I woke up at 4:30am and jumped in my car to drive to the beach. We were staying just a few short blocks from the ocean and I was hoping the sunrise would be particularly colorful given the weather we’d been having. As I walked down the two mile stretch of beach I noticed one other person standing very still near the water’s edge. I only gave him a moment’s notice as I was on a mission for an awesome ocean sunrise without much time to spare. After taking a number of photos of the sunrise, I turned to walk along the beach for a bit. When I looked up, the man who had been standing so still was now running through a series of motions that suddenly looked familiar to me.
He was do a form of Tai Chi near the water’s edge. I stopped and watched for a few minutes, the form appeared to be the same or very similar to the style of Tai Chi that I am learning now.
I would have liked to have joined him, it was so quiet with just the sound of the ocean waves washing up on the shore. He looked like he was dancing on the sand. He seemed to exude a quiet, focused, fluidity of motion. I didn’t want to distract him from his meditation so I kept my distance. I took a few quick pictures and then walked in the opposite direction. I left with some great sunrise shots, but I confess I was envious of the start to his day.
This was the view we both had on the beach that morning.