for 5 minutes, 10 minutes etc… Just when I’m about to give up and go work out elsewhere this guy walks in. My first thought? Oh, Shit! We are in some serious trouble my mother and me!!!! He is clearly a martial artist. You know the look. Very fit, very present muscles coupled with a calm/could kick anybody’s ass demeanor. He greets us and wants to know how far we are in our forms.
Forms? Mom speaks first and says, ‘we’ve never done this before.’ Ah, nice mom. Let’s bolt before anyone says kung fu, ok? *sigh* It turned out to be an interesting hour. He is big on education and is also a physical therapist so he taught us a lot about tai chi and how the body works. He kept apologizing but I love that stuff. The coolest part was that each movement that we learned he told us what it was originally. So, I wasn’t doing lotus dances on wind (yes I made that up) but rather this is how you slap your opponents in the face or block a kick. It was freakin’ awesome.
Maybe there is more ninja in me than just the secret parts. 
