Nola’s been practicing Tai Chi for about 14 years and Norm for about 4.  We met in 2003 on an expedition to Svalbard which is about as close as you can get to the North Pole and still be on land.  While there we discovered we lived less than a kilometre apart in Mount Waverley.  (All was very proper during the trip – we didn’t even hold hands!)

When Nola mentioned she practiced Tai Chi, Norm said he had just purchased a video (not from Celestial) to learn something about it, but was finding it difficult.  He had been having trouble with back pain and a frozen shoulder and had unsuccessfully tried Yoga and Pilates.

Within days of our return to Australia, Nola took Norm along to the Hawthorn centre on Wednesday nights.  Norm’s shoulder freed up, the back pain eased, the Chi flowed, one thing led to another, and we both moved into a house together in February 2008 with a park area out the back gate where we practice.

We’ve found that having a second person to practice with is invaluable.  We’ve just finished learning the long-pole routine with wonderfully patient Dianne at the Ashburton Centre.  It’s a long routine and took us nearly 2 years to learn.  We’d come home and immediately go through new moves together.  Often one or the other of us forgets the next move, or goes on to the wrong position, and the other is able to prompt to keep things going correctly.  It avoids that problem we’ve all experienced of practicing a newly-learned move all week only to find we’ve remembered it incorrectly and have to spend another week “un-learning” the error.  Interestingly Norm is better at remembering things learned within the past few days while Nola is better with things first learned months ago.

We find our Tai Chi great for relaxing.  But being the upward side of 50, we are also conscious that Tai Chi helps maintain our mobility, balance and memory functions.  One benefit of Tai Chi not often mentioned is the constant mental stimulation of needing to remember what comes next in a routine.

We’re adventure travellers and wherever possible practice our Tai Chi in places that additionally stimulate the senses – on a wild surf beach with the waves crashing and wind blowing, on the flanks of a rumbling volcano, in the deluge of a warm tropical rainstorm, and in the snow at sub-zero temperatures.  The stimulating surroundings add an extra dimension to the already multi-dimensional experience that is Tai Chi.