The Lighter Side (May 2021)

taichichih.org/articles-by-teachers-and-students/lighter-side-sharon-sirkis/

1. When I announced the next movement, Daughter in the Valley, one of the ladies at the Senior Center started singing “Down in the Valley.” This resulted in the whole group singing along! (Except for me, I didn’t know the words.)

2. After a discussion of how habit is the enemy of old age, I encouraged the members of Aspenwood Senior Living Community to try something new. “I’m going to keep poking at some of you to try new things,” I said.

One spry lady lit up and said, “I’m reading a book about how they’re poking an elephant and making it bleed.”

“Does that mean I need to stop poking at you?” I asked.

“No,” she said, “You need to bleed us some more!”

3. A student called and said she couldn’t attend tonight’s class. She confessed that she hadn’t done her practice that day (she practices regularly), and that she could really feel the difference it made. As she went on to share how edgy she felt, she suddenly broke into laughter. “I just felt my neck,” she said, “And I just noticed I’ve put my shirt on backwards!”