Time for Tai Chi

Time for back-to-school and I'm in the game again. The Clackamas Community College is about eight miles from me and I've signed up for Tai Chi. The instructor is a young person I met while at a Bed and Breakfast in Hood River in August. Nick and his wife, Erin, are from the East coast and have lived in Oregon for about five years. A blessed gift in my life. Erin, a yoga instructor and Nick, a Tai Chi and black belt karate teacher. Both talented and wise beyond their years, strike me as old souls whom I have met up with yet one more go round on Earth.

About 30 of us students in the Tai Chi class meet two mornings a week in the wrestling room. Mostly young folks, there are a smattering of us oldsters. An 80-something year old oriental woman too. Quite a span a of skill levels. About half are at the intermediate level and the rest of us beginners. Once we've all followed Nick through the warm ups and in the midst of our Form, the energy flow is palpable. Waves of rolling energy carry us as one through the movements, with Nick in the lead. I'm so glad I overcame my resistance to getting up and at 'em on two mornings a week to join this ritual. Who knows what doors this will open for me?

Tonight, Nick and Erin will be my dinner guests for the first time. They're fast becoming my newest friends, though, they feel many lifetimes familiar to me already. This time around they have come into my life at exactly the time. Just as I've begun to feel a "hole" in my daily-ness.