Saturday, April 30, was World Tai Chi Day.  At 10 a.m. tai chi was to be played all over the world.  This year the World Tai Chi Day for this area was held at the Colonie public library.   There were around 30 people present and participating. The group was divided into sections according to which style of tai chi that you preferred to play.  There was the Yang, Sun and Chen groups. What was really gratifying to see was the variety of people who attended this event.  There were young people, seniors, men, women, children, and  people of  different nationalities and physical abilities.  All joined in the fun of trying to play on a beautiful green lawn with a pond and water spray as the backdrop.  The day was sunny and warm, the players enthused and yes, there were even some people who tried playing tai chi for the first time. For those of us who are not attracted to competitive sports tai chi works very well.  It is calming, meditative and fun.

So one would think then that with all the benefits that tai chi offers that people would be flocking to studios to learn the art. But that is anything but true.   In my area of the country there is one studio that specializes in tai chi and that studio is approximately 45 minutes away.  Even finding other venues such as gyms, YMCA or YWCA’s, or fitness studios that offer tai chi is a challenge.  I credit this dearth of places to learn and practice tai chi to a lack of students.  William Ting in his book “Answers to Common Tai Chi and Qigong Questions” states that in an Introductory Tai Chi class two-thirds of those who signed up will leave by the end of a semester. How can this be?    I can only account for this by opining that most of us want instant gratification.  After all, if we have a question or need some information all we have to do is “google it” and there it shows itself.  What we haven’t learned is how to be patient or consistent or disciplined – all attributes needed to learn any skill well including tai chi.

So if World Tai Chi Day invites and entices people to join in the fun and maybe even draws a few people to join in on a regular basis then it certainly is worth all the planning it takes to make this event happen.  Who knows we might even begin to have a few more healthy individuals in this world who trust more in their own body-mind connection than relying on Google.