Chuck-the Reluctant Tai Chi Learner

   

Here's my Chuck, controlling himself at the food bowl, waiting for his sister Ella to finish.

Okay, a minute later, he couldn't wait any longer and began to eat.  You can see his purple collar in this shot.

             For those of you who follow my blog, you may have--over the past few months--formed a certain impression about Chuck.
The hero.  The rascal.  The cat about town.  World traveler.
Snack lover.
What you perhaps didn’t know and I was reluctant to share is that Chuck is a confirmed overeater.  Put a bowl of snacks in front of him, and he won’t stop eating until the bowl is 100% licked clean.  

The Chuckster just loves to eat.  Here he is, face in the bowl, chomping away.

My vet, Dr. Charlie, says that his overeating problem is linked to his insecurities.  Like people, he eats to feel in control of his environment.  He is struggling to control his anxieties.  My Chuck even wears a calming collar--it happens to be purple--which he’s not to keen about--which helps keep his anxieties at bay.
Which leads me to what happened when Chuck and I and my husband were traveling through China, in Xian, to be exact, and we had an opportunity to learn Tai Chi.
Now, I’m sure that some people believe that cats don’t need to learn Tai Chi.  They don’t need the benefits of this ancient Chinese martial art.  
But I disagree . . . given Chuck’s history. 
Yeah, my Chuckster is a world traveler, but his dirty little secret was that he was gaining weight at an alarming rate and we needed to do something to get his anxieties under control.

The Chuckster comes up for a breather . . . but before he's finished, the food will be gone.

What does a cat have to be anxious about?
It’s difficult to say.  Chuckie doesn’t talk much about his issues.  I mean he doesn’t meow much.  
So while we were cruising around China, visiting the sites, we decided to join a Tai Chi class. 
Of course, it was my idea, and my first challenge was to get Chuck to go along with it.  To become a willing participant.
My plan was to bring him along and explain the benefits on the way, casual like.  So one morning we set off.  Luckily, the class was offered outside on a public square.  The other fortunate event was that in present day China, there is no longer a ban on cats, like there was eight years ago, when the country was in such bad economic downturn, that the population was not allowed to have cats or dogs as pets.  Nowadays, families can have unlimited cats and one dog per household.   
Anyway, as we strolled toward the class, I told Chuck that Tai Chi offered two separate benefits.  First, there were health benefits. Tai Chi relaxes the mind through the slow, slow, slow movements.  When someone learns how to do Tai Chi, they must concentrate on the physical movements.  This concentration forces you to take your mind off other things.  It is a kind of meditation.  You can’t think about your other problems and concentrate on Tai Chi at the same time.
I’d even brought some statistics with me.  
“Chuck, in twenty-one of thirty-three trials, they reported that Tai Chi done from one hour in duration to one year brought about reduction in stress, anxiety, and depression and enhanced the mood in patients who were both well to begin and in patients who suffered chronic conditions.”
Chuck shrugged because he didn’t think he had a problem.
“Chuck, Tai Chi might even have some effect on corisol production which means it might even affect your heart rate.  All good things, Chuck.”
Now here, I have to confess that I know Chuck worries a lot about Ella, his twin sister.  He is always keeping an eye out for her.  
But again Chuck didn’t acknowledge that there even was a problem.
The second benefit, the one that has made this ancient martial art so popular, is that Tai Chi also teaches one how to defend themselves, but I could tell as I began to talk about using leverage as a way to react to force that Chuck was just not interested.  AT ALL.
We arrived at the appointed place.  
We introduced ourselves to the instructor, who was getting ready to start.  

Our Tai Chi instructor dressed in the usual free flowing relaxed outfit.

Tai Chi for cats?
At this point, it sounded ridiculous, even to me, but even so it would have been nice if only once, the Chuckster wasn’t so obstinate and had just tried it!
“All right,” I conceded. “You win.  This time.”
I’d already contracted for the class.  
Bob, my husband, pointed to the group of people already assembled.  “You may as well get up there and get your money’s worth.”
I marched up the front and took my place, still seething, still mumbling under my breath about Chuck and how things never seemed to work out.  
Chuck eyed me from the sidelines, nestled in and comfortable.  
But as I imitated the instructor’s movements and lost myself in the experience, my bad mood dissipated and by the end of the session, I felt calmer.  

I'm in the yellow T-shirt and jeans, trying my best--my first time ever with Tai Chi.

As you can see from the photo, the movements are very fluid and controlled, very slow.

Here I am, watching and taking a breather as the instructor demonstrates how to move.

Legs are wide apart for stability.

As we practiced our Tai Chi, a crowd gathered to watch . . .

“That was great,” I pronounced when it was over.  “So glad I tried it.  So glad I took a chance.”



Chuck meowed his answer.  
“Yeah, yeah, not for you.  I get it.”  
     
        To read more of Chuck's adventures, log onto www.katelutter.com.  

        Or if you're a reader, or even a reluctant reader, my paranormal romance, Wild Point Island, has just been published.  It is available as a paperback or it can be downloaded on your kindle or nook at Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com. 

Chuck Visits the Terra Cotta Warriors

 

This photo captures the immensity of Pit 1, the first of four pits that encompass the Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit.

           Sometimes the only way I can get Chuck to do something is to trick him by making it seem as if it were his idea.  
When we flew into Xian, the home of the Terra Cotta Warriors, I had a plan.
I knew that the Chuckster would have little appreciation for an exhibit filled with clay figures if we dragged him to it, but if we made it seem as if it were his idea . . . 
So first I had to do my research and then try to lure him with the facts.
This is what I discovered about the Terra Cotta Warriors:
The terra cotta figures were buried in 210 BC by the first Emperor of China because he believed he needed protection after he died.  He also wanted someone to rule over in the next life.  The historians say the Emperor began this project when he was thirteen years old.  
That’s pretty cool, right?
So, imagine, these figures were buried underneath the ground until . . . a group of farmers were digging a well in 1974 and discovered them.  How many? 
All in all, once the archaeologists and scientists were alerted to the find, they found 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, 130 cavalry horses and other non-military figures of musicians, acrobats, etc.  The figures were built to be life-size and were brightly painted.  Experts believe that the figures were put together in a kind of assembly line production, long before we used that method of production in the western world. 

Although the figures were made in a kind of assembly line production style, their faces were each styled to be unique.

They also discovered weapons that would have been used by the soldiers, including swords that even after 2,000 years were rust free because of the way they were constructed.  
The most amazing statistic of all is that history documents that the Emperor used 700,000 workers to complete this mausoleum, which also included a miniature version of his palace.  
I wasn’t sure how much of this story Chuckie would appreciate, but I underestimated the kid.  He was enthralled.  And it seems that he’s not alone.  There are several historic collections that can draw a big crowd these days.  Wikipedia reports that the Tutankhamun exhibit in 1972 and the RMS Titanic exhibit, along with the Terra Cotta Warriors, are the three most popular exhibits and draw record crowds wherever they go.  
The Terra Cotta Warrior Exhibit, as it is called, grew up around where it was discovered, where the Emperor decided to place his mausoleum, in the countryside outside of Xian.  It’s still in the process of being excavated and is comprised of four separate pit areas filled with terra cotta figures. 
When we arrived and entered the first pit, the crush of people straining to see the figures was intense.  But then as we walked around the pit, the crowds thinned out, and we were able to see the figures up close and in more detail.  

This figure was taken out of the pit and encased behind plastic so that you could see him up close and personal.

Not that close, of course.  You can’t actually touch them.  In fact, only high dignitaries like Queen Elizabeth are actually allowed inside the pit to see them up really close. 

You can see the workers in blue busily assembling the Terra Cotta Warriors in the pit as the "tourists" observe from above.

That’s what Chuckie wanted to do--sniff around inside the pit.  But cat behavior like that was completely out of the question. 
Nevertheless, Chuck had two favorites.  He liked the horses.  Toward the back of the pit, out of eyeshot of most visitors and guards, Chuck was able to really see one horse exhibit in particular.  Craning his face out of my smart bag, he could see the intricate markings on the skin of the horses, designed to make them appear real.

Chuckie just loved the horses.

He also liked looking down into the pit and seeing the broken fragments that hadn’t yet been unearthed and put together yet.  Some of what you could see was a bit eerie.  Heads sticking up out of the ground, as if the soldiers had been buried in the ground, alive, their bodies hidden in the dirt.  But, no, you are only seeing a fragment lying there in the pit that will eventually be reassembled with other fragments to make a whole soldier. 

A good shot to illustrate the broken pieces that are unearthed by the archaeologists.

This figure looked as if he'd been buried alive.

  As we traipsed around the pit, Chinese archaeologists in blue outfits were busy working below us.  
After we had circled around the first pit, there were three other pits to see.  This mausoleum was immense. 
During the entire time, I continued to harbor this strange feeling that Chuck was itching to get out and run down there in the pit and sniff around a bit, but I held onto him.
         Sometimes he has the craziest ideas.  

To read more about Chuck, the rascal cat, log onto www.katelutter.com.

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