My t’ai chi teacher, mentor and friend, Maedée Duprès, often has students do a warmup she calls “Bamboo in the Wind.” This is a lovely metaphor for moving the body in a certain way, and it has many beneficial and practical aspects as well.
In my font garden there is a clump of pampas grass; I can take my cue from its long stems gently waving in the air currents. The plant is about 8 feet tall, at its maximum height and bushiness at the end of the growing season. Some loosely tied twine helps it to stay vertical, following an early-September snowfall.
Within the constraints of the twine, the branches have space and leeway. That’s how I see the Bamboo in the Wind warmup too. Here’s how it’s done:
Stand with the feet parallel and hip distance apart. Gently connect downward, with the ground or floor beneath, then upward, with the sky above. Ask all the joints and channels to have a nice open quality, not held or locked in any way. Eyes are forward and relaxed, and arms hang naturally with fingers soft.
Next, gently shift the weight from one foot to the other, keeping all of both feet on the surface below. Maintain that openness from the top of the head, try not to sink into the hip on the standing leg or hold with the inside or outside of the foot. Just explore the sense of the body being fluid, like a stem; still gently reaching upwards but also gently anchored, no straining. Keep the breath easy and the mind gently tuned into the idea of the bamboo. Explore how far to each side the stem can go and still stay gentle.
Repeat the exercise in a forward and back direction. Notice if the toes start to grip in the front or if the quadriceps muscles in your legs start to engage as you shift your weight back. Again, explore the perimeters of the movement and notice where that boundary is where you start to feel effort.
Finally, do the Bamboo in the Wind as a circular movement. You are drawing a circle around your stem; see if that circle can be round and smooth. Do the circles in each direction. Check in with your visual awareness to make sure you aren’t holding your gaze; same with the arms, keeping them neutral and fluid, and the joints and channels, keeping them soft and open. Gently come back to the still position and spend a couple of moments breathing.
