When I met Kalila King for coffee after our Tai Chi class one Tuesday morning, the first thing I wanted to know was how she got the name ‘Kalila’. She told me about her love for a thirteenth or fourteenth century book of Indian fables, Kalila u Dimna, by Bidpai featuring animals. She decided to take the name of the wise jackal Kalila, who teaches the young Prince Dimna, as her own belly dancing stage name. She liked its translation from ancient Sanskrit to “friend” or “one who stands by you”. I was reminded of one of my favorite poets, Kahlil Gibran. But, I am getting ahead of myself. I had told Kalila I wanted to share with our class more about how she started teaching Tai Chi (the preferred spelling is Taiji when referring to study for health or Taijichaun when referring to the martial arts).

As a young Georgia State graduate with a BS in Mathematics, Kalila King was unfulfilled (actually, “un-promoted” was more like it) working as a statistician for the Georgia Department of Education. In 1971while working as a social worker, one Monday morning a coworker suggested a belly dancing class as a way to alleviate Kalila’s feelings of inability to really help others. She joined the class on Wednesday. She enjoyed this easy –for her-- way of translating musical stories into movement. Within three months she was helping teach the class. She kept working with this teacher and parlayed her experience into professional dancing. When the teacher moved to another city, Kalila inherited the teaching job. During this time, circa the early 1990s, there were only about three or four belly dancing teachers throughout the Atlanta metropolis.

Kalila met a fellow dancer from Chicago during the early 1970s who suggested she try Taiji. After unsuccessfully trying to learn these exercise movements from an instruction book she eventually found a Taiji class being taught by Jeff Cook. It was in this class that Mrs. King met a Presbyterian minister who asked her to teach seniors at his church. Reluctantly, Kalila consented to speak at a luncheon at the church. While preparing her speech and at the same time thinking of older friends and relatives who had either died from or had their lives altered by injuries suffered in falls, she researched the subject of seniors health and the benefits of Taiji. She found various studies, including one conducted by an eminent Emory Healthcare doctor and University Professor (Dr. Tingsen Xu, see bio at http://gate8.com/bbs-tai/messages/4990.html), on the vast improvements in physical balance among senior patients who had participated in the Taiji studies. Her talk on this subject at the luncheon garnered so much interest, her first class started with more than 40 persons. It continues today along with four or five other classes throughout Cobb County, including our Tuesday morning class.

Mrs. King, who has been married to her husband Joe for more than 36 years, has four children and three grandchildren. She often travels in connection with her work in Taiji and meets many renowned practitioners of the discipline. Her teachers include some located in both Canada and China. She speaks of the seriousness and many years involved with the traditional study of Taijichaung; of the time it takes before a pupil is considered worthy of recognition by her Chinese mentor. Kalila uses her knowledge of Taiji to help others and eschews the martial art. Kalila says, “My motivation is strictly that of helping seniors improve their physical well being”. In her spare time, she also studies from many sources—books, teachers—and enjoys writings from many ancient martial arts philosophers. She recently vacationed in Washington, D.C. sightseeing with her family. When she is at home here in Atlanta on weekends, Kalila studies Shinkendo, the art of the Samurai sword, and Bojutsu, the art of the long staff at Atlanta Budokan (‘place to study the martial arts’) in Smyrna. She spends time working on her Tameshigiri (testing the accuracy, form and power of sword cutting) with her own Samurai swords in her backyard, using woven reed mats she soaks in water and mounts on a stand. Her neighbors are “very respectful” when she brings out the swords. She enjoys reading about different ancient cultures and is currently reading a book on the Basques. “I also spin, weave, knit, hike, love to bake”, Kalila said.

When I thanked Kalila for taking the time to share with me about her life, I also told her how her grace and ease in teaching our class makes it a pleasure for even those of us who are awkward. She left the café with, “did you notice how we were all moving and breathing together? That was really wonderful.” As usual, she was thinking of us!!