Tai chi

“Breathe from the diaphragm,” says Beverly, my tai chi instructor. “Clear your mind; try to go  slowly,” she reminds us before we begin. We never go slowly enough.  

We stand in two rows in a large room, the dining hall in a senior center. Some wear the thin-soled martial arts slippers that help in tai chi’s turns and kicks, glides and slides.

Through its floor-to-ceiling windows a hummingbird jabs at the orange and purple blooms on stalks of bird of paradise that edge the building. Across the grass between the fig and palm trees I can glimpse the gray blue Pacific in the distance; when the doors are open we can hear the muffled clang of the bell buoy.

This is January on the south bay coast west of Los Angeles, not Michigan. I get distracted.

We bow and then raise our outstretched arms to clasp our left hand over our right fist, the tai chi salute.  At some point in the next half hour---if I can corral my wandering thoughts---my mind will float away from my body.

Part of tai chi’s allure for me has been the promise of settling the mind, but I’ve come to love the exercise, how it feels in my body.  

I first learned about tai chi through a class taught one semester at the UM-Flint Rec Center. I learned about “the empty leg” and how to “sink the chest.” Different concepts and techniques after years of yoga. I found Youtube videos and began to follow articles online.

My first winter in southern California, I saw a group of twenty or so people in a nearby park moving in slow motion like the video I’d watched. I looked up the park activities online, but the tai chi group had disbanded. Another group met in a different park, but it was too far to drive. I checked Meetup---more than a dozen tai chi groups were listed but all were nearly an hour away. This is Los Angeles.

Then by chance I stopped in at a nearby senior center and saw a flyer for a tai chi class taught there, a weekly session in something called “the Yang style long form.”

I joined a group of eight learners---the oldest one turns 90 this year and another, aged 83, walks with a cane. For an hour on Thursday mornings we move silently through a routine that requires ten kicks standing on one leg, several with turns on one foot.

No one has ever fallen. We don’t kick very high.

The Yang style long form turned out to be a series of 103 moves (or more, depending on how they are counted), many with flowery names: grasp the bird’s tail, play the lute, repulse the monkey, fighting tiger, fair lady works the shuttles, the snake creeps down, the golden cock stands on one leg.

I see the brushstrokes of a Chinese painting.

Don’t be fooled. Tai chi is an internal martial art practiced for health and relaxation, but its full name, tai chi ch’uan, can be translated as “Supreme Ultimate Fist.” Basic moves like “ward off” and “parry and punch” come from combat and self-defense, but those with the flowery names do also. Beverly reminds us: you are blocking, you are striking, you are kicking an opponent. Keep space between your feet so you won’t be knocked off balance.    

Tai chi’s modern history is traced to Chen village in Wenxian County, Henan Province, in central China. A 17^th century warrior and master of martial arts named Chen Wangting is credited with creating tai chi. 

The art remained in Chen family and their village for centuries.  People came to the village to learn the art (and still do today). An outsider named Yang Lu-chan (1799-1872) learned the Chen practice and developed the style that is named after him. More styles developed from the Chen form. You can find a bewildering tree of lineages of tai chi styles in Wikipedia.

During China’s Civil War many traditional tai chi teachers emigrated or ceased activity, but in 1949 the People’s Republic government established the Chinese Sports Committee. The Committee developed hybrid forms of tai chi that were easier to learn and practice and promoted group tournament; the government encouraged public practice.[i]

Tai chi spread in America in the wake of the martial arts interest that exploded in the 1970s. Boomers have embraced tai chi for health; the Mayo Clinic recommends it to reduce stress and some hope its practice will prove beneficial against Alzheimer’s.

Each class tests me---how much of the entire form will my body remember?  I’ve got the short opening section down pat, melded into my muscle memory. I’m doing better with the middle section; sequences of moves repeat and sometimes if I can remember the one arm or leg go, the next moves will come to me. At some point in the third and longest section I will sneak a glance at Beverly; where are we? Did I miss “snake creeps down”?

It takes our group 30 minutes or more to do the entire Yang long form. If we go slowly enough. When we finish we repeat the salute and bow. We clap for our instructor and ourselves. For a few moments my arthritic body feels light and fluid again.

Even when my kicks on one leg wobbled or I forgot half of the last section, I feel satisfaction.  Even if my errant mind got distracted, I am peaceful.

Real devotees say you can practice tai chi anywhere.  Allen Ginsberg dedicated a poem to his tai chi master. It turned out to be a wry commentary about practicing in his in a tiny Manhattan apartment and it’s recorded on video.  

The first stanzas go like this: 

Bend knees, shift weight
Picasso’s blue deathhead self portrait
tacked on refrigerator door

This is the only space in the apartment
big enough to do t’ai chi

Straighten right foot & rise–I wonder
if I should have set aside that garbage
pail

Raise up my hands & bring them back to
shoulders–The towels and pyjama
laundry’s hanging on a rope in the hall

Push down & grasp the sparrow’s tail

Those paper boxes of grocery bags are
blocking the closed door

Turn north–I should hang up all
those pots on the stovetop

Am I holding the world right? That
Hopi picture on the wall shows
rain & lightning bolt

Turn right again–thru the door, God
my office space is a mess of
pictures & unanswered letters

I better concentrate on what I’m doing
weight in belly, move by hips

No, that was the single whip–that apron’s
hanging on the North wall a year
I haven’t used it once
Except to wipe my hands–the Crane
spreads its wings have I paid
the electric bill?[ii]

Yeah, Allen, not enough space and too many distractions at home for me too. But the poem consoles me. Each week I join my tai chi friends in warm expectation; I see the ocean and hear the muffled clang of the bell buoy.  We bow, raise hands and salute, we try again.

---

[i] Qi gong, Chinese medicine’s ancient system of physical exercises and breathing control (and used for tai chi training) also came under state regulation.

[ii] Manhattan Midnite, September 5, 1984. http://slantedflying.com/a-poem-by-allen-ginsberg-about-tai-chi/

Note: Last Saturday in April is World Tai Chi and Qi Gong Day.



This is essay also appeared in East Village Magazine, https://www.eastvillagemagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/EVM-04.2019.pdf

Indivisible San Pedro

It’s February 16^th and a big rainstorm is predicted for California tonight.  It is also day 27 of the new administration of the 45^th President of the United States. I’ve come out for the first meeting of San Pedro, California, residents interested in a movement to resist the Trump agenda called “Indivisible” (https://www.indivisibleguide.com). I live in nearby Torrance this time of the year, so I’ve turned up too.

Indivisible emerged from the experience of former congressional staffers who saw first-hand the methods of the Tea Party in 2009 that successfully pressured congressional Republicans to block the Obama agenda.  After the Trump election these ex-staffers coordinated to produce a nuts-and-bolts guide to the tactics that they knew from experience worked. 

Ezra Levin (former staffer to Texas Democratic representative Lloyd Doggett) together with some 30 others collaborated on a 26-page document called the "Indivisible Guide" that explains how to organize by Congressional districts and influence senators and representatives.  Initially a Google- doc in mid-December, the Guide went viral in January when it was publicized by Robert Reich and George Takei, and featured in an opinion piece in the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/opinion/to-stop-trump-democrats-can-learn-from-the-tea-party.html).

 The Guide became a website (https://www.indivisibleguide.com/) that now lists a network of some 7,000 groups across the country organized to resist the Trump agenda. Local groups emphasize actions recommended by the Guide’s authors to influence their members of Congress or MoC.  Citizens show up en masse to Congressional district offices and events, they flood Congressional phone lines, and they write letters.  The goal? Let the members of Congress know that the constituents are watching; challenge elected Republicans about their wrong-headed policies, and support or stiffen the spines of Democrats. 

I’m 10 minutes late for the 7 pm start and the parking lot is full.

The room is full too---it’s one of the former Army barracks atop the bluff of San Pedro that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. Constructed in 1941 to house draftees for the anticipated war, it survives---sturdy and serviceable---from the administration of the 32^nd President.  Today part of Angel’s Gate Cultural Center, this barrack, Building H, is a large open space that is used by dance and yoga teachers. Its golden oak floor is still in good condition after 76 years.

I estimate 90 to 100 people are seated, some brought their own chairs, a few sit on tables at the side, or like me, just stand against the walls.  It’s a kick-off meeting; for political old timers, much of the agenda is predictable (the Indivisible Guide Toolkit provides a template).

Meeting organizers announce this group’s name “IndivisibleSP”---“Indivisible San Pedro.”   Introducing themselves, they explain their functions and call for volunteers to assist---an overall coordinator (Mark), a news/media relations contact (Peter), social media/membership (Samantha), film/recording actions (Melanie) and a secretary (Erin).  White sign boards across their chests state their functions and four have names of the four California members of Congress that this Indivisible group will track: California Senators Feinstein and Harris, and Representatives Lieu (33^rd District where I live in Torrance, whose district includes part of San Pedro) and Barragán of the 44^th District which dominates the rest of San Pedro.       

The speakers emphasize the approach recommended by the Indivisible Guide: demystify advocacy, be inclusive, focus on your MoCs or members of Congress. The routine is weekly organizational and planning meetings and some action that members can do, whether from home (write letters, make phone calls) or events to attend like the swearing-in roadshow at San Pedro High School of newly elected Nanette Barragán.  Future “actions” will be held at their district offices and effort will be concerted since over 50 Indivisible groups exist within a 20-mile radius. Congressman Lieu and Senator Harris are active on social media like Twitter and update their followers, but Feinstein is less visible and we need to see more of her---she has four offices in the state and we will show up there. 

Mark (coordinator) urges using https://www.congress.gov/ to follow our representatives, what bills they are working on, and track their schedules for town halls and other events when they return to their districts---return to us.  Shake hands and when appropriate, tell them “You are doing a great job.”   If the member doesn’t take questions, then we shake hands and make a statement---and we all use the same statement.  The goal is a relationship with MoCs and their staffers, to let them know their constituents are watching; photos and filming is welcomed at events to spread the views of these electeds.

Peter (news/media relations) elaborates: “Publicity, releases and video about our actions will go out to news media and be spread directly to the public through social media.  Indivisible relies primarily on defensive tactics that oppose what Trump and Congress is doing, but we will also be undertaking some  offensive gambits that will include pushing for Trump to release his taxes, calling for Congressional investigations into Russian interference and collusion in the election,  as well as pushing Democrats maintain a 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees.”

As the formal part of the meeting winds up, a basket is passed around for contributions to defray the cost of room rental.  Samantha (social media/membership) explains the final part of the meeting routine:  break into small groups to talk and get to know one another. 

Mark reminds us that form letters to Feinstein and Harris urging a vote against Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch are out in the entry way---typed templates with a brief text.  Tablets are there; you can quickly write out a personalized letter with your name and address.

Someone calls out a reminder that the Pruitt vote for EPA is tomorrow, Friday.  Get on the phones!

Tonight’s agenda is done. As people leave, some cluster in the entryway to copy the letter text provided---just tearing off the sheets from ruled tablets and rapidly copying the four-line paragraph, adding their own views or taking a picture with their phone so they can write later from home.  I’m not a California resident so I get a photo of the template too; I can change the header and use it in Michigan. I’m already signed up for Indivisible meeting in my home county, Genesee, in March.

It’s only 7:40---less than an hour has passed. Citizen action proves disarmingly simple.

“This effort will require commitment and it will take place over many months,” says the media coordinator Peter. “But remember: There are more of us than them. We have been going forward for the past decade and Trump wants to take us backwards on voting rights, civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, immigrant rights, the environment, sustainable energy, so many things. We have fought too long and too hard and we don’t intend to stop supporting them.”