The elderly teaching me a thing or two about what is important. This year again I was fortunate enough to be a successful applicant of the Scenic Rim's "Be Healthy & Active" program and my proposal to teach a simplified Taiji class for the elderly and frail was successfully accepted at our local Tamborine Mountain Community Care Centre. This Community Care Centre provides a great service to the local elderly residents and many are regulars to the variety of activities and services it offers, naturally the physical capabilities and ages of participants can vary significantly. What I did not expect was that one of my students (on the right of the pic)- one who makes a concerted, persistent effort to attend, and gives it her best to keep up with what can be "challenging " exercises, is aged over 90 . I can say unequivocally that she is the oldest beginner student I have ever had, and quite likely, to ever have. After only two or so lessons she told me that she was in it because of the benefits Taiji provides to her "balance". She told me how whilst gardening and crouching down, she felt herself falling forwards - a situation where she would normally fall on, and most likely badly bruise her face: "Oh no here it comes she thought", but unexpectedly caught herself tipping over and thus avoided a nasty fall. She said that she was very surprised at this incident and attributed this improvement in her bodily awareness - this improved connection between her mind-intention to how her body responded and aligned itself- to starting my Taiji class. I was very gratified to hear this as this is what we begin to train right from the very beginning. This incident also benefits my teaching in that I should sometimes slow down in my teaching and emphasize the aspects in the principals/movements and alignment that help develop better balance. The things we younger folk take for granted...
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