Joy in letting go

T’ai Chi Chih is a mindfulness-moving meditation practice that’s easy to learn. The series of 19 movements and one pose helps circulate the Vital Energy, the Chi. Practitioners experience peace, improved health, and many more benefits. Our free monthly e-newsletter offers inspiration between issues of the TCC quarterly journal, The Vital Force, in which teachers and students tell stories about ways they’ve benefited from the practice. 

Eternity is in this moment.– Justin F. Stone, TCC Originator

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From the recent issue of The Vital Force:

Uncovering joy: “What is joy to me? It’s the feeling that I’m right in the center of my being and connected. Connected with the ground beneath my feet, with the place where I’m at, with other people, and with my own body and self…. How does this relate to TCC? As Justin said, ‘Joy is our natural heritage.’ By doing our practice, we uncover joy. Joy isn’t something we have to do or create or even find, although it feels like that to me sometimes. It’s living in my feet and tan t’ien. It’s waiting for me to come back home to it.” – LS, Fort Collins, CO

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Editor’s Note: Learn more from TCC teachers with more than 25 years of experience in the February issue of The Vital Force.

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Trying so ‘soft’: “Striving for perfection is a tremendous burden we place on ourselves. It can cause tension in the body and mind and take us away from “being in the present moment.” We then cannot relax and simply flow with each movement. Can we instead be satisfied with being perfectly imperfect? Imperfections help us learn, grow, and accept where we are right now in our practice. In TCC, we emphasize not trying so hard — instead, we try so soft. This allows us to relax into each movement and let the tan t’ien be our guide. Our body can then flow without effort, without the mechanics, without always questioning ourselves. We can begin to feel and experience each movement.” – DK, Midland Park, NJ

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Flowing: “We often hold resistance in our practice. We don’t really and truly let go so that the Chi can flow unimpeded. Perhaps we’re holding resistance in our knees or shoulders or neck or wrists, wanting to protect ourselves somehow. Often, we don’t even realize how long we’ve held that resistance until we bring our attention to it, explore it, play with it, and gently release it. If we can truly release that resistance, we experience new sensations of ease in our movements. We float and flow. We feel joy.” – LJ, Minneapolis, MN

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Realizing: Your task is not to find someone to believe in or some doctrine in which to take refuge (though this is very comfortable). It is to realize Who and What You are (and I don’t mean a name). Then you manifest Who and What you really are; that is Love.” (Spiritual Odyssey) – Justin F. Stone

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Subscribe to The Vital Force. Our quarterly journal offers engaging stories, hints, and insights from TCC teachers and students. We also highlight wisdom by, and photos rarely seen of, the originator Justin Stone.