A
while back, I knew an engineer who worked at Hasbro. I'm not sure
what kind of engineers a toy maker would hire, but there you go. I
guess you do need to know about plastic injection and how to
transform some artists creation into the latest hot toy to rush to
Schwartz's for Christmas.
He
did sort of look like a Santa Claus, a very health conscious one. He
was skinny, wiry skinny and tan. A pile of white hair was on his
head with the addition of a longish white beard as well. His smile
looked like any other smile you'd see on any Santa, with those
reddish cheeks and elfish eyes. The movements his body made were
deliberate and almost graceful. That came from his lifelong
adherence to Buddhism and the Martial Arts.
I
told him my closest brush with Buddhism came from the David Carradine
TV show Kung Fu and a short, very short spell of watching, not
trying, Tai Chi. We would talk of the seemingly bizarre quotes of
that Buddhism will throw at you to crack your own ossified thinking
of how you perceive the world. Also, he showed me a few Tai Chi
moves.
The
first time I saw Tai Chi in person was in Slater Park a few years
ago. A group of mainly women were following the movements of an old
Asian instructor. To watch it from afar looks like watching ballet.
It's fluid, slow and seems “easy.” You could overhear the
instructor call out the next moves, whose names sound completely
benign.
“Do
the 'Separating Clouds' now.” He'd say. Then the whole group would
move in slow motion unison into some position then stop, like thirty
statues. There were others I remember, “Gazing at the Moon” and
“Scooping the Sea.” Again, the whole crowd would slowly
transform into another position and stop.
My
engineering friend decided to show me a few simple moves. He would
stand beside me and then slide effortlessly into some stance, with
his arms making wide swoops and his body shifting up then down. When
I tried it, I was surprised at how a very simple looking shift could
make my legs shake and I’d feel every tendon in my ankles wanting
to untie themselves. The few other positions he showed me had the
same effect. Tai Chi is NOT easy in any sense, though it certainly
looks so from afar.
I
was curious about his Martial Arts training too. I wanted to see him
defend himself from a punch. I promised him, again and again, that I
would throw a slow motion punch to his face and he would, at the same
speed, defend that attack so I could see what he was doing.
So,
I do just as I promised, I throw a slow motion punch straight at his
face and his arm reaches up a bit quicker than I thought we agreed
upon and grabs my wrist and starts to twist it toward an angle no
wrist was meant to go. I could feel the pressure rise in my hand and
forearm fairly fast.
“Ok,
I say, let's speed it up, I'll swing faster at you, but I PROMISE I
won't make contact with your face, and you react at the same speed
I'm moving at now.”
“OK”
he says
So,
I toss a punch at him quicker. The next thing I notice I have to drop
to my knees as he grabbed my wrist in a very fast and quick
movement. As he applied God awful amounts of pressure in my arm, my
only way to relieve it was to by drop myself to the floor. Once down,
he shifted the movement to something else and the pressure moved from
my wrist straight up into my shoulder.
“If
I move your arm 'this way' (and he does, to which I'm falling
backward again relieve the pressure) I can have you flat on your
back in one second!”
I
get up, and very respectful of this older man's abilities. You
wouldn't think someone above the age of 60 can move this fast.
It's
odd, seeing someone so quiet, benign and peaceful, have the ability
to dislocate my shoulder in seconds.
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