A part of my Taoist Tai Chi^® practice right from the start has been done in the kitchen. My Beginning Instructor encouraged us to do don-yus while waiting for the kettle to boil. I thought about her words for probably ten years, always in my ears every time I entered the kitchen, but I don’t drink tea; no need to boil the kettle.

It wasn’t until my sister and mother-in-laws came to live with us that I started to realize I didn’t have to wait for the kettle to boil. I was waiting for the microwave to reheat something for lunch, and thus it began, and has pretty much become my constant. Waiting for spaghetti to cook, bread to rise, stock to reach simmer point, I am there doing don-yu, tor-yu, brush knees, wave hands, monkeys

It is the place that I work on my understanding of moves. My living room is for sets and larger segments but my kitchen is for individual moves.

This time of COVID 19 has made an interesting difference in my family’s perception of my Taoist Tai Chi^® practice. They used to watch me from afar, watch me run out of the door to class, see me off for weeks away, but now they are part of my practice. They are home, they have nowhere to go, they are in the room from start to finish, and I feel a real difference in the room. I just have the feeling that they are feeling my practice too.

Maybe not. Maybe it’s just in my head. I don’t ask. I just continue to do my thing. And that’s the Taoist Tai Chi^® arts. Thank you, Mr. Moy and Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism.

-Barb, British Columbia