Going with the Flow

Yesterday was the first day in over 3 months that I did not do a T'ai Chi practice. I knew in advance it just wasn't going to happen. I had a flight at 7:30 am and was not supposed to arrive at my destination airport in a small New England town until 10:11 pm. Then I had about an hour drive to get to my parents' place. So, I thought: If I can't do a normal T'ai Chi practice, what could I do instead, on a plane or in an airport, to not feel like I'd missed it completely?

So I brought my DVD with me, figuring I could play it on my laptop, listening to it with head phones. I planned to do a Qigong breathing exercise and review my latest lesson and the practice, which shows the entire form. I figured I'd do it on my last flight, and that would leave me relaxed and alert for the drive.

I arrived at JFK airport 45 minutes early because of a tail wind. Things seemed to be looking up. I had almost 4 hours before the last flight, and spent it productively enough--charged my laptop and did some work. I relocated myself to the gate about a half hour before the departure. Our plane had landed, but no air conditioning, and they were going to try to fix it. We waited.

I didn't want to pull out my laptop, because I didn't want to run down the battery. I didn't want to do the Qigong exercise in the airport anyway, because I'd have my eyes closed for 15-20 minutes. Can you say "Steal my luggage, please?" So I pulled out my book, T'ai Chi Classics, and began learning a number of ways to cultivate my chi.

The guy sitting next to me began regaling me with stories of other airline snafus, asserting how unlikely it was that they would find a different aircraft at that late hour, and predicting we'd be spending the night in a hotel at JFK. I "Oh, really?"ed and "Oh, no"ed in the appropriate places and returened to my chi cultivation.

About an hour and a half after the scheduled departure, they found another plane. Half an hour or so to re-fuel and board. So, it was now about 10 pm. Two hours late. Not bad. Then we learned that we were number 30 or 40 in line for takeoff. We waited more.

But, at least, since they knew we weren't going to be taking off any time soon, they allowed us to use our electronic devices. Most other people were snoozing away. So I implemented the laptop/DVD/headphones/eyes-closed Qigong breathing exercise. It was wonderful. So relaxing! Then I reviewed my lesson and the practice session. And I even learned something new about my breathing. My plan went off without a hitch. And I definitely didn't feel like I had "cheated."

Finally took off a little after midnight. Got to the destination airport at 1:15 am, alert and ready to drive. As I descended the escalator, the Avis counter looked ominously dark, employees conspicuously absent. It turns out that a rental car reservation is of limited value if there's no one there to give you the keys. The only rental car company open was Hertz, and they were out of cars.

Someone was looking out for me, though, because the hotel adjacent to the airport had a vacancy.

Maybe I am learning to be more calm. Dare I hope it? This whole thing never phased me. I just kept breathing, and going with the flow. It was really quite "entertaining."