When I was working out in the real world, I would often find a quiet spot (usually in the alley) to go through the moves. I found it helped me relax and get through with the other half of my day. My staff thought I was crazy.

When I started I remember feeling it most in my deltoids (shoulders) and did have a little bit of muscle strain the next day. I also remember feeling it in my butt and thighs. You definitely build up some muscle tone as you are using your body in ways you wouldn’t normally. It’s also wonderful for posture. Totally tolerable.

As for the co-ordination, I think that was the most frustrating thing for participants in the classes I attended. The important thing is to not worry about what you look like in the beginning. Fine tuning the moves comes later after you’ve learned the general guidelines. Keep at it and it will come.

It was a surprisingly good workout for my thigh muscles, and verrrry calming. I could actually feel my heart beat slowing and my mind stop racing. In the end, though, it is just too uninteresting for me. That’s always been my trouble with “exercise” – I get bored too easily.

Have you seen my posts? ;)

And if you’re answering questions: how “mystic” was it? The exercises sound very soothing, but if there was a lot of talk about chi and energy flows and meridians and suchlike, that would make it considerably less calming for me.

MissPrism, in my class there was no “mystic” component at all — the society did have a Taoist book club and meditation group, but that was totally separate from the tai chi itself. Of course, other forms of tai chi could have more, and our instructor would say that “you can take it as deep as you want to take it.” But the class proper? Nothing.

my inner perfectionist just wouldn’t shut up long enough for me to actually get into it. I felt very self conscious and ungraceful, and it just wasn’t for me.

Libbyloo, I actually had a part in the mental contraindications (which I cut out because I felt like the review was ridiculously long already) about how I am also a perfectionist about things like this, and it was really hard for me to loosen up and just be bad at some of the moves even a few weeks after we’d learned it the first time. And the atmosphere of “everybody works on this for the rest of their lives” only made it worse — what, you mean I’ll never get this down? But in my case I liked the rest of it enough to hang in there, and eventually I mellowed a little. So yeah, it’s definitely not for everyone. Even if I do proselytize to everyone about it. ^_^

If you’re having joint pain, knee troubles, or mobility issues, there are also some instructors will show you how to work in a chair (a surprisingly good workout).

Elizabeth Twist: another part I wrote and cut was about how my local Tai Chi society is really active in the hospital’s physical therapy department and regularly gives tai chi classes to people in wheelchairs. They even went up for a huge conference in Toronto with a local man with cerebral palsy who wanted to attend. So yeah, it’s super adapatable!