Well hallo!! Today I felt compelled to share my experience (so far) with taking my first Tai Chi class. I am just beyond stoked about taking the course, first off. As a young girl, I dabbled in Tea Kwon Do but never belted up past my green belt... If I remember correctly. As I got older my fascination for most Asian cultures has grown, blossoming into the desire to learn Tai Chi. 

What is Tai Chi?

(Tai Chi Chuan)

The way my instructor describes it, Tai Chi is throwing your Chi, which is your energy or your life force. It can perhaps best be thought of as a moving form of yoga and meditation combined, or as my book explains, 

"Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) is a healing/martial art that combines martial arts movements with Qi (Chi-energy) circulation, breathing, and stretching techniques. It utilizes the ancient philosophy of Yin-Yang and the Five Element theories for its foundation and to estabish its training principles. The training of Taijiquan includes the integration of mind, Qi, and body. The focus on Qi circulation was initially used for the purpose of increasing the internal strength of the physical body for combat. The same techniques that were capable of developing internal power for combat, also proved to be effective as life prolonging, healing and rejuvenating exercises. These health benefits are the primary contributions that led to the popularity of Taijiquan today." - Tai Chi Chuan 24 & 48 Postures With Martial Applications By Master Liang, Shou-Yu & Wu, Wen-Ching

Through only being in this class since January 14th, I have whiteness a shift in my perception, as well as the way I view everyday life, and how I handle stress. In Tai Chi, everything you do is focused around the intent behind your actions, right down to standing and how we breathe. 

Today, I was reminded of a quote:

Our time here is limited and it is no guarantee that we will be alive in the next hour, week, month or year, what we need more of is to take responsibility for our time and energy and stop blaming other people for our unhappiness and misfortunes in life. 

Bottom line: 

YOU are responsible for YOUR happiness, YOUR attitude, YOUR choices and YOU decided who YOU devote YOUR precious energy and time to.

Today, I challenge you to pay attention to your own thoughts and actions, instead of watching everyone else. How do you feel? What are your internal reactions to things? How do you tolerate issues throughout your day, both externally and internally? Are you genuine? What is the intent behind your words, thoughts, and actions? Do your actions reflect the REAL, private feelings you have inside your mind, or are they just an outward appearance of what you believe others want you to say, think or feel?

If you constantly find yourself in a situation where you are questioning yourself negatively, that drains you, makes you doubt yourself or does anything but lifts you higher or adds meaningful value to your life.. maybe it is time to step back and reevaluate. This goes for relationships, friendships, jobs, hobbies, anything in life really. 

We are given this ONE precious life. 

How do you INTEND to FEEL in it, LIVE in it or BE in it? 

It is all up to you.

XOXOX

Because I know the song is in your head from reading the title, it is in mine anyway, here ya go!