“80% of what we think is useless. It serves no purpose. It is just random thoughts jumping around from one thing to another.” said my Tai Chi teacher.

I don’t mean to make him sound like the Chinese version of Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid but I do feel very lucky to have such a good teacher. He is forever thinking and talking about Tai Chi, meditation, enlightenment, the body, the mind, Chinese & Western medicine, relaxation, health, physics, religion and philosophy. He cares about his students but not in a way you would expect. He doesn’t coddle you. He very patiently challenges you to practice the Art of Tai Chi & Qi Gong and thereby get better mentally and physically.

There was a time for about 6 months when I didn’t go to class. It was the time when my ex-wife had kicked our son out of her house and he was having trouble coming to terms with it (as was I). I had decided to stay home believing that my presence would be a source of stability for my son. Whether or not we actually interacted was secondary. I was hoping that by just being available, I would send him the message that it would be okay, I wasn’t going to go anywhere. He was safe with me. No matter what he did or didn’t do, I would be there for him.

One evening my teacher called me and asked how I was. When I told him about my son, he suggested being patient and accepting. He also told me that he missed me in class and encouraged me to come back. That really meant a lot to me. A lot. He isn’t a warm fuzzy kind of man who’s given to emotional displays. His simple statement “Come back to class. It will help.” was just what I needed at just the right time.

He lives the art. He is very well read and constantly tries to improve himself through his practice. I’ve never seen him upset by even the most upsetting of news.

A while back he talked about how upset his brothers and sisters were we their mother died. Apparently when he went back to China for the funeral many in his family were fighting with each other. He didn’t understand any of it.

“What was there to fight about?” he asked. “Our mother was gone. Nothing was going to change that so how did fighting help? All it did was get everyone upset and make a sad situation worse.”

I asked him, “Weren’t you sad that your mother had died?”

“Of course I was sad but why would I let that make me mad and yell at my brothers or sisters? It makes no sense.”

The closest I’ve come to seeing him upset was when a newer co-worker decided he didn’t like him and bent over backwards making him miserable. Even then, all he would say is, “Well, I guess I have to use this as part of my training. I must figure out a way to use this to improve.”

I’ve not been able to turn all of my troubles in to training opportunities like he does but I am trying. Last weekend in class during warm-ups he was talking about the importance of training and making it a part of your everyday life. In other words making a lifestyle change. He talked about how in China several years ago there was a 30-something year old man who suffered from high anxiety, depression and a number of physical illnesses. He had tried all sorts of things to get better but no medicine or treatment worked. Perhaps out of frustration or resignation he decided to go back to his hometown so that he could at least be around his family.

Once he was back home his grandfather taught him Qi Gong which he practiced everyday for long periods of time. After about 100 days he was healthy again. He went on to become a Qi Gong master.

“If you want to get better you must be like this man and take responsibility for your own health and practice.” said teacher. “There is nothing magical about it, you must simply do it. Do it 100 hundred days and your health will improve. It may seem like a long time but it’s only a little over 3 months.”

After class I thought a lot about it. It sounds like the stuff of fairy tales. A hopelessly sick man regains his health by practicing a very old system of gentle, relaxing exercises. I don’t want to just manage my black dog. I want to get better. I don’t want to just survive but to live, to feel like I did before my daughter walked out of my life and the black dog came in.  So yesterday I made the commitment and started by doing an hour of Qi Gong and Tai Chi, today I did the same. Hopefully as time goes by I will increase the amount of time I devote to it (up to 3 hours). Cancer patients in China go from practicing a few minutes at a time to several hours a day. They have very good motivation.

There are literally thousands of different Qi Gong exercises but you don’t have to learn many. In fact it’s better to do fewer for longer periods of time than to do a lot of different exercises for a short time.

They’re simple exercises ideally done outdoors in the fresh air. You learn to relax and move your body more efficiently and softly while breathing slowly and deeply. At the same time you use your mind to focus on these simple moves. Over time you learn to use less muscular energy and less mental energy. Always less energy but more focus.

“If you have a glass of Coca-Cola, how do you add more air?” my teacher asks. “You pour some Coke out and the air automatically appears. It’s the same with tension and relaxation. Use less tension and the relaxation automatically appears. With enough practice your relaxation will deepen until even the cells in your body are more relaxed and carry more oxygen.”

I don’t have any illusions that it’s a panacea but I am convinced that there is nothing in life that can’t be improved by taking responsibility for my health and relaxing more.

Frankie says “Relax“.  Good advice.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 8:23 pm and is filed under exercise.