1 post tagged “canada”
I spent last week in Canada at a tai chi workshop in Orangeville, Ontario. I have been practicing Tai Chi for nearly eight years and have been a beginner instructor for five of those years. I attended the workshop in order to move up to the next level of instruction and to bring my tai chi up to a higher level. I was somewhat anxious about attending the workshop, I worried (needlessly it turns out) that my tai chi wasn’t up to par and whether I was in good enough shape to do the work. It was a tough week, but I am glad I attended and I am all the better for it.
I have wanted to learn Tai Chi for quite some time but whether it was because of the cost or the inconvenience of the location I didn’t get around to taking a class until 2000. In the fall of that year tai chi came to me. My wife pointed out an article in our local newspaper that mentioned a new class that would be starting at the local recreation center. I took that class and many more since. I also started attending local intensives and small workshops. Soon I was attending workshops in Tallahassee home of the national headquarters for Taoist Tai Chi. Three years into my tai chi journey; my instructor asked me if I would like to become an instructor. I wasn’t sure that I would be a good teacher but I trusted his judgment and applied to become a beginner instructor. In 2003 I became a beginner instructor and have been teaching a tai chi class ever since. It isn’t easy, I worry often that I am not being clear enough, that I talk too much, that I am not funny enough to distract my students and keep them from becoming frustrated. But it also has been very rewarding; my students tell me that I am very patient, which would surprise no one more than my wife. She can surely think of many words that describe me, and patient is not among the top ten, or top twenty. Therefore becoming an instructor has helped me become more patient as well as improving my tai chi that I may become a better instructor.
The Taoist Tai Chi Society is a non profit organization and all it’s instructors are unpaid volunteers. Taoist Tai Chi was founded by a Chinese Taoist monk who immigrated into Canada in 1970. He was motivated to help other people improve their health by the practice of Taoist Tai Chi. As an instructor I would help continue Master Moy’s mission to make Taoist Tai Chi available to all. Master Moy Lin-Shin, passed away on June 6th 1998. He was very ill as a child and his parents took him to a Taoist monastery in hopes that they may help him, they did and Master Moy became a Taoist monk. He attributed his survival to the Taoist arts that he was taught and promised to bring the gift of tai chi to all who would be willing to learn it. He left behind a group of like minded people who have continued his mission and have made true many of his wishes.
The first CIT Week was held soon after Master Moy’s death and has been held every year since. Instructors from all over the world, from as far away as New Zealand and Malasya attend and work together. My instructor again asked me to attend the workshop to see if I would qualify as a continuing instructor. So I made arrangements to take off work and made travel arrangements. The first three days were very hard. I had volunteered to help with breakfast and I had to be in the kitchen by 6:30 a.m. awake and ready. I am not a morning person, my brain is hardy awake by 9:00 a.m. so this was a bit of a sacrifice, but every attendee is asked to volunteer with many of the tasks that make the workshop possible and getting it done and out of the way in the morning turned out to be a good decision.
The kitchen in Orangeville is quite large as you may imagine. Every day three meals were prepared for nearly 500 people. That kitchen was in use from early in the morning to late at night, either preparing a meal or getting ready to prepare the next meal. I ended up making scrambled eggs with two other people. It takes a lot of eggs to feed over 450 people so every day we cracked anywhere from 600 to 700 eggs. We had to use the woks to cook the eggs as the grill was busy cooking up bacon, sausages and either pancakes or French toast. Cooking in a wok is quite different, especially in a professional kitchen. After a couple of days the regular cooks would give us tips on cleaning the woks and on how best to cook the eggs. It was quite an experience, although I don’t think I’ll be craving eggs for a while.
The workshop usually started at 10:00 a.m. and went till lunch around 12:30. After lunch we met at 2:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. for an afternoon session. After dinner we would have a final session from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. by which time I was ready for bed. It wasn’t constant exercise; there was enough down time and explanations for you to catch your breath before another work out. There was no pressure to overexert yourself. We were constantly reminded to take breaks if we got tired and stopped regularly for snacks and liquid replenishment. Breaks notwithstanding, by Tuesday I was exhausted; all my muscles ached and complained loudly with every move. I skipped lunch and took a two hour nap. As tired as I was, there was little room for self pity, doing tai chi with me there were people who had greater challenges and they didn’t skip a beat. I met several people with Parkinson’s disease and one who was partially paralyzed among others. All talked about how tai chi had improved their health and some talked about how they had regained mobility.
By Wednesday the clouds of exhaustion had parted and even though my muscles were still somewhat sore, I had much more energy. Later that day two instructors pulled me aside and informed me that I had been given an assignment as a CIT. After that news I hardly felt tired anymore I was walking on clouds. Of course the CIT assignment only means more work. I’ll have a new class and I’ll have to work harder on my personal tai chi so that I may have more to offer my students. I am also expected to return every year to CIT Week to continue my training and update my skills and to meet again all the great people for whom I helped prepare scrambled eggs. As much as I worried about this CIT Week, I am looking forward to next year’s workshop.
