Wise Words From a Tai Chi Master

Yeah, ouch for me!

So today as I was practicing Tai Chi, I was pleased to finally be to the form where I get to kick.  This part looked fun to me.  I've seen videos where people kick really high, and others where they kick medium high. Both kicks look super cool to me, and naturally I want to look super cool. Unfortunately, I'm about as stretchy as a board.  Therefore, I smiled a little when my Tai Chi Master, via video, said "We practice based on what we can do, not what we want to do."  Sigh.  He demonstrated how out of balance we would be if we tried to kick higher than we could.

This reminded me of a time when I was about 14 or 15 and I was goofing off with my cousin Julie. We were seeing how high we could kick.  I decided to try to kick really high, and I did, right before landing on my backside because I really wasn't capable of kicking that high!  That was embarrassing, a little painful, and pretty funny too!  This morning I wisely kept my kick low and decided I'd better start stretching regularly if I ever want to kick higher than someone's ankles!

One thing about Tai Chi, the lessons learned can often be applied to other parts of life. We practice based on what we can do, and if we keep practicing, the things we want to do will become possible!

*Picture from:  www.taichituition.co.uk (google images)