Posted on 07/31/2003 10:35:47 AM PDT by CedarDave
Thursday, July 31, 2003
Offenders Sentenced to Tai Chi
By Jeremy Pawloski Journal Staff Writer
Santa Fe Municipal Court might be the last place you would expect to find offenders meditating with needles in their foreheads amid candles and mood music as they learn to balance their chi.
But this is Santa Fe.
And it's where Municipal Judge Frances Gallegos has placed offenders enrolled in her new alternative sentencing program— a tai chi class complete with a Japanese-style tea service and meditation aided by acupuncture.
Instructor Mark De Francis, a doctor of oriental medicine who works as a psychologist for the state Corrections Department, said he believes offenders with a propensity for violence can benefit from tai chi and meditation.
Tai chi, a meditative self-defense art in which practitioners fight the "inner opponent," is characterized by slow, relaxed movement and teaches "impulse control," De Francis said.
"You're trying to go slower than your impulses tell you to go," De Francis said. "It's good for people, whether they're in trouble or not."
Students said they have benefited from the class.
A 20-year-old offender who declined to use his name said the tai chi has "given me time to reflect on my actions."
"Just physically, I've been feeling more balanced," he said.
A 23-year-old woman said she feels less of an urge to drink after three months of tai chi and meditation.
"Doing this for three months, it just makes you really think twice about your mistakes," she said.
Gallegos said the inaugural 12-week class started in October. Each offender must foot the bill for the $180 class. Gallegos said the class is geared primarily to "people that are charged with some kind of a crime of violence," whether it's a DWI involving road rage or a bar fight.
Offenders have a choice— they can either sign up for the tai chi class or participate in a community service program that involves picking up litter and trash, Gallegos said.
Gallegos said one of the goals of the class is to get offenders to think twice about violence the next time they are in a dispute.
Marcia Garcia, 21, who said she chose to enroll in the class after incurring criminal charges during a fight with her brother, said Tuesday that "you get really relaxed" after the class.
At the beginning of Tuesday night's class, De Francis had the 15 or so students read from a poem that included phrases expressing a hope "that our pursuit for excitement won't cause harm or violence."
Geovanni Montijo, 23, dressed in baggy shorts and a baseball cap, said he did not want to discuss the charges that brought him to the class. But he said he'd rather be meditating than picking up trash.
"I wanted to check this class out," Montijo said. "... I think it's working."
During the tai chi exercises, De Francis explained how the students should handle their "chi ball," which he called "an imaginary ball of energy." As the students practiced poses with names like "golden pheasant stands on left leg," De Francis explained that tai chi is "a moving meditation" that is not goal-oriented but about "being in the now."
De Francis talked to the students about showing strength through other means besides violence during an informal rap session, as they sipped a tea containing kava kava, a natural herb that is said to promote calmness.
Before starting meditation, De Francis placed blindfolds over the students' eyes and small pins in their foreheads. He told the students to "separate themselves from the body and just observe."
Gallegos isn't the first municipal judge in the City Different to come up with a novel program for offenders.
Former Judge Tom Fiorina had a practice of letting parking ticket scofflaws get out of paying parking tickets by letting them donate turkeys to the needy on Thanksgiving.
Gallegos defeated Fiorina in 1996, amid allegations that he had not issued bench warrants, started court late and allegedly had an ex parte communication with a woman who had a ticket in his court.
Copyright 2003 Albuquerque Journal
Of course, we are talking California here, and if this is a "feel good" school , as opposed to a real one, all bets are off.
Tia
LOL! I'll bet!
"Much depends on the quality of the dojo and the sensai, but like in all things, the student has to want to change. "
Very true. Some sensei are terrible while some are excellent. My teacher said, "No martial art is crap. But many martial arts practicioners are crap." Discipline comes from within.
DrNo sez: for Taiji Quan have a sifu, not a sensei; for Aikido have a sensei not a sifu.
"two years til my right hip gave out" OWWWWW!!!!
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I had hip-displaysia. Never fixed right and i've broken it twice.
Needless to say, I am devoutly afraid of doctors and I am VERY careful about what I do.
Not ever going down-hill skiing! LOL!
Tia
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