Tai Chi Information

By Jessica Moyher

How to breathe correctly

        When you do tai chi you feel relaxed inside and outside. Inhale and let your stomach get big like a balloon. Exhale and let your stomach squeeze in. You now know how to breathe correctly. There are different ways to breathe. Water breath is when you breathe you can’t hear it. You most likely do water breath every day. Fire breath is when you hear your breath but it is faster. You breathe in quickly. Then you breathe out through your mouth quickly. That is fire breath.

Rising and Falling Hands

    To do the Rising and Falling Hands you turn your hands palm up and slowly bring them up your shoulders as you inhale. Next when you exhale flip your hands palm down and slowly bring your hands back your side and keep doing it over and over again. That keeps you from stressed out moments or to calm down. Stay relaxed, smile, and be kind. Most importantly stay positive.

How to do tai chi

         There are many ways to do Tai chi. These are the five styles of tai chi, tai chi Chen, yang style wu style, and sun style. Tai chi is made to do it fast and slow. Tai chi was taught slow and not very powerful. Before anything you need to learn discipline. When you do Tai chi it is slow and you should feel like you are under water. That is why you need to learn it. Some people get frustrated because they want to learn it fast.  When the people in the temple long ago they did tai chi fast and powerful when they got attacked.  That doesn’t mean you can’t do it fast though. The movements of tai chi should flow nicely and never rough.

Tai chi Fan

Tai chi fan is very similar to Tai chi.  The only thing different is that you have a fan in your hand. The fan is very loud if you flick it open. Fan comes in different symbols all the time. The main color also changes, too. Fan is a weapon. It is used for the ladies to defend themselves. A real fan that they used had spikes at the end. The moves still flow.

Tai chi Sword

Tai chi sword is also similar to tai chi and tai chi fan. The sword is flexible at the tip. I think the sword comes in the same color all the time. The sword was used for the men to fight for their country. When you learn with the sword it is probably not sharp. It flows from your shoulder to the tip of the sword like a wave.

Elephanta Caves

By Kishan Sonpal

This winter break I went to India. Not only did I enjoy seeing my grandparents but also seeing the Elephanta Caves. The Elephanta Caves are located on a little island off Mumbai, on the Arabic Ocean and is in a little town named Gharapuri. The Caves were built by Indians sometime around the 6^th century A.D. and they were discovered by the Portuguese.

The reason the caves are called Elephanta Caves is because the Portuguese found an elephant statue in front of the main cave. When the Portuguese came to India they visited these caves and gave its official name. These caves were built from a giant rock inside to outside and from bottom to top. There are several columns which are only meant for beauty, not for support.  It has statues of nine different forms of the Indian god of destruction, Lord Shiva. The Portuguese used the statues for target practice. I even got to see a bullet in one of the statues.

One pose has Lord Shiva meditating.   Another is him destroying evil, and the last one is him at his wedding.   My favorite is the “Trimurti,” which is a structure that has three heads . One of Lord Shiva the destroyer second Brahma the creator and third Vishnu the maintainer.  The locals believe the three gods keep the world in balance.

This place is very beautiful.  It has the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other.  It has been considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. [United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization.]  But beware of the monkeys. They can cause a lot of ruckus. They will snatch any food or drink from your hand. One monkey snatched a water bottle from my dad and started drinking from it. It was very funny. This was one of the best parts of my trip.  

                                                                         Trimurti