Grateful For Deepening TCC Practice

The New Year can be a time for gratitude and opportunity. When teaching Anchor Taffy, I often recall my accreditation trainer having a disappointed look on his face while doing that movement in one of our practices during that life-changing week.

When I asked him about it later, he mentioned being overcome with the awareness of sloppiness for no reason during that repetition, that it was a lost opportunity. I remember thinking, “Isn’t that being hard on yourself” (and taking the fun out of the practice)?

But in hindsight, I know what he meant. Every moment of our practice is an opportunity for profoundness and exquisite elegance—the inner experience of how it feels, not just how it looks.

We are taught that “Awareness is the Root of T’ai Chi Chih.” It behooves us to develop and nurture deep awareness in every moment of our moving and stillness. This is something that takes time and persistence to consciously develop (until it becomes “the effort of no effort”).

A few years ago, I was given the helpful advice to do lots of Rocking Motion at the beginning of the practice. Some who had practiced regularly with Justin specifically told me to do thirty-six.

I started spending a lot more time with Rocking Motion (doing more than my usual nine or 18) in my private practices and in my classes.

One day I became acutely aware in a new way, feeling grounded through the middle of each weight shift in a way that felt like a profound difference. It was almost as if my body weight would change—becoming heavier (with feet flat) and then lighter (with heels up or toes up), or of making an imprint on the earth, which would then disappear leaving no trace.

I stayed with that idea and feeling, which began to pervade all weight shifts in all movements. TCC changed, and my awareness increased exponentially, with no more needless distractions over sloppiness.

So, the start of a new year reminds me of the opportunity in the start of my practice, and I am grateful.