Serenity and the Snake

Shortly after I returned to the museum where I work (from my T’ai Chi Chih teacher accreditation week), I had a terrible problem with my computer and spent my entire lunch hour attempting, unsuccessfully, to solve the problem. At 1:00 PM I had to do a live animal demonstration with a large boa constrictor, and the snake was very tense and restless. I spent the entire half hour of the demonstration wrestling with the snake and was tired and cross by the time the demonstration ended.

The next day, during lunch, I was still having trouble with the computer, but near the end of my lunch hour, I decided, for my own peace of mind, to stop and do T’ai Chi Chih. I only had time for a short set of five moves, but I discovered it made quite a difference in the snake. After a few minutes, the snake settled down quite a bit, and only moved around a little. The next day, I did a full set of T’ai Chi Chih during lunch, and when I sat down to do the demonstration, the snake settled comfortably in my lap, laid his head on my hand and never moved once during the entire half hour demonstration.

Since then I have experimented a number of times, and have learned what a wonderful difference T’ai Chi Chih makes in my ability to handle the snake and other animals at the museum. They seem to immediately sense a difference in the quality of my chi and respond accordingly, which makes my job much easier.