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A serious question:  Is there a t'ai chi exercise for when you're on hold with tech support?

We've all been there.  It's the chore that you probably put behind cleaning out the fridge or changing the sheets.  You maybe procrastinate.

But you know,  on all levels, that you can't really put it off too long.  You really need the use of your printer/cellphone/cable TV.  The "it will wait" conversation with yourself won't be believable.  You need help.

So you take the plunge.  And right at the get-go, you're probably placed on hold.  You may be subjected to a form of modern muzak.  To protect yourself, you put your phone on speaker mode and attempt to pay some bills. Then someone -- after perhaps 15 minutes -- answers the phone.  A real human human being, albeit following a tightly written script.  But you're thrilled.  And you begin.  You're blithely pressing this button or that,  as per the tech rep's instructions, and then, after nothing seems to work,  you're told to simply unplug the thing and count to twenty.

I've been on hold and reduced to tears in the attempt to get a refund of a plane ticket.   In that unforgettable interchange, I wound up snippy,  and even raising my voice a bit at the poor rep from the call center, and then felt rotten about that.    (BTW,  trip insurance is NOT worth it)   By the end of most of these calls,  you've lost whatever equanimity you thought you had.

But.  In subsequent tech-support calls,  I discovered to my great delight that seated cloud hands is an excellent Qigong for overcoming the stress of these things.  It's calming,  and physically balancing.  Cloud hands incorporates the best of qi gong,  including regulating the breath -- it should slow and become even --   weight shifting,  albeit shifting from side to side of the bum,  rather than between legs.  And there's the tremendous benefits of waist turning.  (I've been told that turning one's waist is a great benefit for the respiratory system.)  
In this case,  all from a seated position!



(I'm sorry for the, um, technical glitch.  No, the irony is not lost on me.  Fixes of these videos and more videos of cloud hands coming soon!)




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