The View From Space

Been listening to / watching those Kaiser Permanente commercials about finding your motivation and figuring out what type of exercise best suits you. While hilarious, they also ring true to me.

After being on and off with my martial arts training throughout the years I can relate to the lady in the commercial as she tries various forms of exercise. Having earlier trained in Kenpo Karate, Choy Li Fut and Hung Gar, I now spend my lunch breaks practicing Chen Taijiquan. Like running and high impact exercises, the earlier styles I practiced were external and extremely hard on my body. And, similar to the lady in the commercial, I couldn’t keep up and soon lost interest (I too passed on pole dancing).
Finding Taijiquan was a blessing (as my aging body will wholeheartedly attest to). The movements may look slow and gentle but they belie the inner strength and martial skill behind it. As an added benefit, numerous studies have shown that performing Taijiquan (or Tai Chi for you westerners out there), provides a myriad of health benefits, from arthritic pain relief to overall physical fitness and increased balance in the aged.

And as an exercise for both my brain as well as my body, I’ll be documenting my Taijiquan journey here on my blog.  Hopefully you’ll be able to join me (even if only vicariously).