Standing like a tree in the rain

Tai chi in the park this morning with the regulars: four aunties and Mr. Huang, who is ninety-one and still has the straightest spine in the whole park.

It drizzled, so we skipped the form and did zhan zhuang, standing post. Knees soft, arms rounded like you're hugging a big ball, and then nothing. Just standing, twenty minutes.

My grandmother used to say the tree doesn't fight the rain. It lets the water run down to its roots. I thought about that with rain running down my sleeves and into my armpits, which was less poetic, but I think still the point.