Energy of Reality Surrounding Us

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The Journey of a Lifetime

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Waking up, Shen rose and rubbed his eyes clear and slipped out of bed. It was still dark outside which was fine and he slipped his robe on and his pjs off, replacing them with his workout pants.He walked to the shower room to use the toilet and then stopped in front of the mirror to brush his hair back carefully making sure it was appropriate before he went down to the common room grabbing his towel off the trunk on the way past. Stopping beside the table next to his bed as he tossed the towel over his shoulder he opened up the cricket cage and scooped his two pets up one at a time, letting them crawl inside his cricket box before closing both. Picking up the water bottle he had filled last night, he left the dorm carefully closing the door.

He did this three times a week; once a week taking an unused classroom or the Astronomy tower, once in the common room, and once a place he went to today.

Downstairs he walked through the dorm common room and out the secret entrance on his hands and knees. Quietly he walked through the darkened hallways upstairs avoiding patrollers twice mainly because he was quiet and they were sleepy and bored. Upstairs he turned and walked down a rather quiet section of hallway to the room of Requirement. Having been taken there once by an older student who was tired of him moving the common room furniture, Shen walked back and forth three times concentrating on a good private spot for his exercise. As always, the room brought with it a lot of memories and requests over the decades and thus had not brought him to the same place twice which he rather enjoyed.

Today it was the edge of a field, nicely stretching out in the distance giving him more then enough room. Stopping in the edge before the gate he bent down to his knees and knelt opening the cricket tube and taking out his pets one at a time to set them in the grass. Both set about exploring together and Shen set the cricket tube down on the ground open and removed his robe setting it down there as well. Walking out the gate across the field he let the grass and heather tickle his toes as he enjoyed the sunshine look to everything. Of course he knew it was artificial and he probably wasn't moving, but ht liked the space itself and the many places to feel the flow of life in.



In his soft pants, Shen first sat and breathed in several times, slowly relaxing and focusing his mind on the tasks ahead. He had been doing tai chi his entire life and his father was his instructor, though not everyone in the family had taken it up. When he felt ready, he stood, balanced his weight in horse form carefully, and then began the one hundred and eight position style. This took about five full minutes. When that was done, he returned to the start position and after getting it straight in his mind he reversed it at half speed. That took him another fifteen to do as it was difficult to do certain parts at accuracy. When he finished he was glad for the breeze the room provided because although it looked easy enough, tai chi stressed muscles you did not often use and was quite a work out.

Squatting for a moment he thought and then stood and walked around in a circle another minute moving his arms while preparing himself mentally for the hardest part of all. When he was ready, he dropped back into balance position and then launched himself into full speed tai chi which was nearly three times as fast as the original pattern, seeing an invisibly opponent whom he matched, dodged, and evade the blows of. When this part was finished, his body was covered in perspiration and he was breathing very heavy, his limbs feeling quite heavy despite his long awareness of the difficulty of the workout. Walking back towards the gate, he saw the little pool off to one side and picked up his towel before going to it.

In nearly every place, the ROR left some form of water which was good. Dropping the towel and stripping off the work out pants, he set his wand from the pants next to the towel and plunged in, getting his head fully under. The water was shockingly cold and he reveled in that a minute before surfacing! Taking in a lot of air, he picked up the towel and dried himself as he got out, wrapping the towel around his middle as he picked up the wand and cleaned his pants of sweat and dried them off. Nothing was worse then the smell of stale sweat! Slipping them back on he dried off the towel and sat down in the doorway, crossing his legs and calming his mind back down, beginning a meditation...

A good half hour later he became aware of a sensation on his cheek and began to come out of his position, his mind wondrously clear as he found Bai on his shoulder. "You silly girl! What did you think that would accomplish?" The cricket's Antenna were what he had felt on his cheek. "Don't tell me you are already ready to go back?" he had long suspected the two could not adapt to the magical environment that rooms like this produced, but since he had never been completely sure he still brought them for the outing anyway. A glance in the tube and he saw An already waiting inside so he put his hand next to the tube and Bai climbed down and inside. Standing and gathering his things, Shen slipped his robe back on and after a last glance, headed back to the dorm for his shower...

@yixue