What an honor that recently, a physician in the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center Geriatrics and Palliative Care Department asked me if I would a Qigong session in Griffith Park for him and his colleagues as their departmental wellness event! How could I decline (even though my husband and I have been excruciatingly cautious since mid-March about being in other people’s company)? Eager to contribute to the wellness of doctors who are themselves working as healers, I agreed, and we discussed possible locations in the park.
Nostalgic I wanted us to lay claim to the area at the far north end of the Mineral Wells Picnic Area (pictured), where the late Marvin Smalheiser (founder in 1977 of Tai Chi Magazine, teacher of Tai Chi for decades in the L.A. area, and my neighbor five houses away) met weekly with his students for many, many years.
We made our plans during a delicious span of actual autumnal weather and were all set for Wednesday, October 14. And then, as happens, a heat wave moved in. With Wednesday’s predicted high of 98°, we sadly had to take a “heat check,” until the weather calms down again. Since we usually get a 3-digit spike the last week of October, we might have to wait another three weeks.
Epilogue: As with all things, there’s a story, and in this case, there’s a story about how this particular physician came to contact me. I’m going to save it for another post!