Faulk TaiChi

Learn the beautiful, flowing movements for health and relaxation.

Move – Enjoy the Moment

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The most sunlight of the year, that’s where we are. Summer Solstice. It feels different this year because we can’t gather for outdoor concerts, beach or boating gatherings or cookout parties. There is a virus around and for many, it’s a time to be cautious for our health and that of others.

Even with this reality, we need to take good care of ourselves, pay attention to our bodies and spirits. If a health club is off limits, be sure to walk, even if it’s around and around the same two or three blocks.  Breathe – inhale,  then  exhale.  Stretch. Bicycle. Take an online Tai Chi class. A yoga class. Dance.  When  we  move  our  bodies,  focus  our  energy  on  the  movement, we  relax,  quiet  our  mind  and  enjoy  the  moment.

Tai Chi on Zoom
dancer

TAKE  TIME  TO  MOVE  YOUR  BODY ENJOY  THE MOMENT.

inhale exhale

Listening

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Faulk Tai Chi

Is listening becoming a lost art?

Generally, we think of listening with our ears. Does that sound like a strange statement? Think about it. More and more conversations are transacted via email or text or twitter. We may occasionally listen to a live speaker but many of us rely on reading sound bites or short news stores on our computer or phone. I don’t think we can really listen through the written word. Nuances, inflections, tone are difficult to pick up on a screen and maybe more likely to be misinterpreted.

PDX Chinese Gardens

Really listening and hearing another person requires focus and being open, open to what he or she has to say. There is another aspect of listening that is as important as readiness to hear spoken words – listening to our bodies. Many years ago I learned an important lesson from an exercise instructor in New York City. “Your body doesn’t lie,” she announced in class one day. I thought and thought about that. Dealing with some severe physical challenges at the time, I realized that I used my mind to say “It’s not so bad,” “I can get through this” I wasn’t really listening to my body because I didn’t really know how to do it. When I started to listen, through work with a professional acupuncturist, I started to take time out for rest, started a Tai Chi class. Tai Chi helps me quiet my chattering mind, empty out the thoughts, be in the moment, be a better listener.

It’s only when we can focus on the moment that we can quiet our mind and open up to listen, to our body and I also believe, to words of other people. It takes openness to listen, from an open mind that is willing and ready to listen.

If you are like me, it may be helpful to think what you might do, what you might let go of, to be in the moment, to really listen. What is your body telling you? How might you really listen and hear what someone else is saying out loud to you? You may find that listening in conversation, being open to others is related to how your body feels.

The Mind of an Olympic Athlete

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Speed, finesse, durability, precision — all images we see as we are spellbound by the London Summer Olympics. The TV images we watch also blast out at us in high definition — the fall, the tears, the bronze medal seen as a loss, the rise to the mountaintop but failing to reach the peak.

It all seems to show that to be human as an elite athlete, is to strive for perfection, reach unthinkable heights, break world records or fall short in just .08 of a second and feel the sting of someone who is a little bit faster, a little bit stronger, a little bit more agile on that particular day.

A fascinating article in the July 30 Summer Olympics Special issue of Time magazine portrays the complex and amazing journey of Lolo Jones, a U.S. hurdler. She embodies an unlikely story of a difficult childhood and rise to a world-class athlete. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she “choked”, hit a hurdle in the 100m race, and lost the gold medal. I put “choked” in parentheses because the word is coined and has been scientifically researched. The article sites Sian Beilock, from the University of Chicago and other scientists who “suspect that athletes under stress choke when too many thoughts flood the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that houses informational memory. Worry, and the brain become too busy.”

Lolo Jones continues to deal with the memory of 2008. She lives with media pressure as well as her own to prove to herself and the world that she is a world-class athlete and can win.

That’s more pressure than most of us have to deal with, because we’re not in the media spotlight and we’re not competing on a world stage. However, we can all identify with “choking”, because it happens to all of us. It’s part of being human. Our minds trick us, over think. In every Tai Chi class we remind ourselves to focus on the moment, try to clear our minds of the chatter. It’s a practice for class. It’s a practice for life.

I wonder how many Olympic-level athletes engage in a practice of tai chi, meditation or yoga. If not, I wish they would consider it.

And, I wish for Lolo Jones, a Tai Chi state of mind and body as she comes on the world stage in the next few days.