Tai-Chi

I go to a gym.
I joined it last April, a month later than Yoshi did. I was going to join a Spanish dance school but changed my mind. The gym had some of latin dance lessons. Yoshi is training with his private trainer, by the way. He has become quite lean and muscular.
The facilities in the gym are all high quality and they provide a variety of group lessons such as aerobics and Yoga. I have taken part in Tai-Chi there for more than half a year. What is Tai-Chi? It is a kind of Chinese martial arts known by the name of Tai-Kyoku-Ken in Japan.

There are three Tai-Chi classes a week. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. I quite like it, but actually, I sucked for the first couple of months! Students just follow the moves the trainer makes every time. Paul, the trainer who is from Hong-Kong, teaches us the tips how to move smoothly. Yes, I understand the idea but ... It is so hard to teach "my body"! I moved as awkward as a puppet. Paul suggests imagining threads of silk coming out of your each finger tip when you do Tai-Chi. You manipulate the imaginary silk gracefully. That's the idea but, I guess, my threads were made of cotton or hemp connected to my each joints. It was exactly as if someone manipulates me with the threads!!

I think my Tai-Chi has improved to some extent. I got a knack of it. The key is to rotate your waist. You always tilt your pelvis while doing Tai-Chi so that your body is as stable as a tree grabbing the earth with its roots. DId you know Tai-Chi is very practical when it comes to self defense? I haven't come to that good yet, though. I at least learnt all of the moves. Now it is time to learn how to breathe and how to imagine the energy flow （気） inside the body. These were the hardest parts. I hardly keep on concentrating. I am always destracted by nothing. I think I still have a long way to go..

Oh, by the way, I don't take any dance classes after all. Heh, heh. My mind changes as much as the weather in mountains does. Instead, I take some Step and Pilates.