In Tai Chi, She Finds A Center

Shane Ho was no taller than a dahlia 40-some years ago when her dance teacher pointed out her limitations: knees that knocked together like cymbals and no balance.

“I never knew my center,” says Shane, who now moves with a ballerina’s grace. Now, she helps people find their center - that spot just below the navel and deep inside where, according to ancient Chinese philosophy, mind and body are in balance.

Shane gravitated toward Far Eastern culture even as a youngster in Kellogg.

“I wanted to write Chinese characters and learn a martial art,” she says, as she mixes some herbal tea in her Coeur d’Alene massage therapy studio.

She eventually traveled to Hawaii, then Japan, learned aikido - a running form of judo - and tai chi, a slow, gentle exercise. With tai chi, she found her center.

“It’s the one thing I want to keep for the rest of my life,” she says with a peaceful smile.

She starts her days with graceful, circular movements called “Grasp the tail of the sparrow” and “White crane spreads its wings.”

Her hands move as effortlessly as underwater plants in a slow current. She roots herself on squatted legs, knees pointed in opposite directions. She reaches above her head, then to the floor, always slowly and with perfect balance.

“It feels like a Slinky - you pick up one hand, it slides into the other,” she says, closing her eyes. “But it’s different for everyone. Some feel tingly, some smooth.”

She says it’s energy coming together from all points inside her and building. Her day ends the same way. Tai chi brings her back in balance after a long day, she says.

Last month, Shane took tai chi to the Lake City Senior Center. A few dozen students ranging from age 17 to 85 turned out to try the movements that don’t require great flexibility or coordination.

At first, they giggled. But now, they’ve lost their self-consciousness and are starting to feel …something.

Alive, maybe.

Talent is ageless

If Frank Sinatra can command audiences at age 70-plus, so can the seniors at the Lake City Senior Center. They clog, imitate John Wayne and laugh at life. What’s not to like?

Their talent show at 7 p.m., Oct. 20, at the center is free, but booster club president Bob Barrell says he never turns down donations.

Golden years

Few families can boast greater health, love and loyalty than Coeur d’Alene’s Hunts. Parents Tom and Ivy-Irene celebrated 73 years of wedded bliss last June. Children Margaret and Jim Toomey of Sandpoint marked 50 Sept. 9 and Grace and Richard Smith of Coeur d’Alene celebrated their 50th Sept. 16.

Grandparents Charles and Frances Hunt of Kingston made it well past 50 years before they died, and in-laws Ada and Jim Toomey of Sandpoint hit 74 years of marriage in 1989 before they died.

That’s about 300 years of marriage. Anyone beat that?

Chillers

Years ago, I was sure an ax murderer was slinking around upstairs in my home. My husband was out. My daughters were asleep upstairs. I lay frozen with fear in my downstairs bedroom tracking the intruder by the creaking floor over my head.

I finally rolled off the bed and crept toward the stairs with no idea what to do. Panic paralyzed me when I saw the shadow on the landing. I sank onto the stairs a second later when the shadow materialized into my cat. It doesn’t take much for an old house to creak.

What’s your horror tale? Win a T-shirt by screeching it to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID, 83814; fax it to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo