Taichi, anyone?

I liked the sight of people practicing taichi with their coordinated fluid movements. It is so graceful.

I had my first go at taichi yesterday and, well, my movements were anything but fluid and coordinated. I had a quite a time trying to catch up with the person showing us as I was shifting/adjusting my hands, arms, feet and legs most of the time. I was out of sync most of the time.

The instructor did not turn up and one of the more experienced students, a lady, led us through the routine.

We had started with qigong, which was quite manageable as I had learnt it before, although the steps and movements seemed different. All that leg bends and twists had my joints creaking.

Then we did taichi. As a first timer, I admit it was tough trying to follow the movements of the four limbs and the turns and steps all at the same time.

I had wanted to improve my blood circulation and get some exercise in as well. My legs were giving me problems. If I had them straight for some time through walking or standing, and when I squatted, I need a lot of effort to stand up. If I stood up to walk away from a sitting position, I had to control myself otherwise I would be waddling like a duck for some seconds because my hip joints, knees and my heels hurt. Getting down from the bus also posed a slight problem and so is getting out of a car after a long car ride.

So, I was enthusiastic and game enough to try and complete most of the routines, And today, I found that my muscles had become casualties of my enthusiasm. I had not been doing proper exercise for some time and had also not done my warmups properly. The muscles on my legs were still not too bad. The main casualty is the muscles on my upper right arm, the one with the lymphedema and some lymph nodes removed. I must have stretched it a bit too much because it hurts to the touch and in most movements. I had forgotten that after surgery, if I don't stretch this arm regularly, the muscles tend to get stiff and tight.