Tonight I did Kayochi (pronounced however you want)
I breathed so deep that my head began to float
and I moved parts of my muscles I don’t think I have ever had access to
That part between my shoulder blades that has been tense for days,
is now bouncy
My rib cage feels expanded and my lower back is limber again
What is Kayochi?
It’s a form of martial arts (Tai Chi) crossed with yoga
I completely made it up
I was watching a movie – great movie by the way “The Intern”
In it the older character was doing Tai Chi
I thought – God that looks relaxing, I want to do Tai Chi
Immediately
You can’t learn Tai Chi immediately – I know, I persevered for some time with it a few years back
But I know Yoga, really well
And I know a little Tai Chi
So in my darkened kitchen I basically did whatever the hell I wanted
And I couldn’t get it wrong – because there were no rules
So I couldn’t judge myself
See if I was standing in front of an instructor – it wouldn’t be relaxing, I would be judging myself,
I would be learning
But what about the first man or woman that invented Tai Chi
They were just standing there one day and began to move their body
What about the first man (and we know it was a man) that invented Yoga
Nobody said
“You’re getting it wrong” they just began to move
And others said “hey what are you doing?” to the person moving
And he/she said “I am dreaming of tea”
And the wind caught the words and spun them around
So from then on it was called “Tai Chi”
I was like that – just moving in whatever way my body wanted
and breathing
deeply
I did Kayochi for half an hour
And I like it
I like it so much that I am wasting the relaxation by writing this post because I’m excited by the concept of having no rules or judgement and something that is accessible to everyone – the body – but I can go back and do it anytime and I can never get it wrong and in fact I’m going to take it to the beach and the park and somebody is going to ask me one day what I’m doing
And I’ll say Kayochi
And they will say white or black
Sorry I’m rambling, my words are all freed up tooooooooooo
Those extra o’s just got away from me :)) and that is a smile with a double chin..
Anyway I’m going to do it every evening because even in “Yoga” the judgement doesn’t switch off “you need to be more this, bend that, yadah yadah”
Well I don’t get that with Kayochi
I just move
It’s deeply relaxing
We should create more, invent more,
Judge less
and just enjoy
everything
Night.
PS if Kayochi is a real word instead of a made-up word I apologize – I didn’t google first and I’m not now and I don’t care because even if it is already a thing – take it from me – they’re doing it wrong, particularly if they are taking lessons.
