Thursday, January 27

Fake Tai Chi helps area man foster false sense of inner peace.

Sunbury, OH — Bert Powlus, office manager for County Mutual Insurance Company has long sought refuge from the daily stresses of overseeing the hustle and bustle of the farm and ranch insurance company branch. So he's turned his divided attention to the relaxation techniques of Tai Chi, even though he admits to not understanding it at all.

"It can get pretty chaotic in here." Powlus huffed. "It seems like someone always needs a paper clip at the last minute."

In order to find some shred of relief, Powlus has taken his total ignorance of Tai Chi outside, mostly during lunch breaks.

"I just go out into the smoker's courtyard and move around and shit, you know... waving my arms..bending my knees. It's like slow-motion Kung Fu or something. Most of the agents in the office know I don't know what the hell I'm doing, but there's a few I've duped." Powlus grinned.

Tai Chi, as it is practiced in the west today, can perhaps best be thought of as a moving form of yoga and meditation combined. There are a number of so- called forms (sometimes also called 'sets') which consist of a sequence of movements.

"Originally, I thought about actually taking classes to really understand the forms and principles." Powlus added. "But, like many of my non-work pursuits, I got lazy about it and just started making shit up. You know, take your big ball of stress and push it out kind of stuff. You'd be surprised at what limited expertise you can glean from late-night television."

Powlus admitted that the organized classes would ultimately get in the way of his free and easy lifestyle, which includes Civil War re-enactments, fantasy baseball camps, and having virtual colonoscopies.