Every Tuesday and Thursday mornings, before the sun rises on the horizon, a group of senior ladies gather in the spacious compound of Hjh. Hapipah's house in Bukit Baru, to do the TAI-CHI. Under whose supervision? Yours truly PHLP naturally . . . Tai-Chi is one of the Chinese form of exercises where the stress is on deep breathing, slow body movements and concentration of the mind. I told my friends that normally we take breathing for granted, so thus during the 20 minutes or so of Tai-Chi, we can concentrate on exercising our lungs, expanding and contracting according to the rhythmic beat of the music provided.
Now, from where did PHLP learn to do Tai-Chi, you might ask. It was a coincidence. Many moons ago in 1988 to be precise, I was with a group from the Teacher Training Division attending a week-long meeting at Fraser's Hill. In the evenings after long hours of think-think, we would jog outside among the flora and fauna. One of the guys mentioned about Tai-Chi and being the inquisitive one, I insisted that he teaches us tai-chi. It was the easiest form of the exercise known as 'The Eighteen Steps Tai-Chi'. Later in the year when I was visiting Medan, Indonesia, I was taken to a music shop. Wow and behold, God must have wanted me to teach Tai-chi! I saw this music cassette and accompanying book titled "Senamtera Indonesia" EXACTLY like the tai-chi demonstrated by my friend in Fraser's Hill. So the rest was history. I practised and perfected it, even got the approval of a senior Chinese friend as to its authencity.
The Senior Citizens posing after their work-out.
Coming back to this group of Senior Ladies, they were real keen and appreciative. I start off with some stretching exercises, then I put on the lively Joget Pucuk Pisang music for warming-up exercises. When they are ready and motivated, then we do the Tai-Chi . . . " breath in . . . out . . in through your nose . . . and out through your mouth . . listen to the music . . . follow its instructions . . . don't bend your body. . . Tariiiik . . . lepassss . . ." You can hear me loud and clear - 20 minutes of it. After that it was fun time. I put on the famous Indonesian Poco-Poco CD and off they go doing the line dance irregardless of the steps. Senior ladies having fun!
Tariiiiiik . . . .
Lepassss . . . . (full of concentration my friend!)
Rahmah & Gayah concentrating on their movements
2 comments:
Eeeeee, syok.......nye! I miss it lah! After that got jalan-jalan cari breakfast or not?
Of course lah with Kak Pah. This year I cancelled my class at Tranquerah on Tuesdays, so morning free, relaks, relaks.
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