Old dogs...

“If you believe old dogs cannot learn

new tricks…‘YOU’ never will.”

– Anonymous

Heather begins by saying, “Let’s start with a gentle warm up.  What is the most important thing to know in what we are about to do?”

By now the twenty or so folk gathered in the conference room know the answer, and with smiles all around say together, “Breathe!”  And with that, the practice begins.

Strange, I never thought I would find myself doing this…

Another time, in another land…

They moved slowly in smooth rhythmic fashion, wearing loose and baggy garments; the men in plain colors; the women a little more brightly dressed, their gazes unfocused and distant.  There were 30 or more of them, and from across the open area, they looked as though they were connected to one another by an invisible wire, tugged in unison by an unseen puppeteer…exotic to say the least.

It was Guangzhou, China, early morning as daylight peeked over the eastern horizon as if to see whether anything had changed since it had turned off the lights and tucked into the western edges of the skyline at the end of the previous day…not much had.

The park was full of older early morning exercisers, doing a variety of activities.  On low hanging branches, a small number of men were suspended, stretching out their shoulder joints.  Other folk walked slowly backward, occasionally peeking over their shoulders to ensure they were on the right track.  There were one or two using a stick to push small hoops as they walked. In a small area, there was a large bumpy concrete pad upon which some folk were walking barefoot, apparently to toughen up their feet. Then there was that group of elderly men and women doing early morning Tai Chi.

As I jogged along the riverfront by the open park in a pair of shorts, tee shirt and tennis shoes, there is little doubt I was, if not quite so exotic, completely out of place.  The occasional person tapped their neighbor, pointing my way as if they had seen a large, pale skinned alien from outer space.  I heard, “Gwai Lo,” (pronounced Qu-eye low) a word meaning ‘foreigner,’ drift through the air a time or two.

I was impressed so many people seemed to make this part of their morning routine.  On subsequent mornings when exercising in other parts of the country I saw this again and again.  Nobody was dressed in spandex or the latest gym attire.  I didn’t see fashionable shoes or slick looking headbands.  It was just folk dressed in comfortable clothing getting ready for the day.

Education, a barrier to entry…

My professional career has been in the area of counseling, testing, treating and designing exercise programs for clinical populations.  Over the years, these have included: spinal cord injured, cardiac, pulmonary, arthritic, and for the last two and a half decades, people with chronic back and neck pain.  There are a lot of things that can be done to help improve functional activity levels when people find themselves trapped in the cobweb of chronic disease, but for me Tai Chi was certainly NOT one of them.

Watching these folk practicing Tai Chi in China was interesting and fun, but in my world it wasn’t really exercise, as I had been trained…it was just a curiosity.

It goes like this…

When I was a graduate student, I knew everything and was certain if the people listened to me, their health and lives would be much improved.  With the zeal of a young Pentecostal evangelist armed with scripture, and little life experience, my ignorant confidence was as solid as the rock of Gibraltar.  

I didn’t know, in those years, I had contracted a toxic and potentially lethal disease.  It is a virus one picks up in graduate school, and if one manages to stay out of the real world, it can develop into full-blown CAA – Chronic Academic Arrogance.  This is an illness that emerges in many professions – sometimes referred to as the ‘plague of the self-right,’ but institutions of higher learning, in particular, provide a petri dish in which this infection thrives.  Complicating matters, the victim almost never knows they are a carrier, and as a result actually believe they are well!

It turns out this horrible disease is really hard to eradicate.  Remission does happen, and when it does, the carrier’s quality of life is much better, but there is always the danger of a relapse that can, as one ages, make their lives miserable. 

A few things are helpful in fighting the illness…life experience and failure.  There is one other thing, and that is aging!  I suppose aging encompasses the previous two, but sometimes the disorder is so profound, one does not learn either from experience or failure!!

Life is change…

The thing about getting older is that stuff just doesn’t work as well as it did in years gone by.  I have found, as everyone who has preceded me in the unavoidable reduction of life force, I can’t run as fast…jump as high…remember specific things as easily…hear and see quite so clearly.  That is not to say, I’m ready to cash in the chips, it is simply to say, like those old nickel cadmium batteries, my energy levels never seem to fully recharge!

This unavoidable phenomenon, brings with it a whole series of questions that were not on the table in the earlier years, and as I have found myself ‘climbing the rope’ in certain aspects of my life, things I recommended for people when I was NOT ‘on the rope,’ do not work as well as I had once imagined.  I have come to appreciate that if I had to take all of the advice I have given in my life, things might not have worked out so well for me.

Things that are important now have everything to do with creating and/or maintaining the best quality of life I can – this encompasses care in the areas of food, sleep, activities that help to calm my mind and regular exercise.

This brings me back to Heather…Heather, my Tai Chi teacher.  What I once thought was just an ‘Eastern curiosity,’ and/or something done by people who lived in California, has had a real and meaningful impact on my life.

The evidence…

One of the things I have noticed in recent years is a small incremental change in balance.  I knew that lifting weights and/or doing Tai Chi had been demonstrated in research to be helpful.  When I first noticed the balance issue, I adjusted my lower extremity strengthening routine and it helped.  It seemed, however, that I got all the benefit from strengthening that I could, so I decided to try Tai Chi…something I would NEVER have done earlier in my life.

I have been amazed at the results in a short period of time.  A small example, and this may be too much information... 

Putting on trousers while standing has recently required a bit of hopping around to keep balanced while slipping each leg in.  After only a month and a half of weekly meetings and a little ‘practice’ at home, the ease with which I put them on is just short of amazing.  I would never have predicted such a rapid result.

Getting older has its challenges, but it also has its benefits.  Some of the barriers to learning, created by ‘CAA,’ of necessity slip away, melting into the reality of changing interests and needs, and that is a good thing.   Embracing the changes has enhanced my quality of life.

So, “What is the most important thing to know in what we are about to do?”

(say this with a smile)  

"Breathe…."

- ted