Tai Chi

First - My apologies for the VERY late Post..... right around the 1st of July, I got caught up in another adventure.. Read next months post... Its a thriller... and I forgot (yep, thats right!) to post this. Next Months, will be up on time. Promise. Second... Tai Chi - Very cool. I highly encourage you to try this form of 'moving meditation'. Its good for every age, physical condition. Thanks for Reading!!! Dave ********************************************* I guess word is getting around that I'm always willing to try something new cause I was recently invited by friends Matt and Tamis to join them in a Tai Chi class. Tai Chi is a form of martial arts that dates back thousands of years. The art is handed down from teacher to student unchanged over and over again. My Teacher at the Spotsylvania YMCA was Rob Petit. He can trace the lineage of his Tai Chi education back through his teachers as far back as 1924. And those had been taught by others who could be traced back for lifetimes. In these thousands of years the basic movements have not changed. The art of Tai Chi Emphasizes softness, stating that a rigid form in combat is actually more brittle than one that flows from movement to movement and then uses the opponent’s energy against them. This form was initially taught in secrecy only to family members. Our class started outside on a Sunday afternoon. We started with some basic warm-ups and then moved onto a Qigong (Key-gong) exercise with the intent of centering our energy and breath. We did something called “reeling silk”. Standing with a semi-wide squatting stance, arms held sideways about chest high, hands cupped as if I were holding a ball; Rob instructed me to move my hands and arms sideways as if I were moving that ball from one side of my body to the other. Breathing in while moving to one side and out while moving to the other. I was to lead this movement with my hips. To emphasize this point, Rob told the group “your hips are the commander”. I suspect he was trying to get a greater point across having more to do with true martial arts than my hips. Rob teaches the “Sun” form of Tai Chi which involves 98 movements. The movements simulate a defensive posture awaiting an attack from a would be offender. Motions are tied together in a free flowing dance anticipating each attack and then responding with a block and subsequent attack. Using Tai Chi for the health benefits each move is done very slowly emphasizing its beauty. Speeded up it is a considered a full on martial art. You have to understand. I can’t even line dance. I happen to know that most small children are able to Macarena right out of the womb, but not me. So for me to try to follow these steps and channel my energy into any form other than frustration was extremely difficult. The regulars in the class intently focused on the transition from movement to movement. There I was doing a stilted version of Ballet. I finally understood what my son was going through in the Karate class I had enrolled him in when he was five. I was embarrassed by him way back then, but now I fully understand. Shane, I offer a public apology 17 years late. The second part of the class involved a broad sword called a Dao. I learned that an adrenaline rush right into the veins of manhood can be achieved just by putting a combat weight sword into my hands. Using the sword involved a separate set of moves. These moves although flowing and rhythmic involved the thrusting, blocking and slashing of the sword. The key was to do it all in a controlled manner. Because of my inability to do this I openly expressed a concern for the safety of my class mates. Rob went through the short form weapons training sequence with the group at first and then alone with me. While he was working with me Matt, Tamis and the others performed a two person simulated combat version of the same movements. Matt and Tamis are happily married, but I couldn’t help but imagine how this two person approach could go horribly wrong if either one of them were having a bad day. This art can be performed by anyone. Once I learn the form, I see that it has great potential for creating calm and centering energy. I encourage anyone to try it. I plan to continue.

Hanging by a Thread - Part 1

Sometimes I find myself in a rush to get out a story to the front porch. It may not seem like much, but in order to provide quality reading for you... I put some thought into what I want to write, plan the adventure and then actually perform it. THEN I get to write. Its typically more than just a casual process. Anyhow.. this time, although I got most of the facts correct... I did not do Steve Benett's caving resume justice. Steve has had some amazing adventures that make my easy breezy stuff seem like a walk in the park. Take a look at this list of caving / rappelling: ************************************************************************************* Caves: Name Location ----- ----------- Bone/Norman Renick, WV Breathing cave Bath co, VA Crossroads Bath Co VA Flower Pot Cave Dayley, WV Marshalls Bath Co VA Cave Mnt Cave Franklin, WV New River Cave Giles Co. VA Sinette/Thorn Thorn Springs, WV Sites Cave Thorn Springs, WV Buckey Creek Greenbrier Co, WV Mystic cave Seneca, WV Scott Hollow Union, WV Island Ford Covington, VA Rappels: Rappel Location Distance Dates ------ -------- ----- -------- El Capitan Yosemite, CA 2650' Spring, 2004 and Spring 2007 New River Gorge Bridge Fayetteville, WV 850' Oct, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 Maryland Heights Harper's Ferry, WV 200' Summer 2001, 2002, 2007 Whitesides Highlands, NC 650' Sept, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006 Golondrinas Aquismon, Mexico 1300' Jan, 2004 Guaguas Aquismon, Mexico 600' Dec, 2004 Sotano de las Quilas Aquismon, Mexico 300' Dec, 2004 Sotano de las La Linja Aquismon, Mexico 240' Dec, 2004 ******************************************************************************* Hats off to Steve and a special thanks from me for his patient teaching in my back yard. Enjoy, Dave ********************************************************************************* Hanging By a Thread - Part 1 Some adventures take a little preparation… Rock climbing, caving, rappelling, all require knowledge that only boy scouts and those that have a desire to learn get involved with. In this mini-adventure I needed to start the learning process weeks before it actually happened. I met my friend Steve Bennett around town. In passing conversation he mentioned that he was a caver. Spelunker? No. Most cave explorers prefer to be called “cavers”. The term ‘spelunker’ likely was derived from the word Speleology which is the study of caves and their characteristics. Steve has an easy style. Soft spoken, yet very confident, it turns out that he is very experienced with rope work. He rappelled down major caves in Mexico; down El Capitan and is a member of a team that rappels off a bridge in West VA every year for Bridge Day. We would be using a tree in my back yard. A few weeks after assigning me to learn some basic knots, Steve came to the house. Safety first. Before we would ever head out to a rock face, I would need to be able to complete several skills in the back yard. My Skills test today was to get all of the gear on; Ascend to the limb at the top of the rope; switch from “Ascending” to “Repelling”. Putting on the gear was no easy feat. The seat harness was made of webbed material that while on the ground had no recognizable shape to it at all. I likened it to a piece of woman’s lingerie… when its on, you understand exactly what its designed to do… while it’s on the ground, it’s anybody’s guess. The seat harness is made to support your weight, each of the Ascenders, two primaries and one safety, connect directly to that. There is some webbed material that wraps at your shoulders to allow you to attach your upper body to the rope should you get too tired to actually hold on. The other major piece of equipment is the Figure 8. It looks just as its name implies and is used to apply tension to the rope so that you can lower yourself down a rope in a “controlled” manner as opposed to any of the other ways that one can come down a rope. We strung a rope over a branch in one of my trees and then tied off to a neighboring tree and used an overkill amount of effort compared to the 20’ height that we were working with. We used the “frog method” to go up the rope. My feet were in a loop at the end of the upper ascender, as I rested into the chest ascender, I raised the upper ascender with my hand and my feet would rise with it. I’d stand on the loop, the upper ascender would lock into place and the rope would pull through my chest ascender. I moved up the rope quite easily. You might say frog like. Anyhow… here is the trick - doing the “change over” at the top of the rope, after climbing to begin the rappel. This requires standing up on the ascender, adding the Figure 8 into the mix, leaning onto it and then removing all of the ascenders. Think spider on a web (with a helmet on). That initial moment when all of the ascending equipment is removed and I lean back onto the rope brings quite a rush. I had a flash of fear that my hand to be used as a “brake” wouldn’t be in the right position and I would slide wildly down the rope bouncing off of the tree the whole way. Deep breath… release….. and… well nothing. The system allowed me to easily control my descent at any pace I chose. Between the Gear, the system and Steve’s excellent teaching, I was completely safe. A little anti-climactic, I know. But stay tuned, I will be out on the rocks soon.