By Marti Fraser
Right before Thanksgiving, during the period of time when the air traffic controllers were on strike and there were many flight cancellations, my husband and I had reservations to fly from Sioux Falls, SD to La Jolla, CA for a short vacation.
We were nervous about the flying situation, so we got to the airport extra early to ensure that we would not miss our flight. We encountered many apprehensive and impatient fliers, as well as lots of crying children.
As the wait to board our plane dragged on, I could feel myself becoming tense and irritable. We found some empty seats in the boarding area near the windows that seemed out of the way, and my husband sat down and started to read. I chose to stand- the waiting area was just too crowded and chaotic to sit and enjoy a book.
As I stood and looked out the window, I thought about an exercise that I learned from my Tai Chi teacher, Emily Feng, at Active Generations in Sioux Falls. Emily had shown us the day before in tai chi class called “rubbing balls in the water”, and I decided to practice it.
I set my watch alarm for 15 minutes, shut my eyes and began slowly shifting my weight side to side —- left foot then right foot—while pressing my pretend balls under the surface of a body of water.
Slowly I moved, inhaling as I began my sideward shift and exhaling as I began to put weight on the receiving foot, thinking only about moving slowly and breathing evenly. After several minutes, the noise around me seemed to become less of an issue, and I did not notice the conversations of people close to me. It was as if I was no longer in a crowded terminal, but somewhere quieter and more relaxing.
Marti performing Tai Chi in classroom
After 15 minutes, my watch alarm vibrated. I slowly stopped my movement and opened my eyes. All of the sources of the noise were still around me, and people were still having their conversations. But I felt calm and not annoyed- like I was smiling inside. My always cold hands were warm and my frustrations were gone.
I enjoyed both of our flights to La Jolla that day. I feel that my enjoyment of that long trip was because I stopped for 15 minutes in a small space and practiced what Emily had taught us in Tai Chi.
