State of mind, physical symptoms greatly eased

Student of Sharon Sirkis

I am 49 years old and have been through the worst year of my life: a whole series of flareups of chronic pain problems, a seriously deteriorating marriage, the loss of a much loved stepfather, a seriously ill mother 1,000 miles away, several serious drug reactions, surgery, suicidal thoughts, and at the base of it all, the most dreaded of all changes in a woman’s life – MENOPAUSE! And you can take it from me: Menopause [stinks]. I was seeing an excellent team of a dentist, a behavioral psychologist, an acupuncturist, and several medical doctors — but I needed much more — I needed to find my old happy self, my spirit, the joy in life that had always kept me going.

My answer came in the local newspaper one day: an advertisement for a T’AI CHI CHIH class taught by Sharon Sirkis at my local village center. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, I signed up and began the odyssey that has led me to a different plane in my life. T’AI CHI CHIH has given me a less painful life, a way of coping with the surging emotions that most women experience in Menopause, hope, joy, and a renewed faith in God. I had a dream in which our local mall was filled with people doing T’AI CHI CHIH. When Sharon’s class ended, I signed up myself, my best friend, and my husband for her next class. Everyday practice is now as much a part of my life as breathing. Even when I reached a crisis one day — trying to do too much, missing my psychologist appointment — my husband came to my rescue: while driving me to lunch, he put our favorite practice music on the car CD player and told me to close my eyes and practice in my mind. I felt so much better by the time we reached the restaurant that my hands tingled.

All the pieces of my health problems are gradually falling in place and my relations with my husband of almost 28 years have taken on a new and stronger bond. Although this chronicle is serious, I have come to realize that T’AI CHI CHIH IS TRUELY JOY THRU MOVEMENT. I have expressed a desire to Sharon to become a teacher and help others as she has helped me. So everyone — one, two, three — T’AI CHI CHIH cha-cha-cha together!