Tai Chi for bush living

Tai Chi is not merely a martial art practiced by those who subscribe to a dowist lifestyle, and it certainly isn't just exercise for the old guys at the YMCA. Tai Chi is a way of life. A way of commanding one's body toward health, relaxation, and a better quality of life and movement. Tai Chi is moving meditation. Sure the art form teaches self defense and can be a good workout but it is so much more. Everyone I know who has really given tai chi a chance has a story of self exploration, healing, or positive change.

Back in the states I would attend classes under the wonderful Shifu Michael Paler (if you are in Colorado Springs look up his school). Under Michael I learned so many amazing things and each week/class was a new realm of discovery. It was here in only a short 6 months I learned how to relax my body and orient my posture. I learned technique and form.I learned how much stronger and more flexible tendons and ligaments are than muscle. It was in class that I finally learned how to quiet my busy mind. It was in class I learned how to live and love more fully. Tai Chi taught me to appreciate my slightly overweight frame I had always struggled to love. It taught me to be thankful for my health and mobility.

When I moved to Zambia I had grand notions of practicing my newly found art form daily and continuing my journey on my own. Those hopes were quickly crushed with a tiring PST regiment for the first 3 months, followed by a hellishly hot season for the next 3 months in which I only wanted to press against the cool concrete floor. With the circumstances pushing me further and further from my original goal I was becoming a bit disappointed in myself and my lack of discipline. Occasionally, I slept wrong and my neck was a bit sore so I'd do some tai chi stretching to loosen things up and relieve the pain but I wasn't doing my normal 30 minute warm-up and form. Occasionally, I still chastised myself for not "practicing" more but I've come to realize that while I may not practice my tai chi I instead live it.

Every day both consciously and unconsciously I put into practice the many aspects of tai chi I worked so hard to learn. My form has changed from 24 count to the every move of daily living. Bush living is demanding. We are subsistence farmers, teachers with limited resources, health workers with no vehicles, skilled tradesmen with hand tools, we haul our water from a river, fight the earth to bring forth food, and spend the days making something from nothing. Ironically, because of this lifestyle these kids know what I had to relearn in my mid 20's- how to use your body. It sounds crazy and intuitive but it's not. Our western life has us hunched over keyboards, lounging on a couch, or working out with machines that aren't the best for our anatomy.

The women here carry large loads on their heads often without hands, and more commonly with a baby strapped to their backs. They are crazy strong and usually pretty skinny. The math doesn't seem to add up, unless you understand how to really use your body. In training PC cautioned us from carrying water on our heads because there have been too many neck injuries as a result. I've heard several PCVs tell me they don't carry heavy things on their head because their neck muscles aren't strong enough. Ironically, it has nothing to do with strength, it's all about posture. I take all the misaligned kinks out of my body and simply let gravity do the heavy lifting. I can carry loads on my head that I can't even lift to my head. It is so incredible how our anatomy really works. When you learn to relax all those tight muscles and let your tendons do the work it becomes almost effortless. I still can't balance the buckets of sloshing water like these incredible women but I have accomplished my goal of carrying things like a local. As an added bonus they still chuckle when I lift buckets up to my head to haul back from the river.

Carrying things on my head was the major goal I wanted to accomplish through use of tai chi but as I said before I find it's flowing into every aspect of my daily existence. When I swing my braiser I rotate from my hips instead of over extending my arm. I recently realized I can even practice being "pung" while pouring my kettle. I squat I-don't-know-how-many times per day, something that I couldn't have done for more than a few seconds back home. I find myself tensing up when dealing with frustrating people on buses but then I make a conscious effort to relax. I wish I could say that made travel tolerable, which is doesn't, but it does prevent me from the pain often associated with a long crammed bus ride.

I was worried when I came to Zambia about not having a chiropractor to see here but I've now gone the longest period in my adult life without chiropractic care and I've never felt better. The benefits of tai chi for both  body and mind are numerous and I can't imagine how much different my existence here in the bush might have been without this knowledge. While my experience back in the states was rejuvenating and even healing for some physical ailments, here it is just down right necessary.