Approaching Notre Dame

On the banks of the Sienne

Streets of Paris

Oh, we so walked these streets, half awake and so much to see before the next location.

From Charles de Gaulle

OK, at last I get down to writing about the trip. This was a special trip for us, the Villamar family... well, a small part of the V-family, at least. Cuauhtemoc and myself dreamt about this trip some 10 years ago when we were still living in Singapore. From there, we moved to Thailand, then Mexico, and eventually Canada. Our kids were getting older, and if we wanted to do this with them we needed to do it fast. Even then, Apichai, my 16 yr old son, was a drag. He kept counting the remaining days of the trip because he wanted to back to his routine of internet gaming. One day when he looks back at this trip with fond memories I'll take my revenge on him then.

We left Toronto Pearson Airport by Zoom Air via Montreal to Paris on August 5, 2005. Cintli here, looks pretty happy to be on the TGV from Charles de Gaulle

Some lessons learnt from Tai Chi

Two months ago, I started my first session of Tai Chi lessons with Ann Phillips, a Canadian teacher, who visits the sports facility in my condo. Compared to other physical centering techniques I've tried (yoga, thai massage, sports) I find this form of exercise appropriate for the stage of life I'm at. When I go through the Tai Chi routine that blends together slow and soft martial movements with a tone of spiritual focus, I find that I can shift from a dominant mental mode of being to a body-centered mode of being. I've learnt that the body has its own amazing kind of intelligence, one that is difficult to describe and explain via language which is a mental mode. The body simply "does" in its movements. I didn't think I could learn the seemingly complicated sets of movements demonstrated by my teacher during those first weeks.

"Drop" your mind, move your body, take action and move forward. AI (artificial intelligence) hardliners are missing an important point if they think we can exist on the mind alone without a body.

Tai Chi is an energy play. Some level of consciousness is required for any kind of meaningful energy play. Consciousness and centering is very linked, and Tai Chi helps me become aware of my centering.