I picked up Tai Chi around the time I turned thirty.
To ensure I was serious, I started by learning the 24 movement form from a book. After getting the sequence down, I decided that this was not just a fleeting fad and found a proper school that met at the upstairs exercise room at the Texas Rock Gym. They taught me the style of Dr. Jwing Ming Yang, transmitted via one of his early students who had taught the teachers at this school.
Unfortunately, I don’t practice much now. The chaos of having children have resulted in me practicing a much simpler art – a quiet walk around the neighborhood, lost in my own thoughts. However, those two years with at the Texas Rock Gym, plus my nine months with the Lohan School in Las Vegas, was critical in learning a meta skill that has been critical in all my subsequent endeavors.
The process of Tai Chi is to slowly relax into into movement.
It’s not as easy as it sounds. As a beginner in any endeavor, there is a temptation to jump in and thrash around, but one needs to remember when if you can’t do it slowly, then you’re doing it wrong. When confronting a new activity, there is a subconscious tendency to tighten up. Tai chi has taught me to notice the tension, pause, and let my mind and body loosen up before pushing forward. I learn better that way.
At this point I’m not sure where I’m going to take this short adventure in martial arts. If one of my kids gets into it, I’ll definitely revive hobby. But even if stays dormant until the kids head off to college, the thirty months of focused relaxation taught me a life skill that has been serving me for well over a decade.