Saturday morning has become a ritual. Head down to Hanalei Bay for Tai Chi on the beach with blue bay waters in the background, an ever-changing sky overhead and verdant mountain peeks with white waterfalls behind us. Today the displaced Hanalei Canoe Club is holding an event and sleek outrigger teams move steadily over calm waters.
Grand Master Skip Rush leads the Tai Chi session every Saturday morning, following which he and his lovely wife Donna head over to the nearby Farmers Market. I believe there is a local Farmers Market every day of the week somewhere on the island.
"Gotta support the farmers," a local man says "They've had it rough since the flooding." The taro patch in Hanalei became a lake for a while as the low-lying areas including homes, businesses and churches went underwater.
In his white martial arts garb, Skip presents the timeless image of a sage, his body moving gracefully while capturing chi power from Earth and Sky. "Place your palm on your stomach with your thumb touching your navel," he tells our small group. "This is where your chi is stored."
Watching him and attempting to replicate his motions adds a fifth dimension to this picture. Is he levitating or am I? We are waving like windmills -- hands, hips and whatever else we can keep in motion. The oldest martial art, he says. The mysterious feigns and motions become scintillas, echoes of the past, present and future.
Surfers and morning beach-goers pass by with hardly a notice. We are part of the diverse landscape. Perhaps we are invisible.
My neighbor Rick and I attend Tai Chi together. It's the strangest thing. At one time, nearly 50 years ago, we worked at the same daily newspaper. Today we are neighbors. During the in-between time we engaged in separate but not all-together different lives unknown to each other. His Santa Cruz days were prior to mine. His wonderful wife Marcie was also employed by that same newspaper at the same time.
We connected through a third party known by Rick and Marcie whom we met at a random open house. He thought Barbara and I should meet them. It's amazing how many stories Rick and I have about people we both know. So much to talk about.
Rick (Carroll) authored an excellent book (IZ: Voice of the People) about Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (aka IZ), famous for his popular song medley, "Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World." Anyone who would like to know more about Iz, such as how he fits into the Hawaiian Sovereignty movement that has changed the perception of Hawaiians and their culture empowering a very visible comeback for their people should read this book.
Every Tai Chi session is different. Some days Skip will offer verbal instruction and other days, like today, the lesson is silent while the forms speak to us and demonstrate how to capture chi and move like a martial artist in slow motion. "He's a healer," a local surfer told me.
He always finishes our session with a few parting words.
"In my office I have a sign with a quotation by Lao Tsu," he offers today. "It says, 'Help me to have patience... and hurry.'"
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