Mindful Exercising in Urban Spaces: Tai Chi for Aging Boomers

By Irene Javors, LMHC

I live in Jackson Heights, Queens. Across the street from my apartment, there is a small public park. Most of the time, you can find neighborhood kids playing handball or shooting baskets or just hanging out. Toddlers are in the sandbox or screaming with glee as they go down the slides. Parents are busy chasing after their children. There is always a long line for access to the swings. The benches are filled with local workers eating their lunches, elderly people with walkers, and some homeless men or women who have somehow managed to find themselves in this rather out of the way street in a rather unknown part of Gotham.

Unknown to most, this little enclave also serves as a place for contemplation and mindfulness. I leave for work very early in the morning. As I walk by the park en route to the bus stop, I am privileged to be a witness to a glorious vision of two groups of men and women doing tai chi. The participants have been doing this for many years. They are a neighborhood fixture.

Most members of these groups are well over fifty and appear to be in excellent shape. As they do their daily exercises, they radiate an energy that is centered and focused on the present moment. They are in the 'now.' Their meditational movements go on for about a half hour. As mysteriously as they come together, they disperse.

Most of us have a hard time imagining that an urban public space can function as a place of mindfulness. We associate public venues with frenetic energy that serves to distract us from ourselves. But these 'tai chi' mornings challenge such assumptions. Mindful awareness is available to us anywhere and at anytime.

When I was much younger, I thought that the only place that I could meditate 'in the right way,' was within the confines of a room, facility, zendo, that took me far away from my everyday life. I have learned that, for me, the real challenge is to be mindful within the context of ordinary life.

Every time I see these aging 'tai chiers' doing their thing, I am filled with joy. They remind me that there is room and time for everyone no matter the setting. The little park isn't state of the art, the benches are dirty and the garbage cans are filled to the brim, yet it is a place brimming with life and lots of opportunities for mindful living.

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For information about Tai Chi opportunities in your local park, check out 2 resources offered by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

1. Visit the NYC Parks Website and search for “tai chi”

2. Visit the BeFitNYC Website and search for “martial arts”