Saved by the gong!

Chi gong, that is. Yesterday morning I got up feeling draggy. It was cold outside. Even the squirrels were hiding. I knew I had to do something or I'd drag around all day feeling like a lump.

I went down the basement and put on an old Chi gong video. I hadn't practiced with that particular one in months.

In summer, I practice my tai chi or chi gong outside in the backyard or on the deck. Where have those golden summer days gone? By the time I accept that summer is really gone, fall has come and gone, winter is usually half way done too. Is this part of "old age slowing down?"
Who knows? Maybe it's just the stuckness I feel at this time in my life - wanting to hold on to Life Before COPD.

In my younger days, the seasons just flew by. Summer clothes had to be put away, school clothes bought, pumpkins, Thanksgiving turkeys, Halloween, and the next thing we knew it was time to burrow down the basement, to locate last year's winter boots - and hope they would still fit. Most of the time they didn't.

Now I watch my children going through these seasonal antics and wistfully wish I were back there again; working and child raising and absolutely, passionately thrown full force into life. Back then I was bemoaning the fact that I rarely had a moment to myself. Now I have lots of those moments. Wouldn't it be nice if we could somehow balance all that out?

Back to chi gong. It worked! The flowing movements and deep breathing brought my stagnant energy back to life.

I much prefer the gentleness, the focus on balance, the integration of my brain in remembering the sequence of those movements, the proper positioning of hands, arms, legs - rather than any aerobic or cardio program or even weights. Oh, they have their place, but...

I prefer the refreshed feeling I get, when I finish a session; the paradoxical energetic, yet calm and peaceful sense of well-being, that everything is right in my world - just for a little while.