Welcome to Brush Knee and Push Left

I just spent some time practicing the Yang style tai chi form in the moonlight at a nearby park. Someone was telling me the other day that the memories she forms while doing tai chi seem to last longer. You are more focused, more relaxed, and simultaneously more aware of your surroundings while doing it. Tonight the air was cool and perfect, a good respite from this last week’s summer heat, and it resonated particularly well with a time I ran through the form last summer, the night before my sister’s wedding. My family was staying together at a hotel/farm on Orcas Island in Washington, and I slipped out at night to practice barefoot on the cold grass near where the ceremony would happen. To one side of me, a long lawn led up to the cabin and house in which we were staying; in the other direction lay the open sky and still waters of the Puget Sound. Tai Chi is a beautiful series of movements practiced in slow motion that, among other things, allow you to look all around at your surroundings. During the course of the practice, you rotate your gaze through all possible directions in a 360 degree circle, albeit with a focus on the eight cardinal directions. All that is necessary to practice tai chi is a flat, open space, and the more beautiful and quiet place you can find, the better.

That night, I walked back across the lawn in a great mood, came in out of the cold, and lay down under a roof with my parents and other sister. Every limb felt pleasantly heavy, and I had no problem falling asleep.