Caring Enough To Share

I used to have a neighbor with the prettiest flowers in her yard. One day I asked her how she cultivated so many, and she said, “You have to share them or give them away.” She offered me many varieties and suggested I share them with others when they multiplied – if I wanted them to keep blooming. As I thought about the theme for this Vital Force, I realized that this is what happens with T’ai Chi Chih. When we become deeply rooted and grounded in our daily practice and daily living, we find ourselves circulating good will to our communities through teaching TCC. We circulate Chi (intrinsic energy); we balance positive and negative. We teach when we feel like it, and we teach when we don’t. As Justine Stone says, “There are only two times you practice TCC: when you feel like it and when you don’t.”

I would like to dedicate this to my teacher and mentor, Ron Richardson, for sharing and introducing TCC to the Tupelo, Mississippi area. I don’t know what I’d be doing today if I hadn’t met Ron when I did (at the local Wellness Center when I was experiencing intense withdrawal symptoms from benzodiazepine in 2003.) I felt differently from the first practice, and I couldn’t explain it. Before I knew it I was hooked on TCC. I had found my love, my all-knowing, my inner peace, my new determination, my joy. And the first thing I wanted to do was to share this joy with others by teaching TCC. (I became accredited in 2007.) On this journey, I’ve met the most caring people in the TCC community – people who give freely and unselfishly of their time and resources, simply for the love of TCC.

It would be selfish to not share TCC. There is just something about it that makes you want to give and share it with others. I could never say no to TCC, any more than I could stop breathing. My goal for 2009 is to share it with others – especially the African American communities. With this population’s widespread obesity, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer, I’m certain that TCC can help alleviate some symptoms. I am a living witness. In 2003 my glaucoma and high blood pressure was out of control. With daily practice, both are under control. Thanks, Ron, for caring enough to share.