a restarting friday open thread

by liberal japonicus

I recently restarted doing Tai Chi. I only started doing it because a colleague was teaching it, and a schedule conflict made it impossible for me to join the group, but that conflict has disappeared, so I'm at it again. Quite amazing what a workout it is.

So have you restarted anything recently? How did it turn out?

Comments

[Chuchundra]

I almost restarted lifting weights this morning.

I've been away from it for the last couple months, ever since we got our puppy. The half hour/forty five minutes I set aside for morning weights has been eaten up by dog-walking and other puppy-related activities.

So I woke up an extra half hour this morning, raring to go, but my wife had a spring cold and the heating system needed my attention, so no time to work out for me.

Maybe next week.

[dr ngo]

I tried tai chi about 15 years ago. Permanently injured myself (tibial band). Not going back. Ever.

[hairshirthedonist]

I'd like to restart reading books all the way through in a reasonably short amount of time and one at a time, rather than reading several books in parallel a little bit at a time over a long period, as I've done since having kids.

I've literally (no pun intended) been reading Moby Dick for 3 or 4 years, while having started and in some cases finished other books along the way. I'm probably 7/8 through it now, but only read it when using a particular facility in a particular room in my particular home. I'm part also way through at least 3 other books, all non-fiction, now that I'm thinking about it - one of which I only read while at the library with my kids for story time. (I don't bother checking it out, since I've already got books to finish at home.)

In a given month, I probably read 20 to 50 times as many words from e-mail or websites as I do from books at this point. Maybe more. Who can tell?

[Donald Johnson]

I did Tai Chi for a few years. I liked it well enough, but eventually gave it up--if I have an hour or two to exercise I'd rather do something else.

I am surprised to hear about your injury, dr. ngo. I've managed to have almost every running injury in the books and even did something to my rotator cuff last year from my not terribly impressive (and apparently technically incorrect) bench pressing, but never came close to hurting myself with Tai Chi. But our teachers were generally good about telling people to stick to motions that were comfortable and not to overdo it.

[liberal japonicus]

I remember you saying that dr ngo, and I can see how it could happen. I'm doing it to get a little more flexibility and they always say don't push it, but I am as flexible as a brick, so if I don't try and stretch, I'm not going to. In fact, the restart has had me rather stiff he morning after.

[sapient]

Dance. It works for aerobics, balance, coordination, muscle strengthening, and music appreciation. If it's with partners, it works for partnership.

[Laura Koerbeer]

I walk dogs.

[Ugh]

Remember, they hate us for our freedom.

And, fnck off, Leon Panetta: "[George] Little, who is acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, said Panetta was 'disappointed that despite our request not to publish these photographs, the Los Angeles Times went ahead. The danger is that this material could be used by the enemy to incite violence against U.S. and Afghan service members in Afghanistan.'"

[Barry Freed]

What style of Tai Chi do/did you practice? Are you doing it exclusively for health reasons or are you interested in the martial arts aspect? I studied Chen style for a few years and then after a couple of years hiatus studied Yang style (it was a question of having moved and available teachers in the area.) I loved it and especially enjoyed learning the martial arts applications which helped in learning the form (when you know what it's for it kind of clicks). Now I find when I try to practice I mix them just as happens with my 3rd and 4th best languages when I try to speak them.

(It's been awhile since I've been back around these parts. Good choice of front page posters btw.)

[liberal japonicus]

I believe it is Yang style, but I'm not sure, because the teacher says that it is 'yo-shiki', which I'm guessing is 楊式. This retranslation is frustrating for me, because a lot of the chinese terms are given with Japanese readings, so going to read about it in English can be impossible unless they have the chinese characters there, and even then, I might have to do a bit of dictionary look up to figure out just what Japanese term equals the English version of the Chinese term. Also, the group I'm doing it with has virtually no interest in finding out about the history/larger world of tai chi. Or at least there is very little talk about it during practice and there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in finding out about it. I don't know about tai chi, but in Japanese martial arts in the states, everyone seems to want to know about the history, etc etc. I suspect it is that most westerners are concerned about 'authenticity', which is not really much of a concern for Japanese practicing here.

[liberal japonicus]

Sorry, you asked a few more questions. Why I'm doing it, the group really works on flexibility, which is something I really want to improve, on one had for my aikido and iaido, but on the other, just cause I'm tired of being so stiff.

There are some things that link into my martial arts, which is always cool, especially with movement, so that's pretty good, though I can't imagine doing two different styles, it must really get confusing.