Photo by Pat Ruppel – Evergreen Lake House

The mountains and lake were beautiful this morning at Evergreen Lake – I wanted to breathe it all in and hold onto it – not let it fade.  I’ve been at the lake often but in looking around this time I was particularly captured at how life seemed to jump out at me – offering itself.  Life really is a dance.

It was my first Tai Chi class.  My husband had practiced the art many years ago but I know very little about it. What I wasn’t prepared for was my experience.

I’m told by those who practice Tai Chi it balances your life when connected to the life force – chi.  For those not having a clue to what that means (believe me I’ve been there) it is something similar to being ‘in the zone’.

I felt awkward not knowing the movements or flow.  It was like the first time I stepped out on a dance floor stumbling and moving one way while everyone else moved the opposite.  As I watched and tried to repeat the steps I felt totally out of sync and overwhelmed.  My brain tried to process one thing and my body something else.

A third of the way through the class, we stopped for further instruction and I noticed this ‘weird’ feeling in my hands.  I’m familiar with energy work like acupuncture and Reiki but this was different.  It wasn’t a soft, warm tingling sensation – it was a strong, swirling pulsating vibration in my hands.  It scared me for a moment. I felt as if something had taken over my hands.

When I spoke up and mentioned that I felt a ‘weird’ feeling in my hands, the others seem to know exactly what it was.  It was the connection of the chi energy force in my body.

It passed and we finished the class but yet I was somehow different.  I noticed somewhere deep in my soul there was a shift – something had changed.  Just this morning I was thinking about a topic to write similar to this experience but from a different perspective.

I had thought about how fleeting things are in life and how we can’t seem to ever hold onto the satisfaction of it.  It started with the alarm going off to get ready for this class.

It’s only been a short while since I was in the routine of getting up by the alarm every morning to get ready for work.  At the time, I was happy with that routine but noticed how the grind took a toll and much effort to maintain.

Now, I’m home, a free spirit with no routine – stay up until the wee hours of the morning and sleep in.  But notice no routine also takes a toll and I’ve gained weight and my body is getting lazy and sluggish.  I thought, “Isn’t there a happy medium where one can flow with life and not work so hard at it?” “And, when a perfect moment is captured why can’t we hold it?”

You know those moments when life is full and there’s nowhere else in the world you’d rather be. You want to soak it in and savor it.  Spiritual writings say humans make life way too hard and complicated and that happiness is a natural state of being – every aspect of us is human, spirit and God.

I felt that today in the shift.  I felt the peace and love of life flow through me and it has stuck.  I still feel it and with excitement looking forward to the next moment – next adventure.

Pat – from the ol’ kitchen table