For somewhere in the neighbourhood of a decade, we practiced karate (Goju-ryu – Shorei-kan). I loved it, practicing across three dojos at one point. When I finished graduate school we practiced for a little while at a fourth dojo (the others had either ended or we’d stopped attending the them) closer to home. Eventually we faded away from it because we were the only two adults and we were spending more time working with the kids than we were gaining any ground on our own growth.
And I’m not really all that kid-oriented.
Kirk had been trying to get us into a Tai Chi program for a few years, but they were never at convenient times or he was too late and the classes were full.
For Christmas, Kirk enrolled us in a class based out of the gym at a church walking distance from home, on Saturday mornings.
Perfect!
Today was our first class and I couldn’t believe how hard having a background in karate would make it for us both!
The movements are familiar to us. The stances and transitions are mostly identical, though with different names. It’s everything we used to do, but softer and more dancelike.
And slower!
That’s that hard part.
Movements that I used to do quickly are to be done slooooowly and fluidly…….and my legs ended up shaking.
Didn’t somebody tell me this was relaxing?
(4/365)