Many Hands. Many Feet. And a Sandhill Crane

I decided in Fall 2022 to return to practicing T’ai Chi Chih (TCC). I had gone to massage therapy school where I learned and practiced TCC in the 1990s, while a full time RN. I liked learning and using healing arts alongside those of traditional western medicine. They addressed some things conventional medicine did not.

Fast forward three decades. I put my 30-year-old Justin Stone instructional VHS in the old portable TV-VHS player the kids used to use. It still had good information, but the stopping and rewinding were frustrating. I started practicing from memory, but my memory was incomplete. I knew I was leaving out some movements. In March 2023, I said, “The time is now” and I ordered a DVD from Justinstonetcc.com. Oh, the difference!

I also wanted to know about classes and possibly teaching TCC. So, I contacted KG. We emailed and had a phone conversation. She sent me a copy of The Vital Force, which I read hungrily.

I told Kim I’d been practicing paying attention to the soles of my feet as I work in the kitchen, cutting up and cooking vegetables. I’m on a yin deficient diet per my Doctor of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, so I do a lot of vegetable and fruit preparation.

I can get a moving meditation going with the food prep. I appreciate the plant products more, too. I feel quickened to the soul — to the energy — of the things around me.

To discover what was to become, I turned to writing and drawing. Sometimes drawing midwifes an article or a poem. Other times writing delivers a drawing. This time, a drawing was born. The woman with the knife, the vegetable peeler, the colander, and the recipes has many hands, many feet. The bubbling spring is under her feet. The moving force of life, represented by the river, flows through her kitchen. It brings opportunity. She feels uplifted, and strengthened, as indicated by the presence of her spirit bird, The Sandhill Crane.

Scoot on over tonight, veggies. Make room for Joy on the Menu, Joy through Movement.

Constellations

By Hannah Hedrick, Mountain View, Hawaii