Level 2 Chi Kung Body and Mind Process (x3). Microcosmic orbit (spectacular!).
For some time now I have been feeling curious about what it would feel like to start the day with two hours of Chi Kung a la Richard Bolstad. Today (and cynics will no doubt point out that the timing suggests the lengths I am prepared to go to to avoid clearing out the bloody filing cabinet) I decided to give it a try. I couldn’t really recall how to do the wall-squatting and iron shirtstuff Richard does, but I figured that if I did the Body and MInd Process (which takes just over half an hour) three times and then the Microcosmic Orbit (which takes about 20 minutes) once, then that would pretty much use up 2 hours. So, is it really, as Richard says on the CD ‘always easier the second time’? Well, yes and no. Mostly yes. In fact the only bits that were noticeably more difficult the second and third time around were the shoulder bits – especially ‘claw like an eagle’ – which doesn’t give me any trouble when I only do the process once but was really quite trying on the third go around. And did I feel three times as energised as when I only do the Body and Mind Process Once? Well, at the point where I had done the B&MP three times but hadn’t yet done the Microcosmic Orbit, I confess I felt like I needed a warm bath and a long nap. But after the Microcosmic Orbit I felt great. As the afternoon wore on, I gradually began to feel like someone who has done really really a lot of exercise, or perhaps climbed something very tall.
At school pick up time yesterday I was chatting with Lena, the mother of one of Katie’s friends. Lena is a Russian journalist who I gather generally reports on London life for a Russian radio station. At the moment however, she said it’s all about Scotland because of the parallels with Crimea. I laughed and asked jokingly if Putin thought we would invade Scotland if the ‘yes’ vote wins the day, but of course they see the parallel the other way around.
Last night I realised that I had never fully appreciated the length and flexibility of a dog’s tongue, until Sherlock caught me bending down to get a new tin of coffee grounds from a low shelf and stuck his tongue right up my ear canal. A truly disgusting experience.
The day before yesterday, Katie pushed a note under my bedroom door bearing the one word message: ‘Sory’. Given the range of destruction for which Katie has NOT felt any need to apologise, this struck fear into my heart. I went downstairs and asked what she was sorry for but she said she couldn’t bear to tell me. In spite of all encouragement, offers of immunity from prosecution etc, she has maintained this line ever since. It is like living with an unexploded bomb.