My adventures into Tai Chi land: First of a four-part series

“You will become Tai Chi and Tai Chi will become you” – Mr. Chow

||| BY STEPHANIE ROSENBLATT |||

I just read the NPR article that will be featured below and thought I would write a four-part series about my personal experience as a dedicated student and teacher of Wu Style Tai Chi for fifty years. So, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/11/06/1210507968/thai-chi-word-games-cognition-mentally-sharp-meditation-motion let’s begin in the beginning when I was twenty-four years old.

Brrring, brrring rang the phone, ”Hello who is this?” asked Mr. Chow with a strong Cantonese accent. “Oh hello, Mr. Chow my name is Stephanie Rosenblatt, and I would love to take some Tai Chi classes from you.”

“Yes, yes, very good. You start next Tuesday. Good, good, bye. See you then.”

Mr. Chow’s studio was off Biscayne Boulevard in the Colony Hotel, an old 1920s white, stucco building in downtown Miami. I knocked on the door “Come in,” a voice answered. I opened the door and felt as if I was entering another time and space. Something felt altered in my psyche. All the furniture was moved to the front of the living room and in the middle of the room was Mr. Chow and three students doing their Tai Chi. Along the side of the room were four, metal folding, chairs. Mr. Chow pointed to one. So, I dutifully sat down and watched.

Mr. Chow was slender, neatly dressed in gray trousers and a white shirt with perfect posture. He was in his early sixties although he looked ten years younger. There he was, patiently counting the steps as he and his students slowly moved their arms and legs in unusual ways. After a few minutes he politely bowed to the students and pointed to a bamboo tea warmer on a table by the chairs where Jasmine Tea was steeping. I heard some rustling to my right and rushing out from another room came a petite Chinese woman in her early fifties. Her hair in a bun and glasses perched on her small nose, she was holding a plate of warm, freshly baked, almond cookies. She insisted we all have one and when a student said, “Thank you, Mrs. Chow” did I realize that Mr. and Mrs. Chow were a team. I thought ‘Isn’t this sweet he teaches the students, and she bakes cookies for them.’

I’m surprised that a very large two-by-four didn’t come crashing out of the sky and bop me on my head. For little did I know Mrs. Chow was a Master Tai Chi Teacher who only taught advanced students. Since they recently located to Miami from Hong Kong, all the students were beginners and under the tutelage of her husband. She was patiently waiting for the ten to twenty months it would take us to learn the entire first form: Wu Style Right Hand Square.

After having Mr. Chow patiently and lovingly coddle us through the six hundred and sixty steps we were then given over to Mrs. Chow. Our vision of this sweet, cookie-baking woman would soon transform into Mrs. Chow the Dragon Lady! Which I write about with much love and respect.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. So, there I was sitting in the Chow’s Studio in the Colony Hotel, munching on the most delicious, almond cookie I’ve ever eaten. Mr. Chow begins to speak to me in a soft voice. “Ah, you must be Stephanie. It is very nice to have you come and learn Tai Chi Ch’uan. Tai Chi is very good for your health. I am sixty-three years old, and I have wonderful health. I’m never sick. You will learn that Tai Chi will become you and you will become Tai Chi.”

I thought ’What does he mean Tai Chi will become me and I will become Tai Chi?’ My musing was interrupted by the elegant motion of Mr. Chow as he began to demonstrate the first few steps of Wu Style Tai Chi Ch’uan.

Then Mr. Chow asked me to stand and follow him. First, he corrected my posture and told me to take a few deep breaths to relax my body and mind. The other three students were now sitting in the metal chairs as they were watching me. This was an uncomfortable situation for me. I never enjoyed being the center of attraction. I was very nervous and felt myself hyperventilating as I followed Mr. Chow. But the most amazing phenomena occurred…somehow, I lost my self-consciousness as I was attempting to imitate Mr. Chow’s movements. I was so focused on the way I had to move my body that I left my ego-state behind. It was love at first step. I was hooked.

Mr. Chow patiently corrected the angle of my hands and legs and after ten minutes he asked me to sit down with the other students. Then he began to show us the entire form. It was as if I were watching Fred Astaire demonstrating Tai Chi. Mr. Chow had the most graceful hand motions and there was an aura of stillness as he moved effortlessly. After fifteen minutes I heard him say “Conclusion” as he placed his hands by the sides of his legs. He smiled sweetly as he escorted us towards the door. The lesson was over. But somehow, I knew my life was forever altered.

As I walked out the door, I heard him softly say, “Stephanie, you remember to practice. Whatever you remember, you practice.”

“I will Mr. Chow. I’ll see you next week.”

That next week turned into an amazing life-changing, thirty-five-year relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Chow and my own journey into Tai Chi Land.

Stay tuned next week as I finally understood what Mr. Chow meant when he said, “Tai Chi will become you and you will become Tai Chi.”

NPR Article

www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/11/06/1210507968/thai-chi-word-games-cognition-mentally-sharp-meditation-motion