“It’s All Fun and Games”

I just read one of those strange facts I like to read about, and you’ll never guess what happened. It got me thinking about tai chi. I know, I know, it’s unusual for some obscure fact to get me thinking about tai chi but it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Tai chi is entertaining and meaningful for a lot of us. It feels good, but why do we do it so slowly? The reason for doing tai chi slowly seems to be lost on a lot of people, and even some tai chi instructors. I hear things like “tai chi is the Chinese equivalent of yoga” and “tai chi just a healthy exercise that’s based on an ancient martial art”, etc. While there are a fair number of people who know the truth I do find these statements entertaining.

Tai chi is done slowly so we can learn to relax and to properly align our bodies, so that when we move quickly we can be effective. As far as tai chi being a healthy exercise, it is, but the health benefits are a side effect of learning to move energy more freely through the body.

So what is this strange fact that got me thinking about this? I guess I should share it with you.

The term, “It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye” is from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, “No eye gouging.” Everything else was allowed, but the only way to be disqualified was to poke someone’s eye out.

Pretty weird huh? What do you think?

John

P.S. I found this strange fact here: http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1528489

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