A Flying Qi Gong
January 22, 2011 #Flying to Bangkok via Beijing (formerly Peking) aboard an Air China Airbus, in the middle of some forgettable American Jennifer Anniston film (ok, ok, I was enjoying Bounty Hunter), the projected-VHS image stopped and a brief intermission of an exercise video began. Simple stretching to enliven and then cool down our twelve-hour-flight ground bodies. Not everyone joined, but I enjoyed glancing around the plane to see the mostly-Chinese passengers engaging in this halfway-mark stretch and break. From our seats, we engaged our muscles, sat up straight for the first time in hours, and mimicked the video’s attractive couple as they stretched in front of the Great Wall and that strange aquatics complex from the Beijing Olympics. Earlier in the flight I saw (and then joined) groups of passengers occupying empty spaces in the plane (in front of lavatories, empty galleys, exit door rows) engaging in similar exercises. I practiced the Swimming Dragon warm-up exercises, thinking to myself that there was something very Chinese about body- and health-minded activities integrated into everyday life. Now served some green tea, and OH, the movie continues…
Item originally posted to WeekendWindow tumblr