If you look down this page you’ll see the following –  Embrace The Tree: Personal Time 33 minutes – Target 60 minutes.

So what’s all this about. Well, for those who are new to Tai Chi, Embrace the Tree is a posture that is held for a certain amount of time. It’s a very energising posture with many health benefits.

Until recently I could never do more than 5 minutes of Embrace the Tree posture due to knee pain (old injury). About two and half years ago I decided to try it again but this time using my brains instead of will power which caused me knee problems with the stance.

I started training 3 times a week, 30 seconds duration, adding 30 seconds to the posture each week. With correct application  I can now do 30 minutes of the Embrace the Tree posture, 6 days a week. On Sundays I rest.

Recently I started my journey towards achieving 60 minutes of Embrace the Tree posture. As before I’m adding 30 seconds to the posture every week.

I intend building the duration of the posture, three times a week and on alternative days  I’ll continue with 30 minutes. In other words; Monday, Wednesday, Friday build the stance – Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday continue with 30 minutes.

This slow rate of training is a safer approach and if my knees hold up and I achieve my 60 minutes then I’ll re-assess my stance duration and possibly aim for 60 minutes, 6 days a week. If I decide to do that it will probably take at least another year to achieve.

But for now – publicly recording my times each week gives me the incentive to not fall of the wagon or fall out of the tree 🙂

Footnote: The photo was taken early morning on a balcony of a hotel in Sydney. Sue and I were running Chair Chi Training workshop and A Taste of Appreciative Inquiry workshop and early morning was the only time I could fit my training in.