Try tai chi with Rod Dunn

Some of you know him as Builder Rod or Lightning Rod, but I met him as Tai Chi Rod down at the pub. When I mentioned I’d like to try tai chi, Linda Sang introduced me to a grinning man in a flannie and crocs. At his Friday morning class at the Cobargo School of Arts Hall (SOAH), I realised what makes Rod such a good teacher is how he translates the ancient art of tai chi in terms that make sense right here and now. In a flannie and crocs, with patience and humour, he shows that anyone and everyone can do tai chi.

It was thanks to love that Rod moved from Jindabyne to the Brogo bush 34 years ago ‘Now I’m just part of the furniture, but what brought me here was a matriarch of the valley. She introduced me to a wonderful community, the bush community. We all worked hard and played hard. I worked as a builder on timber, rock and mud, and passive solar houses. I’ve only just recently retired in the last few months.’

Moving to Quaama has been great for Rod personally. ‘In the bush we got smashed in the fires, we lost a lot – houses, trucks, tractors, tools, everything. It wasn’t doing me any good staying out there, so I moved to Quaama. I’ve always had an affiliation with Quaama, I know a lot of people there, I’ve worked on so many houses there and it’s been my post office forever. It’s the first time I’ve had neighbours in 47 years, and that’s been an education and revelation and total joy. I’ve got a wonderful young family living next door to me and it’s great to hear the sounds of kids having a bit of a laugh or a cry or whatever. So Quaama has been good to me. With the help of the community and friends and people who went through the same thing, I’m over the hump but the fires took me into a deep, deep hole.’

It was another huge disaster in his life that brought Rod to tai chi. ‘It might sound really silly, but I got hit by lightning in 1996. There were witnesses! Because I thought I was a really tough Aussie dude, I didn’t go to the doctor when my health tanked over a period of two years. I was slowly dying. My hair fell out; my kidney and liver were shutting down, my skin was splitting, and I was puffing up like a toad fish. I finally got diagnosed. The lightning had blown my thyroid to bits. It’s a very important part of the body and I was a mess until they started giving me thyroxide. Within a week I knew I was on track.’

Right when Rod needed a gentle form of exercise to recover his strength, Dave Tooley moved to town and started giving tai chi lessons. ‘I’d always been intrigued, if not fascinated by tai chi so after two or three weeks of realising this airy-fairy stuff was actually working, I hit it like footy training and went hard for the next three years. I just got more addicted. I’d come from such a low spot, any slightest bit of physical improvement was noticeable and appreciated. But when you practice the Qigong, you get into the mental part of it too, and the body and mind work together in all sorts of ways.’

After about three years of full-on learning, Dave encouraged Rod to start teaching. ‘And that’s been a wonderful thing in my life. I’ve never, ever, done it for the money. I just cover expenses here at the School of Arts Hall where I’ve been teaching for twenty years. In the old days this hall was an icebox or an oven, but the Committee have chased grants and now we’ve got the solar-powered air conditioning which is an absolute joy. Anybody that comes for more than six weeks changes, and you can see it. I rarely compliment people personally in class, but sometimes you can’t resist. I’ve seen people release a lot of trauma, and people with injuries heal. Tai chi doesn’t work on muscles but on tendons and ligaments, it strengthens the joints, so it helps with mobility and balance. Students inspire me because I do see their change, but I also have to stay in front of them. They test me.’

Learning tai chi takes time. ‘It’s certainly not a short fix. I remember when I learned here, I used to do my class with Dave, and before I got in the car, I’d do what we’d learned that night. Then I’d drive to the top of Brogo Road, get out of the car and do it again. I would have forgotten by the time I got home. It can be frustrating, but everybody goes through that. When you learn a form, it gets easier because the moves are variations on a theme. The beautiful stage of muscle memory is when the body is doing tai chi all by itself, and the brain is intent on moving chi. Qigong goes back even further than tai chi, and it’s based on the Tao principles of harmony and balance, in yourself, between you and others, and probably more so with nature. When you’re doing it, you appreciate your tiny, little spot in this cosmos. Without you here, the cosmos is different. Everybody belongs. Everyone has got to find their spot with their intrinsic internal energy. That’s chi.’

If you’re curious about what tai chi is like, try a Friday 10.00 am class or Thursday nights from 6.00 pm at SOAH. All classes are $10. Everyone’s welcome. Nobody’s ever turned away.

Subscribe to the Triangle Podcast to hear our September feature interview with Rod. Or listen here.

Flick Ruby

Photos by Flick Ruby.