See What’s Cooking!!!

Carmen Brocklehurst, Albuquerque, NM

Have you noticed how much is going on in T’ai Chi Chih? Sometimes we are so secluded in our towns, swept under by commitments, work, family life and friends that we don’t always see the beautiful picture emerging both with and (sometimes sadly) without our help.

Justin created T’ai Chi Chih in 1974. It is marvelous that during 24 short years, TCC has spread throughout the world. Our directory lists teachers in South Africa, France, Ontario, British Columbia, other Canadian provinces, Switzerland and in 42 U.S. states, including Alaska and Hawaii. And that doesn’t include teachers not included in our directory.

The medical community is so enthusiastic about T’ai Chi (not always specifically saying T’ai Chi Chih) that some medical publications advise it before Yoga which has been around for hundreds of years. This past year in February the Mayo Clinic Health Newsletter said that Justin’s T’ai Chi Chih video was helpful in improving balance.

A University of Cincinnati professor has received four government grants to study T’ai Chi Chih’s benefits. It is no coincidence that the project’s director, who studied with Marlene Brown, has found TCC helpful in her own life. Practicing psychologist Russ Brown gives countless demonstrations for the Idaho medical community, as does Pat Oltman in Kentucky, Rhonda St. Martin in New Mexico, and Susan Patterson in San Diego. T’ai Chi Chih is both for the patient and the health professional.

Two large HMOs—Kaiser Permanente on the West Coast and Allina Health Systems on the East Coast—are very supportive of T’ai Chi Chih. Both have set up classes and made T’ai Chi Chih materials available through prescription. Consider how many prescriptions are usually filled from a bottle.

The business community is also embracing TCC. Several teachers have taught classes in corporations, e.g., Allstate Insurance, IBM, Sandia Government Labs, TRW, Apple Computer, Digital, Intel, British Petroleum, the cities of San Diego and Albuquerque, Johnson and Johnson, Public Service Company of NM, Ethicon and General Electric. If your corporation connection isn’t among these, write about it in the next Vital Force.

Universities are not just funding research grants for TCC, but they are also creating special professional programs. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are being allowed for Nurses and Physical Therapists in New Mexico, California, and South Dakota. The basic proposal was begun by the New Mexico teachers and is easily adaptable to your area. Rhonda St. Martin in NM has been very helpful in providing information to teachers interested in getting CEUs started in their areas.

The spiritual aspects of T’ai Chi Chih are quickly and easily recognized by the conventional spiritual community. Classes and workshops have been held in Lutheran, Unitarian, Unity, Divine Science, Religious Science Churches, Zen Centers, Catholic Retreat Centers, Jewish Synagogues, and International New Thought Conferences.

TCC had its first teachers’ training in a prison (the maximum security Folsom Prison in California) this past year. The physical environment wasn’t the best, but we admire the heart of teacher James Hecker. James now carries on the work started by Tara Stiles.

Three U.S. centers, one of which is nonprofit, are dedicated to T’ai Chi Chih. As Dale Buchanan from Virginia said at the TCC Conference, “You can do it, too, if you are willing to do the work.” And what beautiful work it is.

The 13-part T’ai Chi Chih PBS television series is still airing in many parts of the country. This is remarkable for the same program to be repeated for four years. If you call your television station, tell them how grateful you are for showing the series in the first place, they may play it again and reach a new set of people. (If they never aired it the first time around, encourage them to do so.) Tell the program director about the difference T’ai Chi Chih has made in your life, perhaps about how peaceful you feel, how TCC promotes hope you had lost, that TCC heals minds and bodies, that TCC’s originator Justin Stone created something so easy to learn.

Is there anyplace where T’ai Chi Chih is not needed or wanted? Apparently not. As each of us opens our minds and hearts, we will be led to call the one place that is calling us.

Let your Spirit Soar and Share the Chi.