I’ve no knowledge of Tai chi. How can I relate to your novel?

In As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back, hope filters in around page 80. (Amazon review: “There is a lot of humor in this book.”) At this point in the novel, the protagonist, Carlie, encounters Tai chi.

A Reader Asks

If I don’t know anything about Tai chi, how will I relate to the story?

Each chapter of As Far as You Can Go takes its name from a specific Tai chi movement (a “posture”): “Snake Creeps Down” explores sex besting reason. “The Eighth Treasure” relates to love. “Wave Hands Like Clouds” embodies letting go.

Wave Hands Like Clouds

Hold the tai chi ball. Right hand floats to eye level, crosses the face without touching, then floats down as left hand moves to eye level, crosses the face, and floats down. Unending circles, up, across, down. Hands are clouds sailing across the sky. I coast on a warm pulse that starts in my palms and circulates dawn-calm through my body.

Writing Tai Chi

The Tai chi sections read so that everyone can understand how the body moves, doing each posture; more importantly, how the body feels and the effects on the psyche.

And, of course, the story development and metaphors conjured by the postures’ elegant names: “Step with an Empty Foot,” “Wild Horse Swings Its Mane;” and the walking metaphor of “Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain.” And, of course, the story development and images conjured by the postures’ elegant names.