Moving Meditation

Big kung fu class last night with a group of 4 friends joining as beginners, and the return of a teen-aged lad who used to train with us a couple of years ago, which was nice to see.

In Tai Chi afterwards, D was talking about different ways of doing the form, and the different results of those ways. He said there are lots of aims people can have in mind when they do Tai Chi, the main ones being wanting a health benefit, wanting to learn the "martial" aspects, for aesthetic reasons and for others it is a meditation. 

On reflection, I think I'm stuck in the aesthetic rut - when I do tai chi I am almost constantly conscious of what I might look like to an observer (and I want it to look cool!). I'm not sure this is the most noble of reasons to be doing it.... I probably should be trying to empty my mind more and just let my body get on with it.